CAPTURING A MOOD in Your Garden
OST GARDENERS have a favorite time of year. For some, the fresh, sharp greens of spring have unmatchable beauty; others can never have enough of autumn’s glowing colors. Cottage pro- fusion is the essence of a garden to some people while, for others, orderly formal- ity is crucial for giving the sense of peace they seek in the garden.
If your choice is a garden of several moods, with a single section or a corner devoted to each one, you can use a low barrier- a hedge, wall or fence- to divide a formal corner from a wild one or fresh greens from mellow golds. The barrier will make more changes from sun to shade, which will also help to establish different moods.
MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN
Where you have a dry bank, seize the opportunity to create a fragment of the Mediterranean. With gravel or pebbles of different sizes and discreetly placed stone or concrete paverS, you can intensify the arid nature of the site. Stones push Summer ground temperatures up, intensifying the release of aromatic oils from the foliage of typical Mediterranean shrubs, among them many silver-leaved beauties such as Convolvulus CHeoru, lavender, cotton lavender (Santolina) and artemisia.
For more spectacular herbaceous plants, choose from mulleins, blood-red poppies or some of the more dramatic irises. You could even step up the dry desert character with temporary planting during the summer. Bold, spiky-leaved plants such as agaves, aloes or the more fleshy aconiums and echeverias, all
grown in containers, can be plunged into the ground and the pots concealed with a top layer of gravel. Such plants will last for years if they are lifted, complete with pots, before the frosts begin to overwinter in a conservatory or greenhouse.
SPRING LEMONS AND GREENS
The fresh yellows and greens of spring that are so cheering after a drab winter can be continued, to prolong the mood of bright optimism. Allow foliage to pre- dominate, and choose flowers to echo the
color theme. The spring plants are easy – variegated periwinkle and euonym studded with winter aconites, doron- icums, celandines, primroses and daf- fodils to give some height. As spring turns to summer, ferns such as the shut- tlecock-shaped Matteuccia struthiopteris or, in drier sites, Polystichum setiferum or hart’s-tongue (Asplenium scolopendrium) reveal a springlike green.
Grasses and bamboo prolong the feel of spring wonderfully. Milium effusum Aureum’ has soft, waving foliage and feathery flowers in summer, and the dwarf bamboos Pleioblastus auricomus and P variegatus look youthful all year, with their fresh green leaves.
Lady’s mantle is an essential part of the scheme. Its lacy green flowers last for weeks. Lemon roses, potentillas, dahlias and chrysanthemums can maintain the mood into autumn.
SUMMER PURPLES ALL YEAR
The natural flower colors of summer in the wild are mainly in the mauve, purple and wine-red range, found in knap-, whistles, willowherb, tufted vetch and cranesbill. In a garden,
CHANGING SEASONS The warm colors so loved in autumn sing out in this late summer border, with red-hot pokers towering over dwarf red dahlias, bronze Helenium, orange crocosmia and golden rudbeckias. Summer purples and cerises are readily found in shrubby plants such as roses, buddleias and hebes, perennials such as centaurea and cranesbills, and bedding plants such as petunias and heliotrope.
The warm purples of summer look just as effective at other times of the year. In autumn, asters, colchicums and late Korean chrysanthemums such as the plum-pink ‘Mei-kyo’ take up the theme.
In spring, choose purple or cerise tulips – try the beetroot-purple Negrita or lily flowered ‘Springtime. The easiest outdoor primula in cultivation is Primula juliana Wanda’, whose bright purple-red blooms pop up in profusion from late
February to late May. CAPTURING A MOOD in Your Garden
The cow parsley Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’ is a contributor to this mood, producing dark ferny leaves in spring and then delicate, white lacy blooms. Rodgersias are perfect if you have plenty of moisture and space, and for drier conditions, Euphorbia dulcis Chameleon’ is pretty, with deep bronze
foliage and dainty green flowers.
The warm effect can be heightened by adding splashes of apricot and orange. In spring, the tulip ‘Apricot Beauty’ looks gorgeous with purple, ahd the gentle apricot rose Buff Beauty’ or the foxglove strain ‘Sutton’s Apricot’ makes a ravishing summer companion. Yellow Welsh poppies and early spring pansies in warm orange are stunning with purple aubrieta, purple or mauve tulips and dark purple crocuses.
