GARDENS
ANNA TAYLOR, OWNER OF ANNA’S FLOWER FARM IN AUDLEY END, SHARES WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE GARDEN THIS MONTH GARDEN GROW? How does your AUGUST
don’t need to tell you we’ve had very little rain and our gardens are parched – but I will anyway. It’s certainly not the English summer I whimsically look forward to. In my vision, they’re still on the right side of balmy; not too hot, with a gentle breeze rustling through the trees. Lush green lawns and a tapestry of planting, dots of colour undulating across mixed borders, air heady with fragrance. A garden peaking in high summer. But over the last few years, I have got comfortable knowing that the lawn will not be green by now. Since I water as little as possible, a dry spring and summer has left the sandy soils here on the plots like desiccated coconut. I’m not sure whether that’s the right thing to do or not. And then I expect an August storm or two; the soils too dry to take all the water in one go. With hotter summers and heavy rainfall unpredictably predictable, I have to reflect on whether resources required to grow annuals here are appropriate. Good reasons to grow flowers are that they attract pollinators, which is essential for vegetables. They take carbon from the atmosphere and, grown naturally, maintain superb soil health. But when perennials do this with far less soil disturbance and water input, are annuals counterproductive? There are certain annuals that still fulfil this brief, great for pollinators and providing habitats; often Mediterranean or South American in origin, thriving in hot and dry weather. Sow these directly (no greenhouse/water/compost) and next year they will appear again, self-sown gently about – try California poppies, regular poppies or calendula.
HOT TIPS After a scorching summer so far, Anna advises on helping your garden flourish - rain or shine
I want to offer some suggestions as to how we can prepare for mixed summers that are both swelteringly hot and stormy, while enjoying gardening and herbaceous borders here in Cambridge, without having to water or work quite so reactively. After this year’s lack of rain, I think annuals are a luxury for me! The Cambridge University Botanic Garden has a dry plot with the kind of planting I’m talking about, mulch with gravel and paved paths running through it. Plants are close together to reduce evaporation, shading the soil and roots. It is very low-maintenance: no water is ever used on the garden. Ever! Yet it still has a very English feel about it – flowering plants and shrubs, with contemporary landscaping materials in a formal style, surrounded by hedging. It is a very important patch and one that inspires us in our own gardens. Plants used include gaura, phlomis, verbena, oregano, nepeta, salvia, phygelius, romneya, ceratostigma and kniphofia. These are the backbone of the long border
here in our own Braybrooke Garden. Great, long-flowering, structural and colourful planting that makes for some exciting flower arrangements. They are all perennial, requiring little disturbance bar lifting, splitting and replanting after a few years to reinvigorate. Grasses, alliums, crocosmia and iris are used to great effect, behaving like fireworks throughout the summer. Now, in August, is the perfect time to order these bulbs and sow these perennial plants, to flower next year – and the next – without having to lift and resow. I still believe that creating our own garden oasis at home is great for the environment, but I’m sure you are as interested in making conscious choices and purchases as I am. The same goes for what and how we grow. Anna Taylor grows beautiful cut flowers at Anna’s Flower Farm, Audley End. To find out about the autumn programme, including classes at National Trust’s Wimpole Produce Fair on 10 and 11 September, subscribe to her newsletter at annasflowerfarm.com
74 AUGUST 2022 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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