The Simple Things - 04.2020

Maverick f lowers

For sunny borders: Purple

toadflax is an ornamental

perennial turned weedy rogue.

It’s an easy, carefree plant,

proclaiming purple towers

to flower atop dainty silver.

For dry or poor soils: Evening

primrose (Oenothera biennis)

has tall stems holding large,

trumpet-shaped yellow flowers,

and rivals many garden plants

for sheer summer wow factor.

For meadows: Meadow

buttercup is a beautiful plant

that has developed a bad

reputation just because, at

some point, it was classified as

a weed. It is a perennial plant

that stays green through winter.

For shady borders: White

deadnettle is far more refined

than the common nettle and

is the potential star of a shade

border. Primroses (above)

will also spring up weed-

like in shady spots.

For rich, damp soil: Mind-your-

own-business (worth including

in your garden purely for the

joy of that awkward moment

when someone asks you what

it is) forms a luxurious green

carpet across beds.

For ground cover: Sweet violet

is a fast-growing plant that

creates dense mats of shiny,

green leaves and a spectacular

display of violet, blue or white.

Adapted from Wild About Weeds:

Garden Design with Rebel Plants

by Jack Wallington (Laurence King)

people define what you can or can’t like

• it’s your garden and only you can say
  what should and shouldn’t have a place in it.
  A different approach is to start with
  the weed itself. What colour and size is it?
  Which ornamental plants would go with
  it? Approaching a border design with
  a weed as the wash to your canvas may
  sound like madness, but it makes for
  long-term sense. Create a border to work
  with that weed and it will always feel
  an easygoing part of your master plan.
  Weeds will grow wherever it suits
  them best. You don’t need to fight against
  the conditions by changing the soil pH,
  watering regularly or adding manure
  or fertiliser. This can mean less work for
  you and it also puts less pressure on the
  environment. Weeds are loved by wildlife,
  too – for nectar, shelter, and nibbling on.
  Long f lowering periods help. It seems
  a shame to stop this because we’ve
  been told a plant is a weed.

WELCOMING WEEDS IN

It’s actually a simple and rewarding little

task to collect your own seeds – there’s

no need for elaborate manufacture or

packaging. And collecting your own has

the benefit of significantly reducing the

chances of transporting pests and diseases

from live plants. First, though, you need

to find your weed. Try doing this early

in the year, while the plant is f lowering

so that you can identify exactly what it is.

A seed is ripe only when it comes away

fairly easily. This will be more or less

obvious depending on the weed, but as a

rule of thumb: a green weed is never ready.

Use small brown paper bags to collect your

seeds – paper helps to keep seeds dry.

The time when a weed’s seed is ripe is

also the best time for the seed to fall to the

ground. This might mean that the seeds

start to grow immediately, or they might

just bide their time until the following

spring. Replicate this natural process

by collecting seeds and then sprinkling

them in the soil straight away.

TRIMMING AND TIDYING

Weeds appear in conditions they like

and then start spreading. Therefore,

weeds require the opposite strategy to

many garden ornamental plants. Rather

than pampering, feeding and watering,

weeds simply need restricting. Over the

year this will take you no more or less time

than looking after ornamentals. Lightly

cutting back a strong-growing, weedy

rose every year or two beats spraying

garden roses weekly for pests and disease.

Most weeds are easier to control than

you realise. The easiest methods of weeding

are hoeing, hand-pulling, and using a hand

fork to loosen roots (or a garden fork for

larger weeds). You must remove all of

the roots, particularly on deep-rooted

plants, otherwise they will regrow. Other

techniques to slow weed growth include

deadheading before the plants produce

seeds, and cutting the entire plant back

to ground level to reduce its vigour.

In the past, gardeners have tended to

mollycoddle plants, going to great lengths

to ensure they receive everything they need

without taking from their neighbours and

leaving gaps around them, which weeds

squeeze into. Planting as a community

means filling these gaps with plants you

know will grow well together. Dense

plantings do require some maintenance

(ensuring no single plant becomes too

dominant), but the overall maintenance

the plants need to thrive is far lower than

in traditional, gappy planting. Ground cover

is essential for low maintenance designs.

These spread across soil, forming a mat

that protects, locking in moisture and

stopping other weeds from seeding into it.

But we must stop thinking of a plant

popping up in the middle of a carefully

planned combination as a problem.

Unexpected, yes, but perhaps ask

yourself: is that really a bad thing?

