Purple Wellies

Gardens and green spaces have become ever more important in the last few weeks and will continue to do so in the immediate future. We have always had an intrinsic connection with nature, whether we realised it or not, but it is only more recently we have put a name to it. Biophilia, the desire to surround ourselves with plants and nature for positive effects on our mental wellbeing, is something we have built up over millennia.

There are many pitfalls in gardening that many fall into, but one I see time and time again is selection of plants for their flowers over their foliage. How many of you are guilty of this, having fallen in love with a plant in full bloom at the garden centre, brought it home, only to have to cajole and squash it in amongst other spur-of-the-moment purchases as there is no room?
 

The deed is done. All traces of Buxus sempervirens (box) have been removed. The box tree caterpillars had bided their time waiting until we were just about to go on holiday before mercilessly attacking every leaf in sight quicker than you can say Jack Robinson.

Sounds strange, but bear with me. Living in a fast-paced world, it is so easy, when you have a garden pest or weed problem, to reach for a solution in a bottle, organic or not. Better still to adopt some tolerance to both these common garden issues, unless they reach vast numbers, as really, they are just acting as a small part of the eco-system that makes up your garden.

The humble front garden. Whatever happened to it? Lush, well-manicured green lawns of the 50’s surrounded by Hydrangea’s in an array of psychedelic colours interspersed with equally garish dahlia’s in glorious technicolour. Many still have front gardens, but sadly they are a shadow of their former self. Necessities of life have forced their conversion to car parks and bin stores and few people have time to devote to them.