Garden Answers July 2023

Dear reader, my time at Garden Answers has sadly come to an end. I’m heading to pastures new but will leave you in the capable hands of a small but very talented team. They work hard to make this magazine beautiful, so I can’t go without extending my biggest thanks to them. And what a scorcher of an issue it is to finish on! This month, we have hot and vibrant alstroemerias as our must-have plant on page 28. These exotically striped flowers conjure a taste of warmer climes while being very hardy in the garden. If that whets your appetite then head over to page 20 where our feature on holiday plants will help you recreate a bit of paradise at home. Our Design Solution on page 92 goes…

1Vibrant crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ forms an eye-catching bright red-orange ribbon throughout the deep planting. H50cm (1ft 8in), S1m (3ft 3in). 2 Exotic but hardy Aralia elata adds a nice edge to this scheme. It has spiny stems when small but then ages to a graceful smooth-barked tree. H5m (16ft), S4m (13ft). 3 Tall golden alstroemeria ‘Sweet Laura’ is a versatile bloom, and here unites the hot and cool border colours. H50cm (1ft 8in), S1m (3ft 3in). Layers of multicoloured planting moving from the blues and purples of linaria, eryngiums and eupatorium into hot colours of crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, fuchsias and yellow alstroemeria ‘Sweet Laura’ and then back into purples and blues again. Strong foliage forms of Aralia echinocaulis and Paulownia tomentosa riseabove the herbaceous plantings.…

Patio project BURNING EMBERS This container of sultry perennials turns up the heat on a warm summer evening. The glowing coral-red flowers of salvia ‘Ember’s Wish’ and heucherella ‘Sweet Tea’ are offset by the mellow but warm mauve flowers of Campanula portenschlagiana ‘Sago’, topped by dancing thalictrum flowers. This cultivar, ‘Black Stockings’, has elegant black stems, as does the tiarella, which give the arrangement an extra element of shadowy and chic style. GET THE LOOK Shopping... Tropical and exotic prints to recreate the holiday feel LANDSCAPING Raby Castle GARDEN MAKEOVER A new walled garden and nine-tier grass amphitheatre are just some of the extensive new landscaping projects under way at Raby Castle, a historic site in County Durham. The remodelled Walled Garden has been deisgned by world-renowned garden designer Luciano…

However much we strive for continuous colour and long-lasting floral fireworks, most gardens wax and wane to a certain extent. As the freshness and vigour of late spring gives way to the languor of high summer, beds and borders can lose some of their impact, and by the time that July comes around, the display can start to sag. With recent erratic weather bringing dry springs and unseasonal periods of cold, plants have been held back, with their growth delayed until conditions improve. Depending on the duration of the drought and the intensity of the chill, this can have a knock-on effect on the timing and performance of summer-flowering plants, in a way that is not always predictable. Another reason for ending up with a boom-and-bust garden is going to…

Palm trees by a pool, shimmering olive trees, bright bougainvillea draped over a balcony… Everyone loves a sunny summer holiday, and who doesn’t crave bringing a bit of the sights and smells of the Mediterranean – or even further afield – back to their own garden? The key to getting that sun-drenched feeling in your garden is to look at the climate: summers are hotter in holiday destinations, so pick the sunniest and most sheltered spot you can for your planting. These plants often tend to like well-drained soil too, so if yours is on the heavy side, it’s worth digging in some sharp sand and gravel before you plant anything. Or opt to grow in containers that can be moved into a frost-free place indoors in winter, if needed.…

Plants will bring natural colour to your garden but if you’re short on space or good growing conditions, there is a cheat’s way to add some rainbow shades – with paint. Outdoor paints have moved far beyond the spectrum of creosote orange and forest green. You can now buy almost any shade, from pale grey to hot pink, directly off the shelf, or if you’re looking for something really different – ahot pink for instance – you can also have the outdoor paint made up in larger DIY stores, just as you would an indoor emulsion. And even if you have smartly painted furniture and fences, after a few years the colour inevitably starts to fade or rust begins to show through, making a revamp not just necessary but also…