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'weeds' at Chelsea
I am very disappointed with the show gardens that have been on television. Valerian and Cow Parsley is not something I wish to see at Chelsea nor Red Campion. It belongs in the lanes of Devon. I am desperately trying to get rid of valerian and take the flower heads off before it seeds.
I have got so fed up with the gardens I have given up on watching and hope sanity may prevail by the time we get to Hampton Court.
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It was intersting to see how they have used wild flowers including buttercup (yuk),
and so many have gone for the wild 'weed' look. I have enjoyed the coverage even the red button with toby and tom, But why do thay have to have rdt on so much. Still you can't win everything.
A weed is only a weed, if it's in the wrong place !!
Personally I loved the Chelsea gardens this year, I enjoyed the more informal approach. And it gives me hope that next time a clump of red campion springs up in my garden I can just murmur modestly "It's inspired by Chelsea, you know"
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I am torn as to whether I love my plants or my birds, hedgehogs and so on more! And I wouldn't mind a mole or two. (better be careful what I wish for,huh?)
Part of the issue is that many plants in many people's gardens were never wild flowers - at least in this country. This includes all of the tender plants that many people grow.
Nature always grows the right plant in the right place. If people are lucky enough to have cow parsley growing in their garden then that's because cow parsley has evolved to grow well in our climate and our soil.
Very pretty annuals, that come from South Africa, ought to be growing in South Africa: they don't like it here. When grown in the UK they are 'plants growing in the wrong place', so you might call them the weeds!
The trend towards naturalism at this year's Chelsea is part of a social trend.
It's caused by the inevitable pressure that agriculture is placing on our native habitats, and the desire of people to do something practical about this, which they can do, by giving a home to nature in their own gardens.
Our ecology is in dire straits now because of the preference for exotic plants and chemical solutions for the last several decades. Because of the extensive loss of habitat our domestic gardens are essential to preserve our wildlife and the show gardens at Chelsea this year have highlighted the fact that it is possible to have a wildlife-friendly yet beautiful garden.
Well I agree with nearly all of the mail after my last post, but I am not sure about the native plant argument ie don't grow South African plants, for instance. Osteospermums will do well in a dry hot summer. I notice that a rather beautiful orange azalea was really happy and flowering well this year. Presumably native to the foothills of the Himalayas? It liked the wet spring!
And the bumble bees love my yellow nasturtiums! So, I think a variety of plants will give you SOMETHING every year-gazanias and osteospermums in a dry year, and astilbes and ferns and azaleas in a wet year.
Of course if you have a wet garden/climate(Lake District? parts of Scotland ?) maybe you will always favour wet plants. And so on...
Wildlife seems very adaptable. It's loss of habitat which is the primary concern. I read a heart-breaking account of koalas dying during logging in Australia for instance. So, meadow and untouched areas in the garden/fields will favour bees, hedgehogs, larks and so on.
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It's actually possible to attract wildlife such as beneficial pollinating insects and hedgehogs and amphibians to a garden without growing weeds. Growing single flowers instead of sterile doubles provides masses of nectar and they're not fussy about whether it comes from imports such as buddleia or home grown weeds. It's also easy enough to make insect, hedgehog and bat shelters and provide nesting boxes for birds and log piles for insects and amphibians to shelter.
I actually found the "natural" planting at Chelsea did just look weedy and in need of a good strim. I'd rather have an attractive tapestry of plants with varied flower forms and foliage contrasts. I don't do exotics as my garden is too cold but I do have plants from Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa and even a zantedeschia from New Zealand that survives over by the pond and my garden is full of birds, rodents such as field mice as well as larger and less welcome cousins, insects and amphibians and no doubt countless creepy crawlies I never see.