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Summer holidays abroad provide great inspiration for garden style with an exotic look. There’s a wealth of furniture and accessories with bright colours and pots in earthy shades of terracotta and stone. But most of all, creating your own little oasis is about choosing the exotic-looking plants that thrive in this country and making the most of the sheltered microclimates that they’ll need. Brick or stone walls have a storage-heater effect during winter, and growing plants in raised beds, containers or on banks ensures excellent drainage – many sun-loving plants can tolerate a surprising amount of cold so long as they don’t have wet feet.
An arch, arbour or pergola is perfect for climbing plants that in time will cast a soft shade. Grape vines can produce a good crop around here in favourable years (do choose a variety suitable for growing outside), while beautiful flowering climbers include fragrant summer jasmine and colourful passion flower.
Strong structural foliage provides the ‘bones’ of a garden with a palette of rich greens and subtle hues that are restful on the eye. Classic plants are bay, myrtle, rosemary and box, either clipped to shape or untrimmed. Olive trees look gorgeous in pots but usually need winter protection, unless you have a super-sheltered microclimate.
The aromatic fragrance so redolent of the Mediterranean comes from its natural vegetation, the maquis and garrigue. For our gardens, such plants include sun rose (Cistus), rosemary, marjoram, fennel, bay and lavender. The essential oils contained within the leaves vaporise to protect plants against the fierce summer heat.
Pots of vivid summer flowers add splashes of brilliant colour to any soil-less spot. Geraniums are a continental favourite, placed up flights of steps or clustered around doorways, with trailing ones creating cascades of colour in window boxes. For the best effects, stick to one or two principal colours rather than having an overload of brilliant shades.
The toughest plants for hot spots are fleshy-leaved succulents. Some are hardy and can remain outdoors all year, such as the many different low-growing sedums and sempervivums, while tender ones like Aeonium, Aloe and Echeveria should be grown in containers and moved inside for the winter months.
A plea, though, don’t bring plants back from your continental travels where there are major outbreaks of Xylella, a bacterium which affects up to 350 different species of plants: olives and ornamental plants have been decimated in some regions of France, Spain and Portugal. As yet Xylella hasn’t appeared in the UK so help keep it at bay by only buying UK-grown plants.
New Plants
Chelsea Flower Show ‘plant of the year’ winners are always worth looking out for. Often these are new varieties of old favourites, like top-performing Geranium ‘Rozanne’ which was awarded ‘plant of the centenary’ back in 2013. This year’s winner is Sedum ‘Atlantis’, perfect for pots and small gardens with attractive variegated foliage and long-lasting yellow flowers beloved by bees - and grown by the Devon company, Suttons.
Garden problems
After a damp and cool early summer, watch out for plant diseases both under cover and outdoors. While diseases can’t be cured, there’s a range of measures you can take to save your crops or plants. Remove the source of infection by picking off dead, discoloured or mouldy leaves or fruit (bin, don’t compost). Many plant varieties have been bred to give good natural resistance, so look for these in future years. Healthy plants are much more able to resist attack, but don’t overdo the fertilizer – instead, improve your soil with plenty of organic matter and apply plant growth stimulants that contain beneficial microbes or fungi.
Seasonal jobs
Trim evergreen hedges and topiary box plants to maintain shape but avoid hard pruning as birds are still nesting.
Most houseplants benefit from a spell outside in summer, in a sheltered and part-shaded spot.
Pests like whitefly, aphids and red spider mite tend to thrive under cover in summer. Combat with a biological control which can be bought by mail order.
Propagate shrubs and tender perennials by softwood or semi-ripe cuttings.
Put out fresh water for birds to drink and bathe in.
Gardens to visit: RHS Rosemoor
The Royal Horticultural Society’s garden in a beautiful valley by Great Torrington covers 65 acres and contains a wealth of inspiration, from formal gardens and borders to productive gardens, wild flower meadows and Mediterranean-style planting. One of my favourite areas is the border close to the entrance, planted up with colourful and exotic-looking tender plants. An excellent restaurant, tea room and plant centre too. www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor