Here is another interesting article from SE10 Magazine. OK, so maybe it hasn’t been quite an apocalypse but, following this summer’s heatwave, most gardens have been either abandoned as being beyond hope or have gone into a deep summer hibernation. Lawns have dried up and herbaceous borders are looking beyond any mortal help – the only consolation being that they will, in all probability, live to fight another day. However, that day won’t be until next season, and who’s to say this heatwave pattern isn’t going to be a regular occurrence now that America and China have decided to superheat the earth’s atmosphere?!
Personally, I think we’ve all had a stark reminder that we are in the midst of a sea change for the traditional English climate; it’s possible that our ‘meat and two veg’ mainstay of formal lawns surrounded by flowering borders could be consigned to the history books. Percy Thrower will be turning in his grave at the thought of an English garden stripped of all its high maintenance (but stunning) Delphiniums, Phlox’s and other stalwarts – but he was around to witness the last mega heatwave in 1976, so maybe he had an inkling that the writing was on the wall anyway?!
Now, please don’t get the wrong impression – I’m not advocating abandoning our gardens to a sea of paving or artificial turf (although the latter does have its uses) – but rather suggesting that we slowly adapt our gardens to cope with the more erratic nature of our new weather patterns. There are some really clever things you can do straight away; water will be one of our most precious resources in the coming years, so why not capture as much as you can by diverting all the run-off from buildings into storage tanks or into the garden itself? By creating “rain gardens,” you can effectively make the best use of the water that would normally be sent straight to the municipal drainage system – this can provide water for flowers, vegetables and fruit. Once the water storage systems are full and the plants have had their fill, any excess is then sent to the drains to prevent localised flooding. You could also do the same thing with bathwater, which would help (obviously!) when the drought kicks in.
Another adaptation is in the style of planting that we should be using to harmonise with the new weather conditions. It seems a bit daft trying to suggest that we should be adopting a more Mediterranean planting style now that we are in the throes of Brexit – but, in effect, that’s what we need to do. You only need to look at gardens in those regions to see what will survive and what looks great despite very little human intervention. Silver-leafed plants such as Lavender, Santolina and Helychrisum are great examples of plants that veritably thrive in the conditions we’ve been wilting under - and grasses such as Stipa and Miscanthus are equally at home.
Most of these plants come with very distinctive aromatic properties so they add yet another element to the garden – particularly if you site them next to a path… or even in the path if you use something like Thyme! Succulents, plants such as Crassulas, Aloes and Aeoniums are also finding new levels of interest from English (as well as the rest of the UK!) gardeners who are finding ever more creative ways to introduce them to borders – or, even better, displayed in large terracotta pots where they can be seen to best effect.
If you want some drama and colour though, why not try laying some pre-grown Pictorial Meadows? These turfs arrive as a complete growing system and consist of plants mainly of Mediterranean origin so they are well adapted to periods of drought. The attached picture shows a mid summer display in Sheffield, growing at relatively high altitude - if you can grow this here, you can grow it anywhere in the UK!
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