The Garden in April

This is the busiest time of year in the world of garden design, and, after such a slow start, all the plants seem to be playing catch-up and the garden looks lovely.

There have been casualties over the winter in my garden and also in some of the gardens that I designed and planted in the autumn. Very sadly none of the Verbena bonariensis that made such a good show in my front garden last year seem to have survived. I know that this is the case for some of the gardens that we planted up in the autumn too so we are going back to fill in the gaps in some Oxfordshire gardens this spring!

Another casualty has been another favourite of mine, Rosmarinus officinalis 'Prostratus' (the lovely prostrate form of Rosemary.) It should be just about to flower, but sadly not so this year in my garden.

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Gaps create opportunities and I’ve already bought some Aubretia ‘J.S. Baker’ to replace the dead Rosemary. Aubretia is a tough as old boots, looks perfect tumbling over rocks or low walls, which we have a lot of here in Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds! If we do have a severe winter next year, I’m pretty sure that this new planting will survive.