A year in the life of my garden
It’s nearly Christmas and I, like my garden, have started to slow down and reflect on the year that has just been. I decided to look back at what the garden has done this year and thought it would be interesting to show the same view of the main border over the course of the past year. If anything, it makes me look critically at it, reminding me what needs adding, editing or tweaking for next year. So here I’ll take you through some of the main planting combinations to show how I achieve a succession of flowers, shape and texture through the seasons. It’s worth noting, by the way, that I didn’t take any pictures in March, when the border is cut back and looks its most miserable! (Although having said that, there is a sort of satisfying, bare beauty about it when it has just been freshly mulched).
The first picture shows the border in December 2020 in a rare, beautiful hoar frost, the seed heads still standing strong. Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’, Phlomis russelliana, Ammi majus and Verbascum chaixii Album are some of the most prominent seed heads in this border, with Aster umbellatus and A. turbinellum providing a haze of stems topped by tiny balls of fluff. By early May (picture 2) the border is starting to mound up pleasingly, the tulips surrounded by a sea of forget-me-nots. A couple of weeks later (picture 3) the border has grown visibly, with some plants like Aster umbellatus putting on a foot in a week. The feeling of vertical movement is tangible, the plants clamouring upwards towards the light, and outwards to join hands and fill all the gaps. Other key plants at this time of year are the geums, with ‘Totally Tangerine’ and ‘Bellbank’ being the main players. By early June (picture 4 taken on June 5) the Stipa gigantea has started to flower, the alliums are popping their heads up and the lime green flowers of Alchemilla mollis are bursting.
Each year is different in terms of weather and seasonal timing, but in 2021 it seems that the most exponential period of growth in my garden was between June 5 and June 14 when the border completely took off. The change from picture 4 to picture 5 is incredible, and it’s only when you look back on it that you realise the phenomenal growth. By June 14 (picture 5) the foxgloves are out and everything else is appearing all at once in a tangle of flower and bud, including poppies, Knautia macedonica, Scabiosa ochroleuca and Salvia nemorosa Caradonna. In July, the border fills out luxuriously, with dusky pink Phlox Monica Lynden Bell and huge billows of the similarly coloured Campanula lactiflora Loddon Anna. Taller plants include Echinops Blue Globe and Echinops sphaerocephalus, as well as Veronicastrum virginicum Apollo and Eupatorium maculatum Atropurpureum Group (although this doesn’t really come into its own until the end of the summer). By early August (picture 6), Helenium Sahins Early brings a shot of colour to the pastel-hued border. In September, the late flowering Aster turbinellum takes over, complemented by the fading echinops, with the contrasting wine-coloured Penstemon ‘Garnet’ still hanging in there, having been dead-headed throughout the season. This penstemon, as well as the brilliant Geranium ‘Rozanne’ are two of the longest-flowering plants in the border. The final picture shows the border on October 22, a bit ragged around the edges, the colour gone, but still with enough shape and texture to carry it through.
