Garden

Salvia microphylla

Subshrubs

AT LE JARDIN CRÉATIF WE GROW A WIDE RANGE OF SUBSHRUBS AND I OFTEN GET ASKED ABOUT THE DEFINITION.

Botanically they are somewhere Abutilon) while others that come from you choose the right varieties, they are between a true shrub (which has a more temperate climates can survive down very well suited to the climate here in permanent woody framework) and a to minus 8 or 10 degrees, (Salvia, south west France, tolerating the hot, dry herbaceous perennial (which has soft, non Penstemon, hardy Fuchsias) with lots of summers, but they can suffer from woody growth and generally dies back to variation in between. Some are mostly excessive wet in the winter and will get a the ground while dormant, re-growing woody with less herbaceous growth while bit of frost damage to the soft growth at from ground level each year). A subshrub others are mainly herbaceous developing the tips. The key to success is not to cut will typically develop a woody base and woody stems just at the very base of them back too early because the top herbaceous top the plant. growth protects the base of the plant growth. This is because they originate mainly from warm climates where the growing season is long, and they have not had to adapt to full dormancy for the winter. The thing that makes this group of plants such good value in the garden is that they tend to have a very long flowering season and give a good display from early May right through to the first hard frosts (often still They tend to have a very long flowering season and give a good display from early May right through to the first hard frosts during the coldest weather and if they are cut back too early it can induce soft growth from the base which is susceptible to late frosts. I generally wait until May to cut them back. Penstemons can be cut quite hard, while Salvia’s can be given a lighter touch allowing them to develop into small bushes. You will normally be able to see healthy buds and small shoots low down on the Some subshrubs coming from climates in full flower in November), they are loved plant and you can cut them back to just where the temperature never goes below by the butterflies and bees, and many have above these to promote fresh new growth zero are still very tender and need winter aromatic foliage and medicinal or culinary and remove any damaged stems from over protection, (such as Pelargonium sp. and uses. They are fairly easy to care for and if the winter.

By Caroline Wright

Caroline has been a lecturer in horticulture for 20 years and is now running a nursery and 'garden craft' courses in the Haute-Vienne at Le jardin creatif Lejardincreatif.net

Caryopteris clandonensis

Penstemon with tubular flowers 'Jingle Bells

Penstemon

Penstemon Red with white throat

Ceratostigma willmottianum

Here are some of my favourite subshrubs for a long season of interest. They can be planted in a herbaceous border, shrub border or mixed border and also do well in containers, especially those that benefit from winter protection as they can be moved to a sheltered spot or polytunnel to overwinter.

Salvia

Salvia have to be the number one choice. Some Salvia species are hardy herbaceous perennials such as Salvia pratensis, and Salvia uliginosa, but many are subshrubs, some of which are quite tender and do need winter protection but there are a number of species such as Salvia microphylla, S. jamensis and S. greggii that are reliably hardy, flower for months on end, and have given rise to numerous cultivars in many different flower colours from pale cream, through to pinks, purples and blues and some are bicoloured. At Le Jardin Créatif we have a collection of well over 40 different varieties. We propagate the hardiest ones for sale on the nursery and the most popular cultivars include ‘Nactvlinder’ with a deep purple flower, ‘Royal Bumble’, ‘Cherry Queen’ and ‘Radio Red’ all with deep red flowers that stand up to the bright sunshine, and the paler coral pink S. grahamii. Last year we experimented with our own hybrids and have developed a new cultivar with a velvety red/purple flower which we are calling Salvia ‘Le Jardin Créatif’.

Penstemon

Next are the Penstemons, which are less woody and more herbaceous. It is tempting not to cut them back in spring because they come through the winter with lush green growth and if you leave them uncut they will come into flower even earlier, but I have found that they become top heavy and the long stems can flow over towards mid-summer so I cut them back hard in early May to promote sturdy growth from the base. They start flowering from mid-June and continue into the autumn, particularly if you dead head them once or twice through the season. Penstemons produce tall spikes of tubular flowers in a range of colours from pale pink, to deep reds, and deep dark purples. Some have narrow pendant tubular flowers such as Penstemon ‘Jingle Bells’ while others are more upward facing with open corollas and interesting markings inside the throat. Popular varieties are ‘Plum Jerkum’ and ‘Blackbird’ with their rich deep burgundy/purple flowers. Other hardy subshrubs which we have found to be reliable include Ceratostigma willmottianum with its sky-blue flowers sitting in late summer and red autumn leaves. Its stems become quite woody by the end of the season, but it can be treated as a herbaceous perennial, cutting them hard back to promote new growth from ground level which will flower in its first season. Perovskia atriplicifolia, another late summer blue flower on spikes above silvery white stems and foliage, an aromatic plant that associates well with ornamental grasses and can be treated like a herbaceous perennial. Carypoteris clandonensis is shrubbier, requiring just a light trim in spring back to visible new shoots halfway down the stems. It produces masses of blue flowers above silvery foliage in mid-summer.

