A VISIT to the Royal
Horticultural Society gardens at Wisley, on the first warm day of
2013, did, I am afraid, reinforce a gardening stereotype.
Silver-haired ladies of a certain age abounded. They seemed to
compete at gushing and accurately naming the (admittedly gorgeous)
spring display. The truth is that the gardening world is so much
broader than this.
A new book by Lia
Leendertz, My Cool Allotment (Pavilion Books), celebrates
this diversity. An important aspect of the book is to celebrate
ideas, plants, and recipes that plot-holders have brought from
other countries, specifically Cyprus, Jamaica, Thailand, and
Japan.
One description often
levelled at the typical gardener is "cheerful", and in my
experience this tends to hold true. I suspect that it is the
combination of fresh air and exercise which keeps our spirits up.
Nevertheless, a gardener is not immune to a "Woe is me" moment.
My friend Sally and I
were bemoaning our lot the other day. Sally looks after the garden
of All Saints' Vicarage, Fulham, much used by the local community
and having a great deal of dry shade. My Tuesdays are spent
developing the Company of Goldsmiths' garden in the City, and I
have the same challenge, created by two enormous plane trees. Sally
has planes, thirsty limes, and a huge magnolia. All on a sandy,
stony soil over, in places, an old moat filled in with rubble. We
had an interesting conversation about the plants we found to cope,
or even thrive, under trees.
As well as the gamut of
spring bulbs - including scillas, chionodoxas, and Muscari
latifolium, we both valued Helleborus x hybridus, the
Lenten rose. Typically pink or purple, it is worth seeking out the
more unusual and lemon shades, and, to contrast, near-black ones.
Some breeders have selected for freckling on pale or white flowers.
If you are lucky, they will self-seed in the garden, and new shades
will emerge from the gene pool. Although many will have reverted to
a smudgy maroon, you may find a star among the offspring.
Among the dry-shade
staples of Sarcococca confusa, a shrubby evergreen with
intense winter fragrance; Euphorbia amygdaloides var.
robbiae, a spurge with bright green flowers; and
Pulmonaria "Blue Ensign", I offer two.
Omphalodes
cappadocica "Cherry Ingram" is a striking woodlander bearing
its bright-blue flowers now. Geum "Lemon Drops" is closely
related to our native water havens found on woodland edges, but has
surprised me with its resistance to dryness. The pale-yellow
flowers are beginning to show now, and keep on coming until
July.
Sally introduced me to
Trachystemon orientalis, which displays blue borage-like
flowers in spring before the leaves take over clothing the ground
in healthy mounds of green.
As always, a problem
shared is a problem halved.
All Saints' Vicarage, 70 Fulham High Street SW6, is open for
charity on 11 May
, 2-8.30 p.m.; 12 May, 2- 5.30 p.m.; 16 May, 6-8.30
p.m.