Regrets

Rather unusually for me this year already  I have paid two visits to England. As readers of these blogs will know, the first was to visit the Great gardens of Cornwall. My most recent trip was largely London based, but it included sallies into Hampshire, Surrey and Wiltshire - and it is because of these visits that I now have some regrets. There are of course many advantages in living in Gascony, and unlike some expats I like the French and have tried to immerse myself in all things French, the secret being in my view is to do without English TV and radio at least to begin with. But as regards gardening I do have some doubts. For instance I had rather forgotten how good the trees are in England, including those in London, or perhaps especially those in London. I had also forgotten just how attractive many of the modest gardens are, often with one or two unusual plants to admire, and as for 'Great gardens' well they seem to be almost one a penny, including the London Squares, which under the Yellow Book scheme are often open to the public.

One of the gardens I visited this time was Wisley, home of the Royal Horticultural Society. In the past I have been rather sniffy about it. It tries of course to be educational with show gardens of various kinds, including now the ubiquitous Prairie garden à la Piet Oudolf, which reminds me that someone recently very kindly gave me his and Noel Kingsbury's 'Planting: a new perspective' - marvellous pictures but what a boring text. Be that as it may I have to confess that Wisley was looking a million dollars especially the long mixed borders. One of their features was the planting of vaious Hydrangea paniculatas with names such as Big Ben, Dolly, and Greenspire. Do they work out here? Certainly better than the H. macrophyllas, and curiously despite 'canicule' such hydrangeas that I grow have never looked better, but especially my favourite H.aspera villosa. So they are not exactly one of my regrets, and the H.quercifolias are entirely reliable, though I am sure that they grow better in England. Something else looking goodish, though I am yet to be entirely convinced by them, were the Veronicastrums, much beloved by the Prairie gardeners, and indeed they seem to be completely 'tendance'. You might call them a poor man's delphinium with thin spikey flowers in rather pale blues, pinks and whites. Last year I acquired some from 'le Dieu de vivaces', Bernard Lacrouts, but for the moment instead of being over a meter mine are barely 30 cms. This is partly because they are new, but mostly perhaps because they prefer rather more humid conditions in summer than I can provide. And this sadly is true of so many of the mainstays of English borders, yet alone prairies.

If you look down a list of perennials suitable for a mixed border, or indeed a Prairie garden I reckon that more than half would prefer more humid conditions than most of us out here can provide. I have mentioned my failures with the border phloxes, but that is just the start of it. Very fashionable are the eupatoriums, especially the imposing E. purp.Atropurpureum. Now bog standard eupatoriums can be found without difficulty in Gascony, but bog is the key word, which is to say that they will be found close to streams and ponds. They may exist elsewhere, and indeed we have them in our garden, but they reach about 30cms, not over a meter which is the height at which they will make an impact. Almost compulsory in the Prairie garden are the various Persicarias, which I used to call polygonums. Again they will grow with us, but without in my experience ever looking very convincing. I rather like an Astilbe, but for them to look at least halfway decent they will need water. Perhaps even more this is true of the Ligularias with imposing leaves and long spikes of orange/yellow flowers. Much closer to the ground, and still very fashionable are the hostas - and these if you can get them to grow just provide haute cuisine for the slugs and snails.

In  another blog I will try and outline herbaceous plants that do grow well with us, and when I say with us I am thinking of people who are either unable or unwilling to provide regular watering programmes. But I will end with a regret concerning plant nurseries. This concerns chiefly those who deal in trees and shrubs - readers of these blogs will know that I am a great fan of Bernard Lacrouts, and I suspect the le jardin de Taurignan are good as well, but even with the vivaces how many Bob Brown's with his Cotswold Garden Flowers are there in France yet alone in Gascony? As for trees and shrubs I have been very taken by the PanGlobal list along with the Burncoose nurseries', both of which will deliver to France, though at a cost. And of course they are just the tip of a very large iceburg. I may well be being unfair to the French nursery trade, but after a long time in France it does seem to me to be rather on the conservative side with new and interesting plants more likely to be found not just in England, but in Holland and Germany. One of the problems may be related to what I was writing above: conditions at least in Gascony must certainly limit the choice of plants. For instance the Woodland plants including azaleas, camellias, magnolias and rhododendrons to mention the most obvious, which must make up a huge portion of the trade in England, are not going to do very well in many parts of Gascony, and therefore there is no point in the nurseries providing them. Still despite all these regrets there is still much fun to be had in gardening in Gascony - if only it would rain right now !