Last year we experimented with our own hybrids and have developed a new cultivar with a velvety red/purple flower which we are calling Salvia ‘Le Jardin Créatif’

le jardin creatif…

You can see a range of subshrubs growing in our borders at Le Jardin Créatif. We are open on Saturdays throughout the summer season. We stock a range perennials and subshrubs on the nursery and are happy to give advice on planting. Our Salvia collection is also on display. You can view our current availability list online at www.lejardincreatif.net/nursery

~ Hedgecutting and paddock mowing ~ Flail mowing for rough/long grass areas ~ All excavations and groundworks undertaken ~ Woodchipper and operator for hire ~ All fencing carried out ~ Patio's, driveways and excavations

FENCING

• Agricultural/Equestrian • Garden • Swimming Pool GATES • 5-Bar Field/Entrance 32 years’ experience Free estimates • Garden • Driveway

Neil: 05 55 00 08 90 / Mob: 06 11 71 66 87

Advertise Your Business

For as little as 35€ ttc

www.etceteraonline.org

Two ladies VAN

Garden Waste � Barns Cleared Unoccupied holiday homes checked

in the North Charente, Vienne and Deux-Sevres For enquiries or rates please contact us on: 0772 388 460 or 0963 681 249

Making a Difference

In our gardens

FORTUNATELY, OUR GARDENS DO NOT RECOGNISE COVID, AND MAY HAS A LOT TO OFFER US, A MONTH TO BE ENJOYED BY GARDENERS AND NATURE LOVERS ALIKE. LET’S MAKE SURE WE ARE NOT ONLY LOOKING AFTER OURSELVES AND LOVED ONES DURING THIS TIME, BUT ALSO THE PLANET WE LIVE ON

By Ronnie Ogier

Ronnie is a passionate gardener and now loves sharing her years of experience of success and failures in her own garden and sharing it with you. Also a keen runner, having been bitten by the ‘Couch to 5K’ bug!

In May everything seems to spring into of climate change. Can one individual that we do all we can to reduce the loss of life and grow, the soil has warmed up make a difference? Perhaps alone the water through evaporation. The first step and the days are long, so plants are difference you could make would not have is to mulch to conserve water that you put growing strongly. This means that our a major impact on global climate change, on your plants – home-made compost, gardens change almost daily, rising up to but if all gardeners made some changes leaf mould, recycled materials including the peak of the year. But a few words of then the impact could be more dynamic. grass clippings, bark and shredded caution – weeds are plants as well as Sometimes it’s not a case of what we do branches are all good. It might seem roses, peonies and potatoes, so they will but more a case of what we don’t do! Take counter intuitive but growing more plants grow just as quickly, though in my garden one example – water. Most of us use a lot is also an efficient method of conserving it seems more quickly than the plants I of water in our gardens and at times it water, in that if no soil is visible the plants wish to enjoy. This means dealing with does seem hard to understand that even if will provide their own mulch. And when them as they appear by hoeing regularly. we’ve had a very wet winter with flooding, you do need to water, make sure the water Another caution which I seem to mention each summer we seem to face water is aimed at the most useful place –every year, but it reminds us all of the restrictions. The easy answer is to the roots. fickle nature of the weather - don’t forget conserve the winter water in butts for use la lune rousse, this year between 12th in the summer, but that is not always The biggest change any of us can make, if April and 11th May. sufficient we’re not doing it already, is to grow This is the first full and the way organically. It is a way of maintaining a lunar cycle after Easter Perhaps alone the difference you your own sustainable approach that follows and when skies are regularly clear, temperatures good, even high during the could make would not have a major impact on global climate change, but if all gardeners made some soil either holds water or is very free emulates nature. Our role in this is to ensure that we are helping Mother Nature by adding to the soil the items she puts in for free. We can make compost and leaf day, but drop heavily changes then the impact could be draining has mould, we can stick to using only at night. New buds are more dynamic a further rainwater and make our own natural breaking, plants are impact on liquid feeds and treatments for bugs and full of vigour and the the amount diseases, and we can encourage beneficial sap is rising, cold nights with low we use. I would suggest that watering insects into our gardens to help deal with temperatures extending into the early lawns is a no-no, I certainly have given up the pests. Such methods promote strong hours burn the new buds, giving them a on trying to develop the green sward of and healthy growth and enable us to grow scorched appearance. And as if that isn’t grass I had as a lawn in the UK. I now intensively without upsetting the balance enough there are les Saintes Glaces, (11th, accept almost anything that is green filling of nature. 12th and 13th May). Traditionally in France annuals and some delicate plants are not put into the ground until after these dates. So be patient, wait until later in the month to safely plant out tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and tender annuals –they will catch up. Now more than ever we need to be aware of the consequences of our actions. As the space planned as a lawn! If, like us, you have a well, it is tempting to think that you are not using water from the taps, it’s from the well and this will have very little impact on overall water supplies. But, once again, if this is done on a large scale then that will have an impact on the water table below the surface and lessen this valuable resource still further. We need to avoid the use of chemical fertilisers in order to boost the growth of our plants. In the longer-term chemical additives have a detrimental effect on micro-organisms in the soil, and gradually reduce the very things we rely on for the healthy soil which our plants need to grow. Growing organically means sustaining your soil by reproducing the gardeners we can make an impact on the I’m not suggesting that we should not natural processes whereby nature recycles environment and help to lessen the effects water plants, but what I would suggest is materials to feed the soil. This becomes a

