Which comes first – plants or garden design?
Plants – that’s the point of having a garden, isn’t it? Do you swear by right plant, right place? Or would you choose plants over design? One thing you must bear in mind is the effect of climate change on what you grow. I’ve decided to stop growing sweet peas as the lack of rain and excessive heat have ruined the plants.
All these questions came to mind after reading Anne Wareham’s The Bad Tempered Gardener and her experiences in her garden, The Veddw, near Chepstow. Like all good books, it makes you think long after you’ve finished it. Two chapters, in particular, struck a chord – first, ‘I Hate Gardening’ with the great quote: “Gardening is talked-up housework that you have to do outside… Gardening is boring. It is repetitious, repetitive and mind-blowingly boring, just like housework.”
This sounds like heresy after you’ve read the number of gardening books I have, either for pleasure or professionally. Of course, filthy jobs like raking up leaves and cleaning out ponds are unpleasant, but you’re never supposed to admit to that! Then there’s ‘Plant Obsessives’: “People describe themselves as ‘plantaholics’ without any of the shame you’d think such a term should provoke.”
Right plant, right place – Confessions of a plantaholic
It is here that I hold up my hands and blush profusely. I am one of those people who impulse-buy plants and have been doing so since childhood. I can’t explain it – a bit like I imagine a drug rush, I suppose. She’s quite right – Anne’s garden, The Veddw, has simple, clean, elegant lines and nothing looks bitty. It has been properly designed – no oddities shoehorned in.
My garden is not properly designed. I’d like to think that with more money, things would be different, but I doubt it. In my head, there’s a design going on, but real life gets in the way. Plant obsessive + small garden = cluttered disaster area. This has got far worse since my joint and balance problems have become more pronounced, and I can’t do as much as I used to. I start each season, when the catalogues come out or go live online, and plan what I am going to grow, then place my orders early.
The influx of unplanned plants
Unfortunately (or fortunately), there arrives an influx of plants and seeds to trial, which I’m not grumbling about, but does upset the apple cart a bit. I just don’t have any extra space to put them. Then there are the shows. Harrogate (Spring and Autumn) Flower Shows were my greatest downfall, with lovely specialist nurseries offering special deals.
It’s not so bad if I go there with a pal or long-suffering Gary – I have transport. My finest hour was the 2015 Autumn Flower Show. I travelled down by taxi, two trains and a bus (each way). I couldn’t resist an Abyssinian (or Ethiopian) Red Banana (Ensete ventricosum) from the Lost World Nursery, sadly no longer operating.
Right plant, right place – Wonderful banana drinking buddy
This section concentrates on plant families, or plant groups that perform the same function, such as evergreens or hardy climbers. In four sections, you’ll see:
- Annuals and biennials
- Perennials
- Shrubs, trees and climbers
- Seasonal plants (autumn, winter, spring)
I hope you find it a useful reference point for plants to grow in your garden. The vast majority I’ve grown myself, so there’s nothing too scary in there. I hope you have a much better design ethic than I have and manage to resolve the plants or garden design conundrum.
