VERTICAL gardening is a useful trick for those in a hurry. If you want instant height in a border, try a tripod, a wigwam of pea sticks, a metal obelisk, or even simply a wooden post, then plant an annual climber or two at the bottom and watch the plants race to the top in a couple of months. They can also clothe your new walls long before more permanent things are ready to take over.
If you are careful about what you pair with what, annual climbers can co-exist with long-term choices. I am still waiting for my favorite ‘Bengal Crimson’ rose to spread its wings in the courtyard, so a good companion, for the time being, is Lathyrus matucana, the sweet pea with the best scent of all. The deep red of the rose and rich dark velvety purple of the pea are fine together. But the rose has to win, so only a few strands of L. matucana are allowed to climb among and above the thorns. Rhodochiton atrosanguineus, of the tiny purple bells and in a similar color range, would also work. Or I might have tried morning glory, Ipomoea tricolor ‘Heavenly Blue’, which is true to its name, but shivers at any hint of cold. I had some grown by a friend and, even in the greenhouse in late April, they became wan after I banished the heater too soon.
Esta historia es de la edición August 25, 2021 de Country Life UK.
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Esta historia es de la edición August 25, 2021 de Country Life UK.
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Put some graphite in your pencil
Once used for daubing sheep, graphite went on to become as valuable as gold and wrote Keswick's place in history. Harry Pearson inhales that freshly sharpened-pencil smell
Dulce et decorum est
Michael Sandle is the Wilfred Owen of art, with his deeply felt sense of the futility of violence. John McEwen traces the career of this extraordinary artist ahead of his 88th birthday
Heaven is a place on earth
For the women of the Bloomsbury group, their country gardens were places of refuge, reflection and inspiration, as well as a means of keeping loved ones close by, discovers Deborah Nicholls-Lee
It's the plants, stupid
I WON my first prize for gardening when I was nine years old at prep school. My grandmother was delighted-it was she who had sent me the seeds of godetia, eschscholtzia and Virginia stock that secured my victory.
Pretty as a picture
The proliferation of honey-coloured stone cottages is part of what makes the Cotswolds so beguiling. Here, we pick some of our favourites currently on the market
How golden was my valley
These four magnificent Cotswold properties enjoy splendid views of hill and dale
The fire within
An occasionally deadly dinner-party addition, this perennial plant would become the first condiment produced by Heinz
Sweet chamomile, good times never seemed so good
Its dainty white flowers add sunshine to the garden and countryside; it will withstand drought and create a sweet-scented lawn that never needs mowing. What's not to love about chamomile
All I need is the air that I breathe
As the 250th anniversary of 'a new pure air' approaches, Cathryn Spence reflects on the 'furious free-thinker' and polymath who discovered oxygen
My art is in the garden
Monet and Turner supplied the colours, Canaletto the structure and Klimt the patterns for the Boodles National Gallery garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.