GARDENING HINTS, February/March Bridge
During the recent heavy rain part of our garden wall fell down. This happens
from time to time and we are philosophical about it- we have a lot of old walls
and they do occasionally fall down. Luckily it is not in a place that is very
visible, and we share the boundary wall with our neighbour. On his side the
wall is stone and on our side it is brick. We don’t know why. Anyway, the
point of mentioning it here is because there is an itea shrub growing against
the said wall on our side and to gain access to the wall for rebuilding it this
shrub had to be drastically pruned. This is the kind of thing that you can’t
plan for in gardening. It is entirely the wrong time to prune an itea, but pruned
it was, by about 95%, leaving six inches of one very low mature trunk with
a couple of shoots on it. It may or may not recover, we shall see.
Pruning that can be done now is, of course, roses. We’ve just started
and I’m erring on the hard pruning side rather than just deadheading them.
I have to admit that when I am in certain friends’ gardens, I am just itching
to get my secateurs and loppers out when I look at their roses. Rose bushes
full of very old stems, dead bits and lots of crossing branches. Cut those
dead bits out, take one or two old branches right down to the ground, get rid
of crossing branches and aim for a nice open bush, then give a nice feed.
Even if the rose doesn’t feel better then you will! Roses like a feed in Spring
anyway and I have had Uncle Tom’s Rose Tonic highly recommended to
me, so I am giving it a try.
Great Dixter in Sussex is a wonderful garden and one that I admire
greatly, not only because of the character and plantmanship of the late
Christopher Lloyd, but also because all its aims and ethos chime with what
I believe in and hold dear too. It is run entirely on organic principles and
various scientific research projects have shown that this has resulted in a
huge biodiversity of birds, animals and insects. They experiment and are not
frightened of trying out new things. They like self-seeders. They share their
considerable knowledge.
It is a teaching garden- so every year they will take on a number of
students who will live and work at Great Dixter learning as much as they can
from Fergus Garrett, who now runs it, and his team. I have signed up for an
online five part symposium and I shall be lapping up all that information and
experience and trying to put it into practice here. You can also access video
lectures that Fergus has given over the years from Vimeo. They cost £15 to
rent, last about two hours and you have a month to watch them. If this
appeals to you, Google Vimeo On Demand, in the menu choose Search and
put in Great Dixter- all the titles should appear.
Barbara McNaught