virtuous circle – we grow plants, even slugs! Plant a native hedge or a tree, even opening within this area on specific days weeds, though possibly not by design. a small one; these will provide food and during May and others who will be open When we have enjoyed the plants, either shelter for wildlife and help to store sur rendezvous. The details may be found vegetable or flower, we recycle the carbon from the air and release oxygen. on the Open Gardens/Jardins Ouverts unwanted plant growth in a compost maker to put back on to the soil and return to nature the good produce she has given to us. This process had been going on unaided for centuries, until man stepped in to ‘improve’ it and grow gardens! If we are ever to slow down or even halt climate change it must be us, the gardeners, who are at the forefront by making personal choices which can help on a global scale if we all join in. website – www.opengardens.eu so have a look and see if there are any gardens near you opening. Each time you visit a garden you will see something different, get ideas, perhaps buy plants or have a cup of tea and a piece of cake. Each time you visit a There are many ways in which we, as gardeners, can develop an environmentally And finally, one of my regular obsessions if you haven’t taken photographs of your garden in previous garden you will be making a valuable donation to the Association and its efforts to support French children and young friendly environment. years try to get into people with life inhibiting illnesses and We can start by propagating our own plants – growing from seed and taking We can start by propagating our own plants – growing from seed and taking cuttings the habit of doing so now. Monthly photos of your garden remind you where conditions. We are opening our garden, near Vayres in the Haute Vienne, with at least one other garden on Saturday 22nd May – come along and see what we have cuttings. I find it very plants are and where to offer or inspire you. Check the website satisfying, giving me there are gaps; it lets for timings and the full address. I look the opportunity to grow many more you see what went well and what didn’t forward to meeting some of you on different varieties than are readily work, and it’s very rewarding to look back that occasion. available either in garden centres or on- at your successes at different times of line, and it means I’m not relying on the year. energy-intensive commercial But no matter how busy we are in ourmanufacturing. If we grow our own gardens there is still the opportunity tovegetables we eat them fresh, packed with share and enjoy the gardens of others.taste and nutrients but they carry no air miles. Try to go chemical free - it’s not too difficult to establish a balance within your garden and the more of us that do it the easier and more effective it becomes. Gardens opening for Open Gardens/Jardins Ouverts have been available for some time now but in April Covid restrictions reduced the possibility of visiting gardens other than those within And further encourage wildlife – not only the 10km limit of your home. We are are they fascinating to watch but they eat hoping that in May there will be more insects, act as pollinators, and birds and freedom to go out and about, though small mammals will seek out and eat pests remembering social distancing and mask including the all-pervasive snails and wearing. There are several gardens Happy gardening and keep taking the photos!