It’s not all wellies, mud-caked hands, boots and mucky clothing for The Handy Gardener.
No, on occasion I’ll get up extra early, put on the glad-rags and set off somewhere for the day, to be inspired by other people’s gardens; there’s just so much to learn out there.
Global warming is setting us all new challenges in our own gardens, things seem to come into bloom sooner and last longer, as our weather becomes more chaotic, sporadic and less predictable.
I’ve a friend who lives in San Fransico, who can arrange a picnic in the park 4 months ahead and you can guarantee it’s going to be a dry sunny day (at least it used to be).
Well, it seems we’re all having to adapt to these new challenges, tweaking our seasonal planting regimes and anticipating their end. Here in the South-West of the country, it’s always about 3 degrees warmer than up north, which in plant world roughly translates as 2 weeks earlier, whilst down in the West Country, it’s more like 3-4 weeks: winter is a mere 4-6 weeks, no longer 3 months.
A garden I visited recently was Great Dixter in East Sussex, the gardens are quite simply breathtaking. It hasn’t been clipped and pruned to within an inch of its life, but rather, the plants and shrubs lean and blend seamlessly one into another, without it looking unkempt.
In high summer, the place is a kaleidoscopic riot of colour, ‘fireworks night’ in a garden. Of course, the real artistry is in the seamless, natural look, which of course, as with any garden is far from natural.
The city visitor says to the farmer, ‘Look at all this beautiful countryside God’s made, ‘Yes,’ replies the farmer, ‘However, you should have seen the state it was in before I arrived,’ ha!
