Let’s hope March is not as wet as January and February have been, and that the light levels each day are better. The flooding in the valley below us in February was as extensive as I have ever seen it, and being groundwater flooding will take a long time to dissipate through the chalk aquifer. It has meant no gardening that involves standing on beds or digging as it’s just too wet. Back to creating our Long Border. What sort of planting should I be considering for my border? Here are two colour-coordinated areas of a Long Border at Kilver Court in Somerset:
The first photo reminds me of our visit to Hadspen when Norrie and Sandra Pope created purple themed borders, something I had tried to do with my planting elsewhere in the garden, but perhaps I needed more bright colours in a Long Border? Perhaps something like this exuberant planting at Forde Abbey at the end of August?:-
Here Salvias, rudbekias, and at the back one of my most desired plants – the annual Persicaria orientalis. How amazing it grows 1.5m high in one year. Or a variety of different Rudbekias showing the different heights they can grow to – ideal for a Long Border: -
And of course, Forde Abbey’s famous long border that in fact is double sided as you can see it from the water side, as well as the “front”: -
I had asked himself what he wanted in a Long Border, and he said it shouldn’t look like the rest of the garden! This was a bit vague to put it mildly, but as much of the garden was at its peak in May and June, or had winter interest in bark colours, I felt that this new border should be a later summer border, full of colour in August – October. This visit to Forde Abbey right at the end of August was inspiring.
But himself, whilst he loved all that later summer colour, also loved sights like this herbaceous border at Waterperry Gardens, taken on the last day of June: -
Delphiniums, Verbascum and Campanulas. And here, a July shot of one of the most famous Long Borders of all – Great Dixter: -
Oh dear, what to do. Well one option was to either aim for a planting that covered more than just August-October, maybe somethings that flowered earlier and left nice seedheads, or flowered more than once. Here are some shots of an herbaceous border at Leckford Nurseries taken in September: -
This includes Hylotephelum above, which grows well in my garden, and (in the picture above that) a large clump of Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ a microphyllia salvia. In my garden I have red flowered, and pink flowered types that flower from early June until the frost. But obviously these are NOT herbaceous perenials….
The fact I am calling it a Long Border and not an Herbaceous Border will no doubt have alerted you hardy planters to the fact that I was NOT aiming for a traditional herbaceous border like the ones I showed you last month. Now I love an herbaceous perennial as much as the rest of you, but let’s face it, a lot of the year the border would look like this: -
If you were very lucky with the winter weather, the Hylotephelum from above might retain its seedheads like this: -
In the types of very wet winters, we have now most top growth on herbaceous perennials in this garden have turned to mush and are rotting the crown of the plant, rather than “dying gracefully,” or having magnificent seedheads in frosty early morning light as the inspirational winter gardening books show you. Indeed, that border at Leckford, if you return in the winter/early spring, is completely bare except for the Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ as you go through the gates. Now that is a huge expanse of brown that is 1) not interesting to look at and 2) a weed magnet on that bare soil. (In our garden also 3) the topsoil is liable to be washed away down the hill too in the rain). In most of our gardens, our borders have to work harder than that and be of interest for more than one season. So, I determined that I would not be restricted to just herbaceous perennials, which would allow me subshrubs like lavender, or even actual shrubs (!), nor did they have to be hardy herbaceous (this was because himself wanted dahlias.) It also meant I could fill in gaps with annuals like cosmos, love in a mist, etc, which would be especially useful whilst the plants were small and filling out into their allotted space.
This was a combination himself was very taken with – Stipa Gigantia with Dahlias, especially the dark foliage Bishop’s series ones, also from Leckford: -
Whilst I like this Stipa, I feel it never looks good crowded into a mixed border, needing space round it (say in a gravel garden) to expand to its full potential. I am much more happy with his other favourite grass, Calamagrostis x Acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster,’ with its upright habit, which works well within a wide border, or a miscanthus, such as Miscanthus ‘Morning Light,’ which has volume and can hold its own in a border: -
Here’s a more mixed Long Border at Houghton Lodge also in September, with a similar mix of Dahlias, Hylotephelum, and structure from a tree peony giving interest: -
So, I started to amass plants – a few dahlias: -
And a collection of Salvia Microphyllia to add to the few I had already: -
How to turn our steep, weedy chalk hillside below the gabion wall/fern bed into a beautiful border like the ones I’ve shown above? I’ll save how we started on that challenge until next month. In the meantime, in the past week when we had three dry days, and some sunshine (a real rarity here), I have seen a Brimstone butterfly, and a Peacock butterfly; at least one bumblebee; and a queen wasp in my potting shed. The birds are singing loudly at dawn and are darting in and out of my honeysuckles looking for nesting places. I think spring is springing!
Sheila May
