Here is a sight to strike terror in many gardeners. Those are gladiolus bulbs, in this case a yellow flowered hybrid. I knew it was a ‘vigorous’ grower, as the euphemism goes. I just didn’t realise quite how enthusiastic it was about increasing.

Some aspects of gardening are somewhat akin to micro-surgery. Removing many of those bulblets that have detached from the parent is one such activity. There is not much alternative to gently working through the soil and picking them out one by one. I had noticed Gladiolus dalenii had the same habit and I haven’t started on that patch yet. The only other plants I can think of that we grow here with a similar bulblet production are the ixias and alliums. They should come with a warning that control may require precision gardening.

When I wrote recently about plants that may be good but I don’t want them everywhere,  it clearly struck a chord with a number of readers. My current bête noire is mondo grass – ophiopogon – and that means picking out every fallen seed as well all the runners. Susan, who leads the volunteers at the Te Henui cemetery, tells me she is reviewing the plant material they use and making lists of plants that she intends to get rid of and those that she wants to restrict heavily. They want the place looking colourful, vibrant and pretty all year but, while the overall area is very large, much of it is viewed close-up and they don’t have the labour to carry out the highly detailed plant care that is possible in a domestic garden. As a result, they need to use plants which will still look good – or at least not a mess – when their flowering is over. I could understand that she had the large pink watsonias on her list to get rid of; I was initially surprised that lychnis and Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ are also for the chop. Fortunately, Susan keeps good records and I have asked her if I can use her plant list as she refines it. I think it will be a good resource for perennials that under-perform or fail to pass over gracefully in our climate. That will take time to eventuate but may be a lot more useful to New Zealand gardeners than overseas plant lists.

Yet again, I have been surprised by how much time and effort I put in over summer to keep our new perennial gardens looking good. Our experience in the past included extensive use of perennials and bulbs in shade gardens but not in full sun where perennials G R O W, spread and often flop over. In our conditions, we spend a lot of time deadheading to restrict the rampant spread and a fair amount of time staking and tying followed by de-staking. You can get rid of this by being a great deal more selective about which plants you use but many of the ones I enjoy the most need this extra attention. It can all become a bit utilitarian if plants are to be selected primarily on being low maintenance.

If you are going for a lower maintenance garden, stick to trees and shrubs, avoid bulbs and only use perennials in shady areas is my advice. Shade gardening is generally lower maintenance because the plants don’t grow as rampantly in lower light levels. We are into high-interest gardening rather than low-maintenance gardening.

It is always a bit harder working out what to do in high summer. It is the right time to dig bulbs as just a few are starting into growth but totally the wrong time to move woody trees and shrubs. I find I can move perennials as long as I can get water to the site (we don’t irrigate here) and replant them well with plenty of compost and water and then mulch. They are currently in full growth so can re-establish quickly if steps are taken to mitigate the summer dry and heat. I am chipping my way through some of the lesser borders we have in the garden.

Like many, if not most, homes in this country, we have awkward, narrow, very dry borders around the house defined by a concrete path. I find the two I have just done preternaturally tidy. This one is predominantly home to two different forms of veltheimia and I haven’t done anything with it but weed and tidy for maybe 15 years. This time, I dug everything bar the rosemary plants and two lapageria vines, saturated the poor, spent soil and enriched it with compost before replanting. As I walk past that abnormal tidiness several times a day, it occurs to me that this is what too many people judge to be ‘good gardening’. No, what is good gardening is when all the plants bed in and how it looks firstly this spring and then in 3, 5 or 8 years’ time, maybe longer.

It was very gratifying in late spring to have a garden designer friend from Auckland call in with a companion he wanted to see the place. What he singled out was how well the plants were bedded in. Not tidiness, but the creation of plant communities that are established and look as though they belong together over time.

So much of gardening is taking the longer view rather than instant gratification. And tidiness can be over-rated.