GARDENING
Keeping active in the
garden with Garden Designer, Sally Cunis
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow” Audrey Hepburn
Over the last few months, gardening has become an important part of the lives of an increasing number of us irrespective of whether the space available has been the size of a window box, a few pots by the door, a shared community area or a private garden. People who have never tilled the ground, sown seeds or grown their own salad crops have found solace in doing so with their children and families during these strange times, captivated by the magic of tender green shoots unfurling from dry seeds, swapping surplus plants with neighbours and enjoying time spent outside whenever possible. For several months we have shared our garden (and house) with our son and his girlfriend,
Mediterranean garden
keeping active by building new raised vegetable beds filled mainly with home-grown compost, sowing salad, vegetable and annual seeds and relishing the health benefits that come from fresh air and staying busy whilst jobs are lost and the whole world appears to be in meltdown. For too long I was unable to visit my mother who lives two hours away but, with the stoicism of her generation, she has just got on with things; her garden has blossomed during this period with help from her lovely gardening friend. She enjoys the fresh air and exercise and has just carried on as normal, watering, weeding, dead-heading, propagating and moving plants, in her garden and greenhouse safe in a paradise of her own creation. When my parents were looking for a retirement project over twenty years ago, my mother, a former geology student, consulted the geology maps of the area in order to decide which property would be suitable based on the soil type in order to create a wonderful garden! As long as I can remember she has drawn up plans of different borders, always to scale (no surprise really that I became a garden designer) and continues to do so, ensuring that she works with what she has, the aspect, the soil of course and, what every gardener aims for, the right plant in the right place.
Water lilies Cistus creticus Hellebores, euphorbia and iris
As a result her garden is an absolute joy. The old brick farm yard, unsuitable for deep borders, now has a beautiful square pool surrounded by Mediterranean planting spilling over low walls built by my late father and my brother to contain a planting medium made to my mother’s own special recipe of grit, ash, homemade compost and garden soil. Why leave the garden if you can sit in a space like that surrounded by the scent of Rosemary, Cistus, Lavender, roses and herbs with butterflies, swallows and goldfinches darting through the planting? A rickety pergola has recently been removed so that my mother can plant a new shrub border and, leading away from the Mediterranean garden, she has recently completed a beautiful walkway between lavender bushes with tall perennials and alliums on either side.
Rosa “Sweet Juilet” Allium, Cistus and forget-me-nots 74
aroundtownmagazine.co.uk
The old vegetable garden was too large; it now has wide shrub
Cistus and sage
borders and a bird orchard BUT my mother still wanted to grow something to eat so, during Lockdown, she has planted strawberries and raspberry canes in the raised bases of an old greenhouse near the house. A friend has built nets for her to protect the fruit; runner beans and lettuce will grow there too next year. My mother is indefatigable and my inspiration; her knowledge of plants is extraordinary. She is generous with that knowledge, with her time and with her plant gifts. Still forward looking and believing in tomorrow, she was 90 in July and all she asked for were more plants for her beloved garden - and she got them because of course we, her family, know how important her garden is to her. The new plants will be added to her beautiful borders and her garden will continue to make her, and everyone who is lucky enough to visit her, happy. Stay safe and keep gardening.
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