“It’s not the weed’s

fault we hatched

a plan without it”

Maverick f lowers

For sunny borders: Purple

toadflax is an ornamental

perennial turned weedy rogue.

It’s an easy, carefree plant,

proclaiming purple towers

to flower atop dainty silver.

For dry or poor soils: Evening

primrose (Oenothera biennis)

has tall stems holding large,

trumpet-shaped yellow flowers,

and rivals many garden plants

for sheer summer wow factor.

For meadows: Meadow

buttercup is a beautiful plant

that has developed a bad

reputation just because, at

some point, it was classified as

a weed. It is a perennial plant

that stays green through winter.

For shady borders: White

deadnettle is far more refined

than the common nettle and

is the potential star of a shade

border. Primroses (above)

will also spring up weed-

like in shady spots.

For rich, damp soil: Mind-your-

own-business (worth including

in your garden purely for the

joy of that awkward moment

when someone asks you what

it is) forms a luxurious green

carpet across beds.

For ground cover: Sweet violet

is a fast-growing plant that

creates dense mats of shiny,

green leaves and a spectacular

display of violet, blue or white.

AdaptedfromWildAboutWeeds:

GardenDesignwithRebelPlants

byJackWallington(LaurenceKing)

people define what you can or can’t like

• it’s your garden and only you can say
  what should and shouldn’t have a place in it.
  A different approach is to start with
  the weed itself. What colour and size is it?
  Which ornamental plants would go with
  it? Approaching a border design with
  a weed as the wash to your canvas may
  sound like madness, but it makes for
  long-term sense. Create a border to work
  with that weed and it will always feel
  an easygoing part of your master plan.
  Weeds will grow wherever it suits
  them best. You don’t need to fight against
  the conditions by changing the soil pH,
  watering regularly or adding manure
  or fertiliser. This can mean less work for
  you and it also puts less pressure on the
  environment. Weeds are loved by wildlife,
  too – for nectar, shelter, and nibbling on.
  Long f lowering periods help. It seems
  a shame to stop this because we’ve
  been told a plant is a weed.

WELCOMING WEEDS IN

It’s actually a simple and rewarding little

task to collect your own seeds – there’s

no need for elaborate manufacture or

packaging. And collecting your own has

the benefit of significantly reducing the

chances of transporting pests and diseases

from live plants. First, though, you need

to find your weed. Try doing this early

in the year, while the plant is f lowering

so that you can identify exactly what it is.

A seed is ripe only when it comes away

fairly easily. This will be more or less

obvious depending on the weed, but as a

rule of thumb: a green weed is never ready.

Use small brown paper bags to collect your

seeds – paper helps to keep seeds dry.

The time when a weed’s seed is ripe is

also the best time for the seed to fall to the

ground. This might mean that the seeds

start to grow immediately, or they might

just bide their time until the following

spring. Replicate this natural process

by collecting seeds and then sprinkling

them in the soil straight away.

TRIMMING AND TIDYING

Weeds appear in conditions they like

and then start spreading. Therefore,

weeds require the opposite strategy to

many garden ornamental plants. Rather

than pampering, feeding and watering,

weeds simply need restricting. Over the

year this will take you no more or less time

than looking after ornamentals. Lightly

cutting back a strong-growing, weedy

rose every year or two beats spraying

garden roses weekly for pests and disease.

Most weeds are easier to control than

you realise. The easiest methods of weeding

are hoeing, hand-pulling, and using a hand

fork to loosen roots (or a garden fork for

larger weeds). You must remove all of

the roots, particularly on deep-rooted

plants, otherwise they will regrow. Other

techniques to slow weed growth include

deadheading before the plants produce

seeds, and cutting the entire plant back

to ground level to reduce its vigour.

In the past, gardeners have tended to

mollycoddle plants, going to great lengths

to ensure they receive everything they need

without taking from their neighbours and

leaving gaps around them, which weeds

squeeze into. Planting as a community

means filling these gaps with plants you

know will grow well together. Dense

plantings do require some maintenance

(ensuring no single plant becomes too

dominant), but the overall maintenance

the plants need to thrive is far lower than

in traditional, gappy planting. Ground cover

is essential for low maintenance designs.

These spread across soil, forming a mat

that protects, locking in moisture and

stopping other weeds from seeding into it.

But we must stop thinking of a plant

popping up in the middle of a carefully

planned combination as a problem.

Unexpected, yes, but perhaps ask

yourself: is that really a bad thing?

“It’s not the weed’s

fault we hatched

a plan without it”