Spring 2008

The front garden.

My front garden is not a good place for plants. It faces north, and the soil is thin, poor and badly drained. Unfortunately, it is overlooked by passersby, so to qualify for a position here, plants must be sturdy and must not require staking, watering in drought, dead-heading or spraying. We inherited a large cherry, which looked heavenly for two weeks in February, but its suckering roots spread far and wide; it has now been removed, making space for a good-sized bed. A load of limefree topsoil was ordered, and gardeners now mutter, 'Virgin soil' when they go by, as plants do so well in it.

The front garden was completely taken to bits and redesigned winter 1996-97. The original front had some very nice plants in it but was a complete hodge-podge - whenever I couldn't decide where to put some plant I shoved it into the front. The result, after 25 years, was an unholy muddle. Also, the sloping, winding path to the front door and informal planting was annoyingly 1950's in concept, and in no way suited the regency house. I wanted a formal front garden, with a large level space in front of the house so that one could stand back and look at it. Also, however nice a plant is, one does need to be able to get near enough to enjoy it.

This operation took nearly five months, a lot of sweat and an enormous amount of earth moving. Very nearly all the plants were kept, but most had to be propagated and started again. A central 6 metre square of Donegal sandstone lies directly before the front door. The site was levelled, thus requiring a retaining wall with steps in the middle. To the left of the front door there is still a lime-free bed with most of my old plants replanted - celmisias, astelias, trilliums, corydalis, podophyllums and sundry small ericaceous plants.

Angel's Fishing Rods

The remainder of the front garden is meant to be held together by foliage colour. There is lots of glaucous blue foliage - Berberis temolaica, Berberis dictophylla, Kniphofia caluescens, rue, blue-leaved hostas, seakale, Caccinea strigosa (borage family, duck-egg blue bristly leaves), Arundo donax, Sedum palmeri, yuccas and grasses. The two phormiums are 'Cream Delight' and 'Sundowner'. Shape is very important, and I've tried to balance all the different shapes of leaves. The small amount of continuity (so difficult in a collector's garden) is provided by several plants of a good lime yellow form of Euphorbia characias, lots of Geranium x magnificum at the edge of the stone square and two groups of Rosa 'Graham Thomas' with Salvia verticillata 'Purple Rain'. A particularly good cardoon, which originated in Chelsea Physic Garden (very silver spiky large leaves), Rubus thibetanus, and Potentilla vilmoriniana are some of the silvers. A very ordinary plant that I'm using as silver ground cover is Centaurea bella - rather nice.

The idea of 'garden rooms' may now be a cliché. I do feel, however, that it is a shame to see the whole garden at once; one needs many different aspects and varieties of soil condition to accommodate a fine diversity of plants. It grates on my nerves to see plants from different native habitats growing side by side. I have therefore made raised beds that cater for the needs of a wide variety of plants, either in full sun, with a well-drained mixture, or partly shaded, with a lime-free, peaty mixture that I try and keep damp in summer. The impossible conditions to provide here are the moist soil with full sun. When the books say a plant demands this I pace the garden in a state of indecision.

It is a struggle to grow the loveliest of woodland plants in a relatively hot, dry Dublin soil. But some are worth any amount of effort, and shady beds are a must for blue poppies, ferns, primulas, Disporum, Arisaema, toad lilies and the very beautiful Glaucidium and bloodroot. I am always interested in finding good, worthwhile plants that will readily accept second-class positions, and I suppose that is why hostas, hellebores and cranesbills are so unfailingly popular. I have to admit I love them too.