The Magical Carpet Garden

Magic at The Garden House in Devon

I wrote in my last column about redoing the rockery plantings here – a task finally completed after a good three weeks. When I say completed, I could just keep going on the margins and expanding onwards and outwards but other priorities call at this stage. In that column, I mentioned what we call the carpet garden as an alternative way to feature little treasures without the structure of individual pockets, raised beds and, in our case, several truck-loads of rocks.

I don’t know if this genre of gardening has a different name but if you think of an oversized Persian rug, or maybe a patchwork quilt of random design created from tiny treasures, you may get the picture. This is not in any way to be confused with its vulgar and strident cousin – the traffic island geometric bedding plant displays composed of annuals which have a debt to the Edwardians. The French have a long history of doing these bedding plant displays with more ooh la la francais panache but they are still combinations of bedding plants. If floral clocks composed of African marigolds, blue lobelia, red salvias and pink bedding begonias are your thing, then so be it but they leave me cold.

Altogether more refined is the plantsmanship in achieving mats of dwarf perennials. The finest example of this that we have seen is at The Garden House in Devon, on the edge of Dartmoor. Admittedly we were instantly won over by The Garden House on arrival because the very first significant plant we saw, in pride of place as one enters, was none other than Mark’s magnolia named for his father, Magnolia Felix Jury. It was an auspicious start for antipodean visitors and we felt a rosy glow of pride which I think was entirely justifiable. Leaving that aside, what is designated The Quarry Garden caught our attention. In this case it is an undulating carpet, planted through the site of a small quarry with some contour to the land. On a summer’s day in June, it was an entrancing patchwork quilt. We are talking plants such as the prostrate thymes, alpine phlox, spreading euphorbias, cistus and roscoea with the occasional vertical exclamation mark from echiums (which are more prized in UK gardens than here). I didn’t take plant notes, unfortunately, but I am pretty sure there were dwarf bulbs in there too. Little treasures again, featured in a garden style which allows them to flourish and to have their place. It is a style of alpine gardening, as is the traditional rockery, so it needs open conditions and to be kept free of bullying thugs of plants.

Underwhelmed at Sissinghurst

The other example of carpet gardens that we saw was at Sissinghurst and these, alas, were not memorable. Best guess is that they were designed to feature the prostrate thymes. As dead flat concrete rectangles surrounded by flat paving and lawn, they had all the panache and style of children’s sandpits given a new use. At a time of year when they should have been brimful of interlocking mats of ground cover, they were instead sparse and somewhat barren. We were underwhelmed.

Naturally I wanted to come home and try a carpet garden in the style of the Quarry Garden we saw in Devon. I even mentally located it in a sunny, open position in our new North Garden. But ever the pragmatist, Mark pointed out that this style is extremely high maintenance. Not only is plant selection critical, when a garden is filled with ground hugging miniature plants, weed control is of the essence. You can’t be out with the push hoe or glyphosate in this type of garden. Nor can you rely on compost mulch to suppress unwanted germination. Upon reflection, I had to agree that he is right. It is a place which requires you to pick your way through gently, ever useful wonder weeder in one hand and bucket in the other, taking care where you place your feet. Readers who have tried planting chamomile or thyme lawns will know what I mean. We have one stretch where we have a carpet of prostrate thyme softening the edges between concrete pathway and our driveway. It always seems remarkable to me that the thyme will grow on the concrete path with a mere few millimetres of accumulated dirt to set roots. But I work on that thyme carpet constantly to prevent weeds from getting established. The nasty little bitter cress can creep in, as can a dwarf poa (grass), summer grass and the creeping yellow oxalis. If I didn’t keep onto it, it would not take long to turn into a carpet of thyme and weeds.

Constant maintenance is needed on our thyme edging. The yellow flowers are zephyranthes, known as the rain lily from central America

Constant maintenance is needed on our thyme edging. The yellow flowers are zephyranthes, known as the rain lily from central America

So my advice on the carpet garden concept is, first and foremost, don’t even think about it unless you are a very precise and fastidious gardener who is prepared for eternal vigilance and intervention. This is not for laissez faire gardeners at all. Not only that, but you have to constantly remove fallen leaves and debris. Immaculate maintenance is a critical part of keeping it looking good. Turn your back on it all for a season and you will likely have a scruffy, weedy mess. At this stage, I have shelved my ideas for trying one. Maybe it could be a little project in retirement.

