A term that has been used increasingly, when talking about gardens, is its resilience. Many gardeners are beginning to consider this when planning changes to their plots. If we look back at the last few years, we are certainly experiencing a climate of much more extreme weather. That said, what does resilience mean when applied to the average domestic garden?
My beach garden was created, back in 2012 to cope with the landscape in which it sits. You can see it copes well, despite being just a quarter of a mile away from the ocean, but recent gales have forced the beautiful acanthus to go with the flow with many flower heads now growing almost horizontal, although some do manage to stay upright. The fact that this part of the garden was intentionally created not to be a neat and formal plot, but one having a wilder or less maintained layout, has really helped significantly over the years. I find it looks good all year round and requires very little actual maintenance.
If you have the space, even a chaotic wildflower meadow can feel designed, simply by mowing a neat strip around the edge to frame it and make it feel intentional.
The RHS website says that the climate emergency is affecting weather patterns, and extreme events are becoming much more likely and frequent. We’ve certainly seen that in 2024. This is causing devastation to landscapes and gardens that are ill equipped to deal with these conditions. This is especially true for those of us that chose to open our gardens to the public.
It is not practical or sustainable to have to start again from scratch every time an extreme event occurs, so resilient gardens that can adapt, survive and recover are going to be extremely important.
Never could this be more relevant, when considering coastal plots like my own. The beach garden at Driftwood directly faces the English Channel and all the awful weather that can be thrown its way.
The storms we experienced earlier in the year, in January, were probably some of the worst in the 20 years we have lived in Seaford. That, coupled with the incessant rain and high winds through June and July meant many plants suffered. The 3 large palms in the back garden were lashed repeatedly by strong winds, meaning the fronds have remained damaged all summer, despite cutting some of the outer ones off back in the spring.
I have a beautiful hydrangea Annabelle but this year, just as it came to look its best, more gales hit and badly damaged many of the blooms. I’m going to have to cut it right back this year to try and prevent it getting too tall, sticking its blooms above the railway sleeper wall next year.
The RHS site goes on to say that it is important to understand your own garden, and endeavour to design a scheme that will inevitably be able to cope with the conditions that it is most likely to face. In my case, that is without doubt, gale force winds and extremely heavy downpours. With the horrendous flooding we have had earlier this year it would not be resilient to try and design a dry Mediterranean gravel garden, especially if located on a flood plain. These types of plants wouldn’t tolerate the wet well. So, stating the obvious, an analysis of your plot is a really important starting point when deciding what to change or what to create.
There appears to be a definite appetite to be more resilient and sustainable, with most people really wanting to try and do something to help with the climate and biodiversity crisis, and see their garden spaces as a realistic way in which they can make a difference. Many visitors to my garden are interested to talk about what I have achieved, especially in the beach garden, in the hope of replicating some ideas in their own outdoor spaces.
All that said, what have I experienced in my own plot over recent years?
I have endeavoured to move from a garden brimming with containers and summer annuals to one that creates the wow factor in other ways! Gone are the summers with lots of pretty petunias tumbling over pots and walls. Whilst they truly looked wonderful, the heavy rains soon destroyed the blooms and the inevitable stress kicked in trying to keep the garden looking its best for visitors.
Initially, Driftwood had over 300 containers around the garden, many of them filled with summer annuals, which returning visitors each year loved to see. Not only were they damaged by heavy downpours, they suffered from the heat waves we have experienced too and required constant watering.
I made a conscious decision to stop using a wide range of summer bedding a couple of years ago and substituted them, primarily, for geraniums and osteospermums which are much more drought tolerant. I have several pots of eucomis too.
Another major change has been the extensive use of succulents which clearly are not impacted by summer droughts. Their only downfall being they need to be protected through the winter. That said, I am lucky to have a large heated greenhouse which houses them in the colder months, along with the front and back porches of the house.
Whilst my garden in London, prior to moving to the coast, had a plentiful supply of hanging baskets brimming with summer annuals, that was not a design idea I could incorporate here at Driftwood, thanks to the strong winds.
In the last couple of years, I have created more hard landscaped areas which have been laid with run offs at the edges to ensure a good flow of rainwater into the surrounding ground. The creation of small micro climates across your patch can help too. When I first worked on the garden, knowing that winds in particular were going to be an issue, I planted hedges which I have kept relatively low, such as grisolina littoralis or elaeagnus x ebbingeii. This has meant that I can plant things behind them using the hedge as a wind break, helping them to survive.
