Harmony and Contrast in the garden

Soft Harmonies
The delicate blues, mauves and pinks and softly billowing shapes of a herbaceous perennial border in summer are a study in gentle harmony.

Making a garden is an intensely personal business. What one person loves, another may hate. Such varying reactions are often to do with a level of harmony and contrast in the planting.

Very harmonious gardens, where all the colours match, and clashes or surprises are avoided, are soothing, restful places. Those who like more stimulation may prefer gardens with lots of vivid, contrasting colours, or a wide and dramatic range of leaf shapes and plant forms.

Harmony in gardens is relatively easy to achieve with single colour schemes. 'White gardens' are particularly rewarding and straight-forward. Plantings based on colour contrast are more different to get right, and are much more personal.

Mixing strong colours can create results that are vibrant to some, but too obtrusive and clashing to others.

Mixing colours and shapes
Big, bold shapes, like spiky variegated agave, make a striking feature against softer planting. Vibrant colour contrast can be provided by using yellow/green agave and pink sedum.

Year Round Interest

Some gardeners are happy to have most of their garden flowering at once. They like to see a spring garden with lots of bulbs, or an early summer garden with roses and perennials, and they are happy to let it rest for the remainder of the year. Most gardeners, though, prefer to attempt a long season of interest, which involves trying to interweave plants so that there is always something, or some part, that looks good.

A garden takes time to develop, and never stands still. Planning planting for the short, medium and long term helps avoid the great gaps that can try the patience of even the most dedicated.

Trees, needless to say, are the most long term, often maturing long after we have gone!

Shrubs, too, can take many years to look their best, which can mean a garden that is heavily reliant on them may take rather a while to develop. Herbaceuous perennials look established with remarkable speed, whereas annuals fulfil their promise and disappear within a year. It makes good sense, then, to include all these different plant forms in a garden.

Creating a structure

Informal Design
This simple garden has all the ingredients for success; an enclosing structure of trees and hedges, space for relaxation and an impeded view so that the garden appears larger, and more inviting

It is the larger or more upright plants that do most to develop the garden framework, dividing it into sections and serving as a guide as you walk or look round. Trees or shrubs with a narrow, vertical, columnar habit have lots of impact, but are useful in that they take up little space.

Trees, under whose branches you can walk, hedges that act as green walls, or plants with strong shapes, all provide the visual 'bones' for the garden. The softer, more formless shrubs and flowering perennials are the 'flesh'. Some of the most successful gardens are those that balance the formality of clearly designed shapes, such as clipped hedges and topiary, with the informality of burgeoning borders of flowers and shrubs.

Plants for the garden

This cottage garden has a formal plan. The gravel paths provide the 'bones' of the design while the planting is sympathetically unstructured.


To enable the different elements of a garden to blend comfortably and attractively, there has to be a balance, which can to a large degree be dictated by the trees, shrubs and flowers that you choose.

By opting for plants that complement and harmonize with other aspects of the garden, such as the paving or lawn, and its overall size and shape, you can create a framework in which art and nature reach a happy equilibrium.

To help you choose plants to suit your garden's needs, concise descriptions of a wide range of trees, shrubs, roses, climbers, perennials, ground cover, bamboo, grasses, bulbs ans annuals and biennials, keep coming back and reading our blog because all these will be covered in great detail - you don't want to miss out now do you ;)

Principles of Planting
'Harmony' is perhaps the most important word in making a garden. You want somewhere that is relaxing but also stimulating to the senses, where art and nature have reached a happy equilibrium. Creating a balance between the different elements of a garden, such as the paving, lawn, trees, shrubs and flowers, is crucial to the end result.

Colour is an essential design element, but because flowers are relatively fleeting, it can be difficult to maintain interest all year long. The stronger the framework of the garden, with plenty of 'architectural' plants (those with strong and distinct shapes), the less vital it will be to have flowers all year round.

Small gardens are especially difficult to plan. All plants are highly visible, so there is no room for the spectacular flowering plant that looks messy for the rest of the year. Good foliage and flowers with a long season are vital.

Growing Strawberries

These low growing herbaceous plants are grown for their delicious red, occasionally yellow fruits. Strawberries, which grow to 45cm (18in) high and 60cm (24in) across, will tolerate most soils that are well-drained. They are relatively short lived with a cropping life of about three years, so new plants should be planted on a regular basis.

