The Resilient Garden

 

Tom Massey's Resilience Garden at RHS Hampton Court
Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court

I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around.

Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen.

Another view of the Resilience Garden

It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's sponsors will help me do that. I've also discovered the RHS' Mains to Rains website, which has plenty of guidance at the more practical, gardener level. It's worth taking a look if you haven't done so already.

I have plenty more to say on this topic - far too much to say in this post - so expect lots more to come as I take my first baby steps into my garden's new world. I'll gather these posts under my new Climate Change Gardening label.

Has the recent weather and/or climate change changed the way you garden. What have you done, or are thinking about?

My current reading list

My current reading list

Thanks to Stihl for kindly inviting me to attend RHS Hampton Court as their guest this year. Without them, I wouldn't have embarked on a new series for my blog: Climate Change Gardening

Also thanks to ACO's Angus Crichton for speaking to me with such enthusiasm and detail at the show. It's clear that he's very passionate about gardening and rainwater management 😊

Comments

  1. Beth at PlantPostings25 July 2023 at 00:30

    The thinking continues, indeed. Thanks for the book recommendations!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP25 July 2023 at 09:23

      Yes, it's something that requires a lot of thought Beth. I hope my new series will provide some practical ideas for everyone as well as forming a diary of my own experience

      Delete
  2. Gail27 July 2023 at 17:23

    I think most of us need to start thinking the way you are!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Diana Studer27 July 2023 at 18:09

    I have, in our mediterranean climate, always gardened with plants that survive on natural rainfall. I water pots (roses and bulbs in season) also lemon and banana. My garden goes the other way, so lush I have a new toy - a chainsaw suited to a little old lady gardener ;~)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP27 July 2023 at 22:45

      Like you Diana I only water my pots and having a clay soil is an advantage as moisture stays for longer and helps my garden plants survive our increasingly dry summers. We are tending towards a more Mediterranean climate here too, apart from this month!

      Delete
  4. Sally Morgan31 July 2023 at 13:54

    I thought there were some interesting ideas and some odd plant selections - some of the trees are not listed as being climate change resilient according to the research on Henrik Sjoman This is a topic I have been researching for many years - and with our flip flop weather we need plants that can cope with warm, dry summers, cold and/or wet winters, late frost etc which does rule out of a lot planting options - I look for plants that can tolerate a lot of environmental conditions - sun / shade / dry / wet etc and that are growing from Kent to Scotland and can cope with all that is thrown at them. Also we need to look at soils more - resilience in the garden starts with that, and soil life esp mycorrhizal fungi plus the idea permeability to get the water in the ground and not running down drains and causing localised flooding. There's lot of think about and thats before we think about genetic selection

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP31 July 2023 at 14:52

      Absolutely Sally and welcome to Veg Plotting! You've touched on a number of things I wanted to say in this piece but it was going to be such a long post as a result, hence its expansion into a series. Finding plants that cope with our changing climate is one of the things I'm really struggling with currently. I'm on clay which means I have some resilience for summer drought, but many plants hate having their feet wet in the winter. I will certainly be looking at my soil as the starting point and I must get hold of the interesting RHS research I found recently which suggested Stachys, lavender, and salvia (herb, not ornamental species) may be more resilient than originally thought.

      Delete
    2. VP31 July 2023 at 14:59

      Just ordered your book too - thanks for your comment which prompted me to investigate further!

      Delete
  5. RobinL1 August 2023 at 19:55

    I haven’t seen a big climate difference here in Ohio, except that winters are getting milder, causing insect pests to get worse, especially ticks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP7 August 2023 at 14:02

      Oh yes, I've seen lots of my Fling friends over there say tick season has come early this year. Not quite what's needed! We had a very quiet spring here insect wise, some even called it a silent spring. Thankfully my butterfly count yesterday confirmed that insect populations are recovering :)

      Delete
  6. Angus Crichton2 August 2023 at 15:14

    It was a pleasure meeting you at Hampton Court. This message comes with our very best wishes at ACO as you embark on your Resilient Garden journey and I look forward to reading your future musings. Last week I spent an insightful day with the staff at Beth Chatto's Garden, where Beth's Gravel Garden is an early and now iconic Resilient Garden. One of my big learnings from there was: just because Mediterranean style planting works in dry and well drained Essex, it may not work in wet Wales on heavy clay. Like you, we too at ACO are on a journey of what domestic rainwater management looks like in Gardeners' New World of Flood and Drought. I don't think there are single or simplistic solutions e.g. large-scale rainwater management products (counterintuitive if you work for a product manufacturer). Tom Massey's garden demonstrated a multipronged approach of planting choice, discerning use of rainwater products and above all joined up thinking on rainwater flows from roof level to ground level and below. Keep us posted!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP7 August 2023 at 14:05

      Thanks for your thoughtful response and email Angus, I'll certainly keep you posted. I've been thinking about the rainwater gardening I saw in Hebden Bridge last year and have added that to my list of posts. I met Beth Chatto's granddaughter at Hampton Court - I need to visit the garden again and I have Beth Chatto's books too - they should have been on the list!

      Delete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing ...
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the...
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee...
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter, ...
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener...
Read more