Amanda and Matt
Amanda and Matt’s large back garden near Wimbledon Common was completely replanted in the autumn of 2017. It has matured really nicely and most of the plants have done well. You can see how it used to look here .
In late summer there are a lot of oranges, from Helenium Waldtraut here, and darker rusts from the old flower spikes of foxgloves and the new flower spikes of the grass Calamagrostis x acutiflora Karl Foerster.
These are contrasted with the cooler blues of the long flowering Geranium Rozanne and fading Stachys officinalis Hummelo. One plant that hasn’t done well here is my favourite echinacea, E. pallida, and we’re now looking for something dusty pink to replace it.
Amanda and Matt’s garden is abuzz with pollinators at this time of year, and two of their favourites are these Veronicastrum and Vebena bonariensis. If you’re looking for something tall and late to fill the back of a sunny border you can’t really go wrong with these two.
Rupert
Across Wimbledon to a trendy apartment with its own garden. The front garden overlooks a shared driveway and Rupert wanted to improve the outlook from the kitchen window as well as the approach to the front door.
We had to do a fair amount of editing of existing plants and not a small amount of weeding. Some of the existing shrubs, like this mature Hibiscus, were definitely worth saving.
The border is south-facing and is hot and sunny all through the summer, perfect for these Echinacea purpurea Magnus.
Most of the flowers like these Echinops and Agastache are attractive to pollinators and the border was buzzing on a hot day in late July.
Like most planting schemes some minor adjustments are required after a couple of years and Rupert is keen to add some dark red to the border, something I’ll be helping him with soon.
South Park Gardens
Ok, so not strictly a reader’s garden, but my local park, South Park Gardens, where I have been volunteering since the start of lockdown. The council provides gardeners to mow the lawns, tend the trees, deal with the litter and plant up the traditional bedding in the centre of the park.
The main decorative borders are tended by a team of volunteers lead by super-volunteer Rachel. Most of our gardening efforts have been focused on weeding, but Rachel has also taken charge of quite a bit of new planting, most of which has required a lot of watering in it’s first year.
In these “extraordinary times” the park has seen a lot more use than usual. It’s always been popular with young families but this year has seen an exponential increase in use by all sorts of people - joggers, cyclists, dog-walkers, slack-liners, birthday parties and other celebrations, and has been the focus of many local residents' get togethers in a relatively safe outdoor environment.
On the one hand this has meant that all our efforts head down in the borders have been truly appreciated. We often get nice comments about how good the park looks and how much people enjoy spending time in it. On the other hand there has been an astronomical increase in the amount of litter in the park, some trees and shrubs have been damaged by people climbing them and the watering points have been turned on and left several times.
Overall though the whole volunteering experience has been much more positive than I expected. I’ve got to know many more neighbours, there’s the perk of the occasional bunch of cut flowers from the gardeners’ compound and the odd free coffee from the kiosk Bliss in the Park (courtesy of the Friends of South Park Gardens who also fund the plant purchases).
I’ll carry on with the volunteering for the time being. Many thanks to all the other volunteers - Rachel, Helen, Jane, Mike, Will, Regina, another Rachel and another Helen, Nushi,and anyone I’ve accidentally forgotten.
To see more of South Park Gardens click here