From the number of people I see gazing
into estate agents' windows, who like me are probably not in the
market for another house move, I guess I'm not alone in being nosy
about other people's homes. But I wonder how many are as interested
as I am in the gardens surrounding them. It's rare to find the garden
mentioned as a particular selling point and even rarer to see
'beautiful south facing garden' as I did recently. I think that the
orientation of the garden is very important, but not long ago I saw a
new client for the first time who had no idea which way her back
garden faced and on showing her with a compass she was horrified to
find it was north east, so surrounded by very tall buildings, only in
mid summer would the sun shine directly into her garden.
For a sun worshipper or lavender lover
this would have been a disaster but as it turned out that she didn't
like to sit in the sun and her favourite plant was Alchemilla mollis
then thankfully my visit ended well.
In most gardens, as the sun moves
around it, we can move our spots to sit and benches strategically
placed in a few locations not only give us different views but also
the choice to be in light or shade.
Our plants unfortunately have to put up
with what they've been given and all too often planting is a case of
looking for a gap and sticking it in which at best only gives the
poor plant a fifty/ fifty chance of survival. It's good for plant
sales of course when we buy a replacement but it's entirely possible
to avoid the guesswork and buy appropriate plants for the conditions
we have and embrace the philosophy of putting the right plant in the
right place.
The first rule of green fingers is to
make an honest appraisal of our garden and consider which plant's
tastes we might best accommodate, like lavender, thyme and sage from
dry and sunny Provence, rhododenrons and camellias from the misty
forests of Asia, grasses from the open prairies of America or should
it be bluebells, wood anemones and wild garlic from under the opening
canopy of a British woodland.
Although impulse buying plants is very
tempting, for just a bit of consideration they really will repay our
thoughtfulness and just as we do, they settle best, grow well and
thrive where they feel most at home.