Readers' Gardens July 2020

Glenis

Glenis and I have been collaborating on her garden since she moved into the new build in south west London in 2008. Amazingly, it is completely walled. This Rosa Iceberg didn’t do very well in the first year and Glenis took some persuading to keep it for another year. But since then it has flowered prolifically and does a great job filling this corner.

Like many of my clients who have lived in hot countries Glenis likes lots of colour and so the subtle palette of blues and yellows that I started with have gradually got hotter and brighter. We don’t know the variety of these orange Alstromerias but with regular dead-heading they flower most of the summer.

Some of the blues remain though and these Campanula porscharskyana Stella carpet one of the borders.

Glenis is a big fan of planters and is assiduous in watering, feeding and dead-heading them. She has a small collection of these pretty wall-hung pots planted with pelargoniums, ideal for keeping busy in lock-down.

Inger and Peter

Inger and Peter have got a lovely large, private garden in Wimbledon. This is its fourth summer and has really filled out. It’s quite shady due to the large trees in the garden, many of which are protected. In summer though there is a lot of sun and this table and chairs are perfectly placed for a morning coffee.

In the second half of the summer these Hydrangea macrophylla Mme Emilie Moulliere are the stars of the garden. They start off a brilliant white and fade to a lovely pink by the end of summer.

Accompanying the hydrangeas are spots of pink and blue. These Geranium Mrs Kendall Clark have thrived in the rain this June.

A dining table, flanked by Olive trees and Erigeron karvinskianus, is handily placed between the kitchen and the orangery. You can see more of this garden here - https://www.arthurroadlandscapes.co.uk/designs#/wimbledon-common-garden/

My garden

A slight lack of planning means that I’ve run out of readers’ gardens and so have to resort to using my own. Like many people I’ve spent a lot more time in my garden than usual which means it does look a bit better than usual. The weather’s helped too.

As a garden designer I find my self being caught between the endless possibilities of what I could do, what I actually have the time and money to do, and finding homes for random plants that have proved surplus to requirements in clients’ gardens.

One end of the garden is my attempt at a white garden. It’s been fairly successful so far with some pale pink and pale yellow in it as well. At the other end is a mix of blue and white and yellow but I can’t decide if the purple blob of Berberis in the middle is a good thing or bad thing.

And just in case you were wondering about the shockingly long grass … it was an experiement to see what would happen if I didn’t mow it. The result? Very long grass (no wildflowers/weeds whatsoever) that my camera shy cat likes playing in.

Thank goodness most public gardens are now open.