I 'm dreaming of a Dry Garden

and this not just because we have seem to have had a great deal of rain recently, and our garden is at this moment completely saturated. The real reason is that I have been reading Olivier Filippi's 'The Dry Gardening Handbook' in the Thames and Hudson English edition, though of course it can also be found in French. In the past I have suggested that if you have already got the nursery's catalogue you do not really need the book, since the catalogue is full of information, but there are of course pluses with the book, with amongst other things some very good photographs. It has not been all pleasure for me since it has brought home  with a vengeance the many mistakes that I have made, especially as regards my so-called gravel garden. This occupies a large area, c.20mx5m in front of the South-East facade of the house, and it seemed to me because of its southerly exposition it would be ideal for Mediterranean plants. I knew enough about them, having amongst other things read Beth Chatto's 'Gravel Garden', to realise that the key was drainage, but being lazy, and not having access to the right sort of equipment, I thought that I could get away with putting a layer of gravel and peat over the existing earth. What I did not allow for was that this area was especially composed of clay soil, and that moreover clay soil that had been compacted  by the farming activities of previous owners. The result was instead of creating a Dry Garden I had created a damp one, though one that admittedly might dry out during the summer.  I was also unlucky with my allegedly sterilised peat which came with a very active weed that I never identified, but which in the end I was able to eliminate. I then made the great error of planting the creeping evening primrose, Oenothera speciosa, which in my view should be banned from all garden centres, and which I have not been able to eliminate. Of course in a different situation it might not spread so rapidly, but clearly it finds the peaty/gravel mix much to its liking, while its tough roots can happily resist the winter wet.

Winter wet combined with clay soil and hot, dry summers are a fatal combination, so that my 'Dry Garden' may have to remain a dream, though I have not completely given up. Two reasonably sized urns and a tiled path through the middle have given it a bit more shape. I am also increasingly looking for plants with a bit of shape.  Recently Gamm Vert have been selling various varieties of mound growing Hebe's - H. Green Globe, and H.Pinguifolia to name two - which I hope will help, especially as they will look well during the winter, that is as long as the winter is not too cold! I am increasingly keen on Saturejas. These come in various shapes and sizes, but I especially like S.montana which makes a large mound which in late summer is covered in white flowers, while I have recently acquired  from Aromaticulture S. montana Purple Mountain. I was very hopeful of the various Teucriums, but while T. fruticans flourish like the proverbial bay tree, but are none the worse for that I have had great difficulties with T. ackermanii and T. cossonii, which look so wonderful in the Filippi book and catalogues, but struggle to survive chez nous, I suppose because of the winter wet. Thymes are very variable. One whose name I have forgotten but may be T. x citriodorus is almost as bad a thug as the aforesaid oenothera, while its various variegated cultivars such as T.Archer's Gold or T.Silver King struggle.

 In reading the Filippi book I made quite a long list of plants that I would like to acquire, though not immediately. For one thing Filippi, perhaps surprisingly since we are talking Mediterranean plants which might succumb to a severe winter, strongly recommends autumn planting: the soil is still warm and it is a period when roots put on growth and thus the plant is more quickly established and thus does not need so much watering during its first summer - and perhaps I should add that apart from the first year Filippi, like Beth Chatto is strongly opposed to watering of any kind, though especially  of an automatic variety. But more importantly I have just got to improve the drainage for otherwise most of the plants I desire will not flourish. So my slogan  for the year 2014 is 'Drainage, Drainage, Drainage', and it is one that I would recommend to you all.