Are you adapting the garden?

[charlie]

I have been asked to give a short talk this Saturday to Plant Heritage on how the recent weather swings have affected the National collections we hold and the garden generally, as we managed to survive without watering this summer it will be more of the same here - loads of shredding and mulching. Different story mind you with the propagating side for the nursery, I have had to do a lot more to try and keep excessive heat out without curbing too much light. Any way I wondered if any of you are or intending to change what you do?

[Paul S]

Yes. I'd say historically around 85% of my garden doesn't need any watering at all and has coped fairly well with 335mm of rain we've had so far this year.

There was a fairly big area down the end of the garden that I used to water - bamboos, schefflera et al. I gradually decreased watering over the past couple of years so that, ultimately this year, I didn't water at all. As a result some long established bamboos have died, ditto decades-old Neopanax laetus, ditto Fatsia japonica, ditto even aucubas. I am planning some big changes in this area so that I don't have to water it any more. For example I've been promised a selection of more unusual arbutus - don't know yet how many or exactly which but they should make a large contribution to the overall look and feel of the area. Plus a whole load of other drought tolerant but non-succulent plants. I am actually very excited by the prospect! It is certainly changing the look and feel of the lower part, with views opening up instead of screening walls of bamboo.

That should leave me with two small areas, totalling around 10 sq m, that I will continue to water. Which, in a garden of around 2/3rd of an acre, I can manage!