The second year is the most productive.

Planting: Plant in early autumn at a distance of 45cm (18in) apart and 75cm (30in) between the rows. Plant on a very slight mound with crowns at ground level. The plants must be firmed well and watered.

Cultivation: Newly planted strawberries have a shallow root system and must be kept watered until well established. As the fruits develop, they will hang down onto the soil, so a mulch of straw will prevent them from marking and rotting; black plastic can also be used as an alternative, but fruits actually touching it may become scorched in hot weather.

Pruning: Cut off any runners (modified side shoots) bearing new young plants in Summer. Cut down the foliage to approximately 10 cm (4in) above soil level in the autumn, after picking has finished.

Harvesting: Harvesting begins in early summer for early fruiting cultivars, and continues through to autumn for perpetual-fruiting types (see below). Pick the berries complete with their stalks, when they are red over about three-quarters of their surface and handle them as little as possible, as they are easily bruised. Pick fruits every other day, as they deteriorate fast. Fruits intended for freezing and preserving can be picked slightly earlier than those destined for dessert.

Strawberry Tips:
Strawberries are divided into three distinct groups

• Alpine Strawberries - produce a light crop of small, delicately flavoured fruits. Reliable, cultivars include 'Alpine Yellow'


• Perpetual Strawberries - flower and fruit in mid-summer and again in mid-autumn. Reliable cultivars include 'Gento'


• Summer-fruiting Strawberries - produce a heavy crop over a three or four week period in the summer. The season can be extended by selecting cultivars carefully: 'Elvira' fruits early 'Cambridge' Favourite in mid-season and 'Domanil' late

LED Lights for the garden

I wanted to diverse just slightly off the subject of growing things to lighting!

My husband is an astronomer - yes, going off in another direction again but you will catch up with me soon and see why I had to explain so much ;)

So, yes, my husband Chris is an astronomer and needs dark skies so he can see up into space - this is why I am diversing - he needs dark skies and LED lighting is just the perfect answer for garden lighting.

They are low energy, they benefit the environment they give off less light pollution so you light what needs to be lit instead of brightening up space (and we don't need to see up there now do we?), meaning the skies are darker, less light pollution in the atmosphere and lower electricity bills, plus you can get really funky lights.

All in all a good combination for lighting the garden wouldn't you say?

The green issues of switching to this low energy lighting system benefits the environment in the way it consumes far less energy than standard light bulbs (LEDs are 80% more efficient!). It also requires far less energy to manufacture, something not often considered. The recycling of LEDs is less of a problem as the life span of an LED is incredibly long - several tens of thousands of hours!

Most domestic bulb filaments expire after a couple of thousand hours. You save money not only in running costs but also in maintenance.

LEDs are a lot more robust than the standard filament, which is easily broken. An LED is virtually unbreakable. There is no glass or filament to break making LED light sources perfect for rugged or demanding environments.

It is possible to get a variety of LED, everything from the stark white to the warm and calming colours, you can even have lights that have ever-changing displays of colour!!

We will definitely be adding LED lighting to our gardens, has anyone used LED lights in their garden - send in your designs :)

Courtyard Gardens

We promised that we would go into detail about choosing a style of your garden and elaborate on the gardens we mentioned in our previous post.

Today we are going to discuss courtyard gardens :)

Separate courtyards and hedge-enclosed divisions that often bear little relationship to one another or to any obvious ground plan are typical of the Moorish gardens in southern Spain. They reflect the influence of a desert people for whom small enclosures - if only a tent - provided welcome refuge from the heat and perils of a vast uninviting desert.

Similarly, in the Mediterranean regions of Europe, the Middle East and western United States, courtyards provide privacy and shade, respite from the relentless heat of the midday sun. The contrast between this haven and the heat and dust of the surrounding countryside is made all the more delightful by the introduction of water. Bubbling up in a bowl, cascading from a small fountain, lying deep, dark and still in a central well or simply reflecting the surrounding court, its very presence refreshes the spirit.

When designing your garden, then, do bear in mind the advantages of creating an enclosed, shady oasis. You are sure to yearn for it in the scorching heat of high summer. Such an area is quite inexpensive to establish and very easy to maintain. Nor does it demand a lot of space. You can, for example, pave an area as small as 5 metre sq/30 sq yard, and surround it with a hedge of Italian Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens). Pierce the hedge with arched entrances and place a couple of comfortable benches within.

