13th Monday 2014

Weather: Very rainy most of the day. Wisley lane a bit flooded.

Team: Formal

As it has been quite bad weather, the first thing the team did was do a tree inspection of their areas, to see if there were any hanging branches, broken limbs, fallen debris etc. Especially after the tragedy that happened at Kew a couple of years ago, where a tree branch fell on a lady and killed her, gardens have been more cautious.

Walled Garden (on a different sunny day, all the beds are different sizes, a lot of the bricks have become unaligned too).

I am working with Enrique this week who looks after the Mixed Borders. First we measured the beds of the Walled Garden, so that he can finish implementing his winter design there. All the beds are different sizes with enough of a discrepancy between them to matter, so we had to measure them all individually even though they look symmetrical.

Then Enrique went through the Mixed Borders with me, telling me what he was aiming to do - e.g. bring more structure to it, taking out some of the weaker plants and bringing ones in that he thinks are good, like some of the roses. He prefers ones that are older and which he thinks are more reliable types. He also has a preference for single petalled roses and this goes for dahlias too. It is mainly a summer interest border and the idea is that it goes from hot colours from the top to cooler at the bottom - this seems to be a running theme in the whole garden. Enrique is introducing some warm colours in the cool areas and vice versa, to help create more of a rhythm with some repetition & echo. He believes strongly in the visual first. I prefer plants to run into each more and the tapestry kind of look and although Enrique doesn't like bare soil either and is wanting to introduce more effective ground covers, he like plants to sit neatly next to each other, more formal, which to me makes them appear too rigid and less settled in.

Mixed borders, photo taken about three weeks ago.

But I most prefer the border as it is now, with plants starting to flop over, to decay, getting more into maturity, I feel it lends a nice more relaxed feel to it. Enrique has a strong interest in garden history and it made me feel like wanting to learn more about this, the origins of border and to understand why it exists in the way it does now & why they exist full stop. It was too rainy to really get into the border but I cleared some annuals like yellow bidens and cuphea that were close to the path. I am used to working in garden where you get as much out of a plant & border as possible. So I am having to get my head around that things are being done to a certain schedule here and not whether plants are past their best or not.

Cuphea at the front, bidens near the wheelbarrow.