A Crush on Chelsea?

Its not actually my thumbs that are green at the moment - I'm just generally envious after looking at photos of the Chelsea Flower Show. I've been wanting to visit Chelsea ever since I learnt how to say Chrysalidocarpus lutescens Agapanthus.


We miss-timed our holiday by a couple of weeks (in my opinion not my wife's) a few years ago while visiting the UK and back-packing around Europe, and didn't get to see any of the spectacular gardens on display. I did however, get to see a wall at the back of the Royal Hospital Grounds, as we got lost on the way to IKEA - but that's sadly as close as I've come.

I've developed this slight crush on Chelsea, because (judging from photo's only, mind you) you get to see what can be done, with a lot of imagination and similar quantities of cash. I'm sure that very few of the gardens are long-lasting, or could be easily transferred into a real-life garden. But Chelsea's gardens set a standard, and in some cases push the limits of what gardens could be in an ideal world.

So every year, I scour the internet for pictures, vicariously appreciating the gardens from 11000 miles away. But I console myself with the thought that in most cases the actuality of something isn't what you've built it up to be, and judging from my friend Viv's experience, it can be painful too.
She also wrote a story for the Times, in which she talks about how the budget's were pruned back this year, but that designers were taking a positive approach, and showing ways to garden on a small budget and recycle where possible.

I've also found some great pictures of Chelsea by Robert McMillan from Garden Focus.

So I guess another year goes by that I didn't get to visit Chelsea for myself, but so what...at least I have those amazing ice trays from IKEA!

Behind The Scenes

Recently, I went back to visit a garden that I completed about 9 months ago. This garden was a little tricky, in that it was a smallish garden with multiple uses. There were 3 main areas to the garden - a front garden with a pool and high walls, an old concrete driveway, and a grassy back garden with a patio area.

Before Photos

There were a couple of good points, that I felt we could use. There were some existing Eugenia hedges that would do a great job of breaking the height of the walls, but they were being cut too short to really make any impact. A medium-sized Leopard tree stood in the corner, which looked great, but possibly gave too much shade for the amount of traffic that the grass was subjected to. Also, there were some beautiful Icebergs growing around the edges of the grass.

The brief revolved mainly around updating the driveway, and improving the garden in general. The limiting factors were the need for parking and keeping an area for turning vehicles that come out of the garage.

I did some initial sketches with a couple of options to choose from, but my client was justifiably worried about losing too much space for parking and turning the cars. We settled on a comfortable balance between parking and aesthetics.

I kept the planting simple, using at the most 3-4 types of plants to an area, and removing the unwanted plants. I decided to keep the Eugenia hedge as a backdrop, with Duranta "Sheena's Gold" as a lower hedge in front, and then either Felicia, Agapanthus, or Plectranthus in the front.

We replaced the concrete on the driveway with Huguenot cobbles from Smartstone, and then planted Dietes grandiflora with Erigeron in between.

On the blank wall to the side, we attached wire to the wall and planted Trachelospermum (Star Jasmine) to climb up to form diamond shapes. This will make the wall seem less stark, and at the same time, spread the scent of Jasmine into the garden.

The triangle bed between the driveway and patio, was previously a blank grass area. This left the patio area exposed. We moved some of the roses from the shadier north part of the garden into this bed, and then planted Lavender at the back, with Erigeron in front. The wire that can be seen in front of the bed, was to keep Bella the boisterous rottweiler out of the new flower beds. It gives a minor shock when you touch it (I've tested it!). After a couple of times of being shocked, the animals stay out of the bed. At this point you can turn it off, and even remove it, and the animals still won't go back into the beds.

We installed an irrigation system throughout the garden. In the main grassy area, we used pop-ups. In the rest of the beds and along the driveway, because of their awkward shape, we used drip irrigation pipes. This would also keep evaporation to a minimum, and therefore save water. The drawback with these pipes seems to have been their tendency to come apart at the joins, unless the hose clamps are extremely tight.