However, should you wish to try one, think ground hugging (prostrate) plants and miniatures along with dwarf bulbs. Little and low is the key. We are not alpine here so you will probably fare best with some of the thymes, baby campanulas, trailing lobelia for fillers, the true mini irises, small growing sysirinchium (there is a very nice little blue flowered one called Devon Skies that we bought from a local garden centre), dianthus, our native helichrysum which we have under the cultivar name of Silver Cushion (may be a selection of H. bellidioides) and the like. You could use verbascums for vertical accents and there are assorted bulbs which will grow tall but without large spreading foliage to smother surrounding plants. Albuca juncifolia fills this role well, in our experience. The long and the short of it is that you are going to have to be a bit of a plant collector as well as a careful gardener. Add in excellent drainage, open conditions and the traditional mulch of coarse gravel. There is no mystery to the carpet garden – just attention to detail if it is to achieve the magic status we saw at The Garden House.

Flowering this week: Eucomis or pineapple lily

Neither pineapple nor lily, this burgundy coloured eucomis is a feature in our summer garden

Our best guess is that this is a good form of Eucomis comosa, possibly a hybrid. It actually has nothing to do with pineapples or lilies because it is a bulb from South Africa and belongs to the hyacinth family. But the flower with top knot is seen as resembling a pineapple and that may be more PC than referencing caricatures of certain indigenous tribes who favoured top knots. The bulbs are big fist-sized affairs and build up quite readily in well drained, sunny positions. Each bulb makes a large clump so it is a plant for the summer herbaceous border where it has room to spread out and where it doesn’t matter that it leaves a bare area when it dies off in autumn. The long-lived flowers are apparently widely used in floral work and because the eucomis is happy to grow in covered houses, flowering seasons can be extended.

Our eucomis has leaves which are a subtle blend of burgundy and brown with a green undertone, bright burgundy flower stems and buds opening to a scented lilac flower with lovely yellow anthers. Green forms of eucomis are more common and there has been a range of dwarf eucomis hybrids introduced in recent years. This is a genus that lends itself to hybridising and it is generally an easy garden plant in our favoured conditions here in Taranaki.

In the Garden January 29, 2010

The buds and flowers are edible and it may be pretty but the Cape Pond Weed is dangerously invasive in our waterways and should be shunned at all times

The buds and flowers are edible and it may be pretty but the Cape Pond Weed is dangerously invasive in our waterways and should be shunned at all times

  • If you have hydrangeas full of fresh foliage but precious few or no flowers, the likely problem lies in your winter pruning. Most hydrangeas set flower buds on last season’s growth so if you cut them off at ground level or too low down the stems, you have cut off all the next season’s flower buds. You can not make them flower this season but get some advice before you prune again this coming winter or be less brutal.
  • The end of January usually heralds the time when garden centres start to take delivery of spring bulbs which are sold dry because they are dormant at this time. If you are after anything beyond the usual mass runs, you will need to start haunting your garden centre because anything rare and choice is likely to be available in small numbers only and to sell out quickly.
  • Summer is a good time to give some attention to water gardens and ponds. You are less likely to suffer from hypothermia and the water can start to get pretty green and algae ridden as temperatures rise. If you don’t have fish, you are highly likely to have a breeding ground for mosquitoes unless your water is flowing. We saw a solar powered mini fountain in a friend’s garden in London which was to counter mosquito breeding but don’t know how widely available they are here. The alternative is a plug-in water feature to keep the water moving. A squirt of CRC across the surface of the water will kill the larvae. You may need to seek advice from your garden centre on algae treatments. The simplest water feature of all is a smaller growing water lily plant in a large bowl and a single water lily flower can be a vision of simple perfection. Never but never unleash oxygen weed into flowing streams and shun the African Cape Pond Weed (water hawthorn or Aponogeton distachyum). We know how invasive both are and Mark battles infestations annually in our stream and ponds.
  • If you have an onion crop, the indication that they are ready for harvest is when the stems turn brown and bend over. Once you have dug the onions, they need to dry out for a few days before storing them. Plaiting them or using mesh onion bags is to allow continued air movement so they don’t rot. Don’t store them in plastic and hanging them is better than boxes on the ground. The same storage rules apply to garlic.
  • It is the last call for sowing sweet corn. Given a reasonable summer and autumn it will mature just in time and then as temperatures drop, it will hold in the garden (it stops growing) part way into winter which greatly extends the fresh corn season. You may never buy frozen corn again.
  • With the many fruit trees sold in recent years, some readers will be picking their plums if they can beat the birds. The best time to prune and shape your plum tree is straight after harvest. You reduce the chance of silver blight entering the tree if you summer prune. The same applies to cherries, both ornamental and fruiting, almonds and indeed all stone and pip fruit and their ornamental relatives.