Add, if you wish, a container-grown flowering shrub and a small raised pond (we will talk about ponds also - Gina has one - well it is more like a bloody lake!) ;)

You can work endless variations on this theme, enclosing the courtyard with a wall rather than a hedge, and using the wall to support a colourful climber. Create an interesting pattern of tiles or bricks for the floor area and choose from the vast range of garden furniture the style best suited to your setting - whether in wrought iron, wood or one of the excellent modern plastics.

If the overall effect is harmonious, you will find yourself retreating to sit in this tranquil spot far more frequently than you may ever have imagined.

if your garden is large enough, you could consider dividing it into a number of different, highly individual areas, each one separately enclosed within walls or hedges. Depending on whether you use sombre evergreens such as the Italian cypress or flowering species such as Viburnum tinus, and whether you make your enclosures rigidly geometric or flowingly curvaceous, you can achieve a range of effects from the impressively formal to enchantingly casual.

Try to make each individual area distinct, so that you experience a sense of novelty and surprise as you move from one to the other. You could give each of these 'garden rooms' a separate theme. One, for example, might be devoted entirely to plants of a single colour - white petunias and pelargoniums look wonderful set against a cypress hedge - or to plants from a single family, such as rose.

Choosing the style of your garden

Well, we have been going a few days now, documenting what we can - it takes a long time this writing malarkay!

Anyway, we realised that we ought to talk about choosing your style of garden, is it a courtyard garden, patio garden, terraced hillside, a large plot of land (like we both have) paving, do you want a water garden or perhaps a dry, low maintenance garden. All these topics will be covered in greater detail later but I didn't want you thinking "OK, OK, this is great and all that, talking about the flowers and all, but where do I plant them, where do I start???!!!".

So, let's get to the matter in hand - Choosing your style of garden.

Each individual will clearly have a different approach to creating a garden. But when planning one remember that it should NOT be a chore, but a joy to sustain! Be clear before you start about the use it will be put to and how much time you will devote both to enjoying it and to maintaining your precious outdoor space. (Unless you can afford a gardener and then, well, bugger it, just go for it ;)

Cool courtyards built round gently cascading fountains, tiled patios with dappled shade from overhead vines, terraced slopes left wild with sweet smelling cistus and rosemary or planted with drought-resistant cacti or succulents - these are solutions that please the eye, engage the intellect and refresh the spirit. Lets explore a variety of styles and approaches.

The impact on design of the two great garden styles of the Western Mediterranean region has been immense. The first, the Moorish, seen at its most sublime in the gardens of the Alhambra in Granada and the Alcazar in Seville, is based on the traditional Islamic garden. In this the garden was divided by waterways - representing the four Rivers of Life - into four, the quadripartite design which has been echoed in many gardens throughout the Western World. The style came to Spain with the Moors from North Africa.

The second style, vastly different in concept, is that of the Italian Renaissance where the emphasis is on balance and proportion. Full of sanctuary, impressive balustrades, terraces, flights of steps, fountains and basins, these gardens are dramatic and formal.

While the Moorish style is intimate, designed for people to use and devoid of statuary or ornament, the Italian Renaissance garden is to amaze, to be wondered at and admired. Both styles have been adopted and adapted in countries way beyond the Mediterranean region.

The Islamic influence, for example, is evident not only in the gardens of the Taj Mahal but, through the conquistadors, in gardens of South America. The influence of the great Italian gardens spread first to France, where it is much in evidence at Versailles, and then to Britain where it can be seen, for example, in the gardens of Powis Castle in Wales,. Italian influences are also apparent in the relatively recent gardens at Blake House California.

Present day gardeners can rarely afford to emulate the flamboyance of the Italian High Renaissance, though elements of it are evident in details - fountains, statuary, ornament - of gardens throughout the World.

The Moorish style is far more accessible and practical. To create calming and earthly manifestations of the Paradise Garden, flat ground is advised with a small pond set into the lush grass, perhaps some gravel, a few trees planted symmetrically along the pond and pots in bloom - maybe some fountains of running water or cool pavilions to offer delight and refreshment.

Tulipa - Lifting the Spirit of the garden!

Jewel-coloured flowers burst into life in spring. Whether forming stately processions across a border or ornamenting a bed in vivid patches, the presence of tulips in the garden lifts the spirits!