Nearly a year after planting, I am very happy with the growth. Unfortunately, a caterpillar seems to have gotten into some of the Agapanthus, and eaten them. The hedges still need to fill out a bit, but are looking quite healthy. The drip pipe gives the odd bit of trouble, when the pressure is high. I'm looking forward to visiting this garden 2 years from now, when everything is more fully grown.

How To Choose The Best Lawn Grass 2

There are a lot of choices when it comes to using plants/grasses as a lawn. Before you choose a type of grass, consider some questions and alternatives in Part 1 of this post.

Below I have included photos of each plant, as well as some of its characteristics:

Axonopus compressus - Kearsney
Copes with: Shade - Low Traffic - Med/High Water
Good Soil - Medium Length - High Maintenance
Best Property : Grows in Shade

Stenotaphrum secundatum - Buffalo

Copes with: Sun/Semi Shade - High Traffic - Medium Water
Average Soil - Medium Length - Low Maintenance
Best Property : Grows in Sun/Shade, Hardy

Cynodon dactylon - Bermuda

Copes with: Sun - High Traffic - Low Water
Poor Soil - Short Length - Low Maintenance
Best Property : Grows in Full Sun, Hardy

Cynodon transvaalensis - Royal Blue

Copes with: Sun - High Traffic - Low Water
Poor Soil - Short Length - Low Maintenance
Best Property : Can be cut as short as 3mm, Full Sun, Hardy

Dactyloctenium australe - Berea Shade

Copes with: Shade/Sun - Medium Traffic - Medium Water
Good Soil - Long Length - Med Maintenance
Best Property : Grows in Shade, Soft

Paspalum vaginatum - Country Club

Copes with: Sun - High Traffic - Low Water
Poor Soil - Short Length - Med Maintenance
Best Property : Hardy

Pennisetum clandestinum - Kikuyu

Copes with: Sun - High Traffic - Medium Water
Poor Soil - Med Length - High Maintenance
Best Property : Tough, Fast growing

Dichondra repens - Wonderlawn

Copes with: Semi/Shade - Med Traffic - Med Water
Good Soil - Med Length - Low Maintenance
Best Property : Grows in Shade

Lysimachia nummularia - Creeping Jenny

Copes with: Sun - Low Traffic - Med Water
Good Soil - High Length - Med Maintenance
Best Property : Attractive golden colour

Mazus reptans - Mazus

Copes with: Semi-Shade - Med Traffic - Med Water
Good Soil - Med Length - Low Maintenance
Best Property : Pretty blue and white flowers

Mentha pulegium - Penny Royal

Copes with: Sun/Semi-Shade - Low Traffic - Med Water
Good Soil - Short Length - Low Maintenance
Best Property : Very Fragrant

Phyla nodiflora - Daisy Lawn

Copes with: Sun/Semi-Shade - High Traffic - Low/Med Water
Poor Soil - Short Length - Low Maintenance
Best Property : Extremely Hardy, stays short with traffic

The next step to look at, is how best to prepare your soil for planting.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment...

A picture speaks a 1000 words

I thought the best way to start off the blog would be to use some pictures. I obviously have my own preferences when it comes to style, but I always try to plan a design around 3 factors:

1. The specific site, architecture and surrounds
2. The clients needs and wants
3. Something new or interesting to add some originality

All too often, I see garden designers working to a formulaic style, with the same plants, used in the same way every time. To a certain extent this is affected by the client, who's reference point is generally the gardens seen around their neighbourhood. However, it is the responsibility of the landscaper to educate, and sometimes stretch the client, by introducing new ideas, concepts, plants and materials.

South African garden design is definitely in need of some stretching - there are some great international designers that we can learn from. From the sometimes outlandish Diarmuid Gavin, to flowing tropical Burle Marx, and water-coloured Gertrude Jekyll.

If there is a South African style garden, it would be the use of indigenous plants in a fairly natural way. But even this can be developed further.

The following are pictures of some of the gardens that I have designed. Each of them were as different as the clients that I designed them for.