Purple Wellies

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.
 

As the garden growing season gets underway for another year, I look at ways in which we can future proof our gardens to help protect them from extreme weather events like flash flooding or drought which the UK is expected to endure more of in the future.

As the last leaves fall, Woking’s towers are becoming ever prominent from far and wide. Whether you are in-favour or opposed to these urban complexes, many of us will endure the view of high-rise living from our gardens, whilst feeling their once tranquil garden space is losing its seclusion. With the reality of a further developed skyline we could hope for something as stunning as The Bosco Verticale in Milan or The Supertree Grove in Singapore, but I’m sure we will be left with unfulfilled biophilic tendencies from the developments.

Bulb planting season is nearly upon us again. A few choice bulbs choose to flower now, like Sternbergia lutea. Similar to the autumn crocus, this is one to try if you have a free draining border against a sunny house wall where nothing else will grow. To see us through to autumn with its gossamer, downward facing heads is Gladiolus papillo and the copper-tinted flowers of Gladiolus dalenii subsp. dalenii.