Since their introduction from Turkey 400 years ago, tulips have been one of the most popular and rewarding bulbs for late Spring displays. They are grown for their elegant flowers which are available in nearly every conceivable colour except true blue.

The six-petalled flowers are generally cup or goblet shaped - although some may be rather starry - and mature blooms tend to open so wide in the sun that they are almost flat. Each erect stem normally carries a single flower but some varieties bear two or three flowers per stem. There are usually two or more lance-shaped basal leaves and smaller stem leaves which are often greyish green. The bulbs, which vary greatly in size, have a pointed tip and a brownish skin.

The genus as a whole is very varied, from the tiny mountain species suitable for the rock garden or greenhouse, through to the gaudy modern hybrids that are planted in huge beds in public parks and gardens. Around 100 species of tulip are known, mostly from west and central Asia, and there are thousands of garden hybrids that have been developed over the years.

The small species tulips are best planted in clumps towards the front of a border and they make colourful rock garden residents.

The tulip index is very large so we have decided to document this on a separate post.

The large flowered hybrids can be used for general garden display either in formal beds - planted with forget-me-nots (Myosotis) or wallflowers (Erysimum) - or in clumps planted among herbaceous plants. Tulips can also be grown in containers for display on a patio or terrace.

All require a heavy loam soil that is nevertheless free-draining and a warm, dry summer dormant period to ripen the bulb. It is normal practice to lift the bulbs of the modern hybrids as the leaves fade and store them until replanting in autumn.

If you want tulips left in the ground so that they form large patches the following tulips are the recommended species:
Tulip Saxatalis
Tulip Sprengeri
Tulip Sylvestris

We have just recently planted tulips in a border bed alongside a Camellia, when we have updated photos of this shooting we will post the images here.

A little Tulip Tip!
If you want to keep the bulb for planting next season, pull the Tulip bulb from the ground (after it has flowered, of course!), leaving the leaves on the bulb - place in a plastic container (doesn't need to have a lid), wait for the leaves to die before cutting them off - this will nourish the bulb, ready for next season ;)

Hyacinthus

The sweetly perfumed, colourful flowers of Hyacinths appear in mid Spring - it would appear that in our Andalucian gardens that we get them slightly earlier this year as they have started to grow already!

The plants, with their errect, cylindrical flowerheads and fleshy, strap-like leaves, retain their perfection for two to three weeks. The flower may seem densely packed - carrying up to 60 individual bell-shaped florets - or more loosely spaced as in the "fairy" types - you may also be wise to support the hyacinth with some wood up against the stem (like shown in the image).

Multiflora hyacinths are grown from bulbs that have been specially treated to produce several smaller flower spikes instead of one dense spike. They are sold by colour only.

There are also double-flowered varieties. Hyacinths are full hardy and ideal for planting in containers/pots (as we do), as well as informal borders and formal bedding schemes. For text book results, buy new bulbs every year, however, we are on the second year with the same bulb and all that was required was watering and then every Spring the bulb should grow again.

The once-used bulbs produce fewer flowers per stem and can be replanted in less formal areas of the garden. To flower indoors in mid winter, bulbs specially prepared for forcing can be bought in Autumn.

Recommended Species and Varieties
Hyacinth Orientalis - This parent of all the modern hyacinth cultivars produces sparsely flowered stems, up to 20cm (8in) tall, bearing blue, violet, pink or white flowers. Indoors, prepared bulbs will flower from Christmas to late winter; non-prepared bulbs bloom from late winter to early spring. There are earlier and later varieties - but all flower within a month of one another.

Early flowering varieties include:

• Anna Marie - Light rosy pink flowers


• Ben Nevis - Ivory-white double flowers


• Bismarck - Methyl-violet blooms


• Blue Magic - Purple-violet flowers


• Borah - Fairy type with porcelain-blue flowers


• Delft Blue - Blooms of soft-lilac blue


• Jan Bros - Red Blooms


• L'Innocence - Ivory-white flowers


• Lady Derby - Rose-pink flowers


• Ostara - Deep blue flowers


• Pink Pearl - Deep pink blooms


• Violet Pearl - Mallow-purple flowers

Mid-season flowering varieties include:

• Blue Jacket - Dark blue flowers with a purple stripe


• Gipsy Queen - Dark salmon and apricot flowers

Late flowering varieties include:

