I learnt a great deal from Walter that first year of gardening. The first thing I learnt was that he knew a great deal more about the subject than I thought he did. I was a complete novice, and I thought that he was too. I knew he had had gardens and gardeners, but I assumed that being very busy he had left all the planning and work to them. I may say I got very tired of one particular gardener during that first year. He was quoted at me morning, noon and night until I came to hate his name. Everything he did was perfect, he never neglected anything and he always did all the jobs that needed doing at the right time. It was no good for me to tell Walter that I had to sandwich my gardening between housekeeping, household jobs and a certain amount of social life. In his opinion there was no excuse for not getting things done at the right time.
Another of his gardeners had my sympathy, and I think there was a moral for me in the tale of his undoing. This man had one joy in life and that was to grow wonderful chrysanthemums in pots to bring into the house in the winter. According to Walter he used to stroke and fondle his chrysanthemums so much that he was neglecting the rest of the garden. Remonstrances had no effect so one day Walter took a knife and slashed off all those pampered darlings at ground level. It was by remembering this episode that I learnt to have a sense of proportion and fairness in my gardening, and not devote too much time on the things I like best at the expense of the rest of the garden.
The first: inkling I had that Walter held very definite views was concerning the level of the flower beds. I had always seen them raised above the surrounding grass or path, and I made mine in the same way. I suppose the original idea was for better drainage and to allow one to get the best possible view of the plants. Rose gardens are still often made in this way, and one sees it in parks and public gardens. I never thought of it before Walter pointed it out, but the whole idea is superficial and a bed that is absolutely flush with the path or lawn looks larger and far more attractive. Now that I have paved paths I am even more enthusiastic over the idea as I plant sprawlers as near the path as possible so that they spill over the path and break the hard line. In Walter’s day I had to be careful that nothing spilled over the path, which was then gravelled, as the roller did not recognize the rights of sprawlers. A plant that benefits from this level way of planting is Gentiana acaulis. It likes being trodden on and I plant borders of it so close to the path that they regularly receive attention from my full-sized feet.
We used some of our plentiful supply of stones to keep the beds separate from the gravel paths. In my ignorance I first put them in vertically so that several inches protruded above the ground, but after it was pointed out to me I realized that the effect was far pleasanter and just as effective if they were laid flat. One thing Walter taught me was to avoid unnecessary distractions. One must have something to separate flower beds from paths but one should not draw attention to the border and so detract from the flowers themselves.
It is surprising that in quite good gardens one often sees a gravel path merging straight into a flower bed. It is bad for the path because earth inevitably mixes with the gravel and one gets more weeds than ever. Something neat is needed, that blends into a picture. We were lucky in having plenty of stones, and I was able to pick out flat, even-shaped stones with one straight edge at least. These were laid very carefully so that they were level on top and the straight sides were used to make the edge of the path. If I’d had straight paths I should have used a line, but I had to rely on my eye to get a straight effect for my curving paths. Some people use bricks, and they look quite well if laid flat, particularly if there are brick paths. Sometimes they are put in diagonally to make a jagged edge, and that I think is a pity, rather reminiscent of the horrid little fancy tiles so beloved by Victorian gardeners. I’d treat them both the same way and cover them up at once with luxuriant greenery if I couldn’t remove them altogether. Sometimes one sees shells in cottage gardens, which may be quaint but are neither very effective or attractive. Unobtrusive concrete mouldings are as good as anything if they are laid almost on the level of the path and are weathered to match the gravel.
In some gardens plants make a successful edging. In the more spacious days little box hedges were the answer, but cost and labour these days make them a luxury. London Pride or thrift can both be grown in an even hand and need little attention. A low lavender hedge is sometimes used, and in wide borders, where something massive is in keeping, megasea or Stachys lanata are ideal, or even acanthus where space is really no object. Some of the tight growing mossy saxifrages will keep the peace between path and bed, or even those sturdy double daises that grow about four inches high. I have seen nepeta clipped as a hedge but that is a sacrilege. The whole beauty of nepeta is its graceful loose way of life, and soft blue flowers, and to confine it to rectangular form is most unappreciative. With paved paths there is no problem. The earth comes right up to the path and gives several inches of extra space in which to plant.
On the whole I had very little interference with the way I planted my beds, but I was urged to prevent monotony by having an occasional tall plant right in the front of the beds. I obeyed this so literally with some lupins that one had in the end to be sacrificed because it got so enormous, so I chose my accents more carefully afterwards. It was Walter who gave me the idea of planting groups of irises right at the edge of the path, so that their clean upward thrust made contrast with the low growing plants on either side. He also taught me the value of massed effects, so instead of an odd delphinium dotted here and there, as I would have planted them, he insisted that they were planted in groups of five or six. I realized that this was the only way to avoid a spotty effect.
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