MELLOW FRUITFULNESS
The glowing tones of autumn foliage blunt the sting of approaching winter. Colour is warmest during these autum- nal months, when greed gives way to yellow, gold and red. The familiar late border plants, such as chrysanthemums, dahlias and orange and yellow crocos- mias are particularly vivid.
Re-creating the red-gold scheme in other seasons is easiest in the summer. Red and yellow gaillardias flower for months on end and look good alongside the fiery scarlet of Euphorbia griffithii. In damp ground, orange and yellow Asian primulas – Primula bulleyana, P sikki- mensis and P florindae – create the de- sired atmosphere. On drier ground, the red or bronze forms of swordlike New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) have an autumnal air; choose Bronze Baby’ or Aurora’ for the warmest colors.
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Winter is the most challenging period because there is so little foliage about – although you can compensate with gold- splashed evergreens. One of the brightest of these is the variegated holly ‘Golden
King, who is also a heavy berry bearer. The winter warms the scene. Cotoneaster horizOntalis colors beau- tifully in autumn with little red leaves and copious berries clustered on the herring- bone branches. One of the brightest winter shows is put on by the crab apple Red Sentinel’ whose cherry-like red fruits hang on until the harshest Feb- ruary days and beyond.
In spring, deciduous azaleas come in a range of autumnal colors, many with the bonus of fragrance. Aquilegias now include several brilliant reds, pinks, yel- lows and combinations; choose Aquilegia canadensis and A. formosa.
COTTAGE GARDEN PRETTINESS OR FORMAL SYMMETRY
Whatever the mood you aim to create, bear in mind the potential of leaf, stem and fruit as well as flower. In a cottage garden, the end result should be a happy tumble of mixed plants, whereas a formal garden relies on shape, line and form as well as plant interest.
The bulk of cottage perennials flower between late May and mid July. Back up your main display with repeating late perennials such as penstemons, pelar- goniums, osteospermums, verbenas and mignonette to have flowers that carry on into October. However, if these plants encroach on the space of late bloomers such as chrysanthemums, the author monkshood (Aconitum carmichaelii) and crocosmias, cut them back. autumn
Lilies are outstanding among late per- formers, especially Lilium auratum. Plant for late flowering. Colchicums are useful too, and their foliage, following in spring, will fill gaps between such early flowers
as crown imperials (Fritillaria imperialis) and honesty.
In a well-designed formal garden there is often as much scope for skilful planting as in an informal scheme. Every plant, including those for outline, can provide interest. Knot gardens or small parterres with low box or lavender hedges and clipped hollies are set off by blocks of colorful plants. In spring, strengthen lasting performers such as winter pansies and dead nettle (Lamium maculatum) with tulips and wallflowers.
In summer, add height to nemesia, pelargoniums or annual osteospermum with late-flowering Phlox paniculata. As the summer bedding begins to tire in September, add polyanthus or more pansies to bloom as the senior partners – chrysanthemums and dahlias – reach their late autumn climax.
GENEROUS SELF -SEEDERS
AMONG THE PLANTS that give the best value in the garden are the natural self- seeders which flourish in increasing numbers year after year. Many of these are found growing in the wild, adding color to hedgerows and fields, but they look equally at home in a garden.
Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is a biennial which blooms once. If you leave the seeds to ripen and germinate, they provide a springtime display of large pink bells year after year.
TROUBLE-FREE CHOICES
A woodland flower that grows best in half shade and in clay soil is primrose (Primula vulgaris), which flowers from March to May, coming back stronger every year and producing seedlings. Deadhead some of the plants and they often provide a lesser display in autumn and winter.
For brilliant yearly color Welsh only persistent perennials, but also co- pious self-seeders. They germinate best in gentle shade, even in the poorest soil, their clear yellow or orange flowers popping up in cracks and crevices.
IN SUMMARY
Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) has deep blue or white flowers which turn into balloon-like seed pods that produce crowds more of the annals the following year.
A prodigious self-seeder is forget- me-not (Myosotis) with blue flowers in April. Seedlings should be thinned out or moved to a nursery bed to grow on for September planting.
