WHAT has fashion got to do with gardening?

The latest garden landscape designs have just been on display at the annual Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show and also vying for the garden fashion stakes is the UK’s Chelsea Flower Show due to take place shortly.

Some of the most outrageous garden designs would never be installed in a home garden and yet, like fashion parades, people flock to these shows in the thousands.

A few years ago, at Chelsea, the question was asked: “Where are the flowers and plants?” Plastic, wood, fibreglass and paving was everywhere and, finally, the public had had enough.

Now, I think the latest edict by the Royal Horticultural Society is that no less than 60 per cent of the display has to feature flowers, trees and shrubs. Gardens, like fashions, are designed to be lived in, one for a temporary time and the other to create a lifestyle.

 

EVER watched and wondered about those garden “makeover” shows on television? We are led to believe the whole scene is created in a couple of days, “send the wife away for a weekend and surprise her with a new garden on her return”.

In reality, it does not happen that way and a great deal of planning and construction often takes place days if not weeks before. Usually, every bit of space has to be filled, statues, urns, water features and lots of paving is the order of the day. The plants are usually literally plonked in with little attention to ground preparation. It would be interesting to visit the same gardens in a couple of years.

Sterile and harsh

THIS is a Chelsea display garden of a few years ago, sterile and hugely expensive to install. Even in most of Britain, this would be a hot box with those rocks heating up and you would not even think of putting your rear end on them for relaxation!

The whole environment is harsh in the extreme. Certainly, it has some colour in the walls, but not from plants or a shady tree. No space for entertaining and in reality can this be called a garden? On the other hand it would fit in well with many of the latest modern townhouses in this city.

For plant lovers

HERE is a plant lover’s garden with fragrant leafed and flowering plants. The paving is soft-to-walk-on “euky chip”, which is eminently suited for this purpose. It packs down like papier mache, no weeds will grow through it nor can water penetrate it. Great for low-cost natural looking paths but useless as a mulch. Unfortunately, one feature that has largely disappeared from our gardens is the sound of water due to eight years of restrictions during the drought. Hopefully, we can see the revival of water features in the garden.

Happy combination

THIS garden is a happy combination of a sensible wide path to the front door, and a compacted gravel area that could easily be converted to a small lawn. A variety of tall and low water-usage shrubs complete the picture. I designed a similar garden a few doors away for a rear garden. In that instance the area of gravel was made into a small lawn.

Simple tips

• Take a quarter off the height of Hibiscus syriacus.
• Prune Buddleia davidii hard down to one metre
• Every three years cut back Agapanthus leaves to ground level.
• Remove leaves off of the tops of hedges, the weight of wet leaves can kill sections of hedge.