Big ideas for small city gardens: stunning, low-maintenance plants that bloom even in the toughest conditions
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No roses are blackspot-proof, but soft pink classic climber New Dawn, scarlet-flowered, slender-hipped Rosa Geranium, sugar pink floribunda Bonica and all the rugosa roses come close.
The entire David Austin range of English roses, including the wonderfully deep, sultry shades, are bred to be disease-resistant. And if you like to cut roses for indoors and find you can only float the heads because the stems are too short and weak, bag yourself a Boscobel, with flop-free, gorgeous coral-pink blooms on stems strong enough to hold the heads upright.
Clematis, with their ability to provide cascades of colour through summer, are essential for London gardens but can be tricky to prune and many are susceptible to potentially fatal clematis wilt. Eliminate both problems by growing a viticella variety, which just needs cutting down to a low pair of buds in early spring, and is unaffected by wilt.
Clematis viticella Madame Julia Correvon throws out her sumptuous, deep plum blooms from July to November even in part shade, looks glorious scrambling through a pink climbing rose and is suitably compact for London gardens, reaching 10ft max.
Go for grasses this year. Their swish and sway adds movement and atmosphere to an otherwise static border, and they are easy to grow. My suggested starter plant is the indestructible, silky and oh-so-strokeable Stipa tenuissima.
For London gardens, Pauline McBride of Sussex Prairies recommends Pennisetum orientale Shogun, a glamorous three- to four-footer with glaucous blue foliage and blush pink flowers, as well as shorter moor grass Sesleria autumnalis, which has bright, lime green leaves, shimmery, silver-grey flowers and holds its sculptural form through winter. Just comb it through with your fingers to freshen it up in spring.
Find space for herbs, however small your garden, by growing them in the border as long-lasting evergreens or in roomy terracotta pots. The essentials — for ornamental and culinary value — are purple sage, golden oregano, shrubby thyme and slim, columnar rosemary, Miss Jessopp’s Upright. All of these, if not clipped too rigorously, produce masses of flowers from late spring through summer, with the exception of Miss Jessopp, which, like most rosemaries, is seldom out of bloom.
Box blight and box caterpillar show no signs of quitting, so welcome a more resistant Japanese holly into your garden. Ilex crenata is widely considered by garden designers to be the best alternative for topiary. With small, glossy green leaves similar to box, it is eminently clippable, ultra tough and shade-tolerant.
The longest-flowering perennial title is still held by wallflower Erysimum Bowles’ Mauve, although relative Apricot Twist, with masses of bright orange flower stems, is a strong contender and, amazingly, is still blooming its head off in my front garden.
Plant problem solver Jenny Bowden, of the RHS Advisory Service, believes the Peruvian lily, Alstroemeria Indian Summer, deserves a place in every garden. The dazzling, flame-toned flowers, set against contrasting bronze foliage, brightened her borders from June through to November last year. She says they don’t usually need staking, suit containers and, in October, she was cutting them to bring summer indoors. They are sold as plug plants at Thompson & Morgan.
Salvias are sensational. The lipped flowers on tinted stems keep going for months on end, and the colour range of cobalt and sky blues, lipstick reds and vibrant magentas, is exceptional. New variety Amistad, with velvety, purple flowers on tall blackcurrant stems, blooms for six months from early summer. Specialists Dysons Nurseries say if you only have room for one salvia, make it electric pink Cerro Potosi. I say, buy both. To be seduced by more salvias, see Dyson Salvias.
In the meantime, plant something with flower and fragrance to cheer you through the bleak midwinter, such as Mahonia Winter Sun, shrubby honeysuckle Lonicera fragrantissima or perhaps, in a pot, dainty white-flowered Camellia transnokoensis. The first snowdrops are just a heartbeat away.