• Amethyst - Lilac-violet flowers


• Carnegie - Dense spike of white flowers


• City of Haarlem - Primrose-yellow blooms


• Distinction - Beetroot-purple flowers


• Hollyhock - Crimson flowers


• Peter Stuyvesant - Dark violet blooms

Cultivation
Plant bulbs outside from late summer to late autumn in a sunny position in fairly fertile, well-drained soil. Set 15-24cm (6-9 1/2in) apart and 10cm (4in) deep. Plant bulbs for forcing indoors before mid autumn in bulb-forcing compost. Then keep a cool, dark place for 8-10 weeks, ideally at 7-10ºC (45-50ºF): a shed or garage is ideal. Bring into a light, warm room, where they will flower 3 or 4 weeks later. Bulbs can also be grown in hyacinth vases. Keep the bulb in its vase in a cool, dark place until its roots have developed, making sure that the builb itself does not touch the water, or it may rot.

Propagation
Producing fresh hyacinth bulbs involves specialist techniques: buy new bulbs. Hyacinths take 6 years or more to flower if grown from seed!

Pests and Diseases
Hyacinths may be affected by grey bulb rot, grey mould, soft rot and yellow disease -which is similar to soft rot and should be treated similarly. They may also be attacked by aphids, bulb mites, narcissus flies, slugs and stem eelworms.

Our collection of plants/flowers

We thought we would start with some common ground and list some of the plants that we have documented as growing in our gardens so far - no doubt many of you reading this will have or are about to grow some of the plants/flowers that we are nurturing.

So far we have documented the following to be growing in our gardens:
Fruits/Veg:
Apple
Lemon
Orange
Pomegranate
Grapefruit
Fig
Avocado
Garlic
Asparragus
Olives
Plum
Pear
Raspberry
Strawberry

Herbs:
Thyme
Lemon Thyme
Parsley
Coriander
Marjoram
Oregano
Mint
Dill
Basil
Rosemary
Chives
Lavender

Plants/Flowers:
Camelia
Mimosa
Palm
Sunflowers
Furs
Lantana Camara
Cortaderia Selloana (Pampas Grass)
Daisies (Purple/Yellow/White)
Jasmine
Cestrum Nocturnum (Dama de Noche)
Roses
Daffodils
Callistemon Viminalis (The Bottle Brush)
Brugmansia Arbrorea (Angel's Trumpets)
Bouganvillea
Aloe Arborescens (Red Hot Poker Aloe)
Strelitzia Reginae (Bird of Paradise)
Zantedeschria Aethiopica (Calla Lilly)
Felicia Amelliodes (Swan River Daisy)
Hyacinths
Tulips
Plumbago Capensis (Cape Leadwort)
Euphorbia Pulcherrinia (Poinsettia)
Jacaranda Mimosifolia
Hebe Caledonia
Geraniums
Cyclamen
Callistemon Citrinus 'Splendens'

As we keep documenting more plants we will update our garden of goodies :)

Anyone else growing the above plants/herbs/flowers/fruits/veg and have any special tips for growing, let us know?

The Mediterranean Gardener

Broadly speaking, our blog is about gardeners living in warm temperate regions that experience four months of hot, almost totally dry summer weather and wet but sunny winters, with the lowest annual temperatures of between 2ºC/35ºF and 6ºC/21ºF. As well as in the regions bordering the Mediterranean Sea, such conditions are to be found in parts of central and southern California, in South Africa's western Cape Province, in parts of southern, western and eastern Australia and along some of the coast of Chile.

In a Mediterranean climate, it is drought rather than cold that presents a hazard to plant life. Fortunately it is possible, to a large extent, to alleviate dry conditions by watering - at least, this is possible for those who have a good water supply!

By a good supply we mean one that will not disappear just when it is needed most - at the peak of summer - and also one that is relatively free of dissolved salts, which, even in weak solution, are harmful to plants. In many coastal areas the increased use of water because of tourism has drawn sea water into the aquifers and has increased salinity to levels which few plants accept.

Water that has passed through those types of water softener that are regenerated from common salt is also sodium-rich and destructive to healthy plant grow. If you have no alternative but to use salty water, you should choose plants that are specially adapted to saline coastal conditions (we will talk about those plants later) and give preference to those that are drought resistant too. If, on the other hand, you are determined to have a garden of verdant lawns, green foliage and bright flowers, you will have to provide a source of pure water and an efficient system of applying it regularly and economically.