Flowering this week: anigozanthos, probably a flavidus hybrid.

The Australian anigozanthus requires perfect drainage in our conditions

I have never been up close and personal with Kanga and certainly not so near that I can examine her feet, so the reason why the anigozanthos family are widely referred to as kanagaroo paws eludes me. While the flowers are slightly furry, that doesn’t seem sufficient reason to liken the two. But these interesting clumping, evergreen perennials from South Western Australia are worthwhile additions to the sunny garden, if for no other reason than that they flower most of the year.

The critical issue with anigozanthos is perfect drainage. Apparently flavidus is more tolerant of damper conditions than the other species (which may be why this yellow one thrives where we have lost others over time) but we are only talking tolerance of Australian damp which is not at all the same thing as Taranaki damp. Perfect drainage, a raised bed and very open conditions are still recommended.

Modern breeding has led to the commercial release of a range of jewel-like colour combinations going well beyond the common red and yellow toughies, more into the rosella parrot colourings. We have tried a number of these over the years and gradually lost the lot – you should have more success if you garden in sandy, coastal conditions. But the reliable yellows and reds give consistent and curious flowers in our rockery and are also good as a cut flower. This yellow plant puts up flower spikes to around 150cm and, bless, they hold themselves up without staking. Many others are a great deal more compact and with flower spikes closer to 20 or 30cm

Anigozanthos are frequently available in garden centres.

In the garden this week January 22, 2010

  • Only mad dogs, Englishmen and dead keen gardeners are doing much in the ornamental garden at the moment. But do stop weeds from going to seed if you want to save yourself a great deal of work later. If you catch them before the seeds are set, you can push hoe them or just pull them out and leave them to frazzle in the sun. But if you can see seed heads formed already, you will have to gather them up and either put them out in the rubbish or hot compost them. Weed seeds will survive baking in the sun and indeed survive most people’s compost heaps which don’t get hot enough to sterilise. If you have rubbish collection, the wheelie bin is the safest option for seeds.
  • While you can’t be doing much planting in the ornamental garden, you can at least summer prune, limb up, tidy up and deadhead. We tend to be spring garden specialists in this country and can look rather dull, green and tired in full summer. A grooming round can freshen it all up considerably.
  • We summer prune the roses constantly, trimming back to leaf buds where possible, deadheading and generally tidying up the bushes. If you don’t spray your roses, this is an important process to look them looking half way decent. The books all recommend watering and feeding too, but we don’t tend to get around to this.
  • Most clematis which have finished the first flush of flowering and which may now be sporting an unfashionable powdered white look (powdery mildew) can be cut back to a few centimetres of growth. Feed them, give them a good drink and they will spring back into fresh growth and even flower for you in about six weeks. You can not do this to all clematis, but most of the hybrids that you buy will respond to this treatment.
  • In the vegetable garden, harvest continually to encourage the likes of beans, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes to continue producing fresh crops.
  • Even though we have had little real summer yet, the end of January signals the time to get late sowings of corn in to carry you through to early winter. Planted after that, they are unlikely to mature in time.
  • Basil is best pinched out to encourage bushy plants.
  • Most garlic will be ready to be harvested and alas after a bumper crop last year, we are going to be lucky here to have sufficient to keep the vampires at bay. Store in cool, dark conditions with good air movement – in other words plait them in traditional style or recycle mesh onion bags.
  • If you enamoured of the Brussels sprout, you need to be getting in plants right now if you want to be confident of a harvest later. Keep up with sowing fresh salad greens – a little often is the key.
  • The new gardening programme on Prime (Sunday at 7.00pm) is all about learning to veg garden but unless you fit the demographic (urban dwelling female, under 40, upwardly socially mobile and probably drinking skinny milk decaf latte and driving a people mover), it may not inspire you.