The Cottage Smallholder

Last year I decided to work on our main herbaceous border. I planted it when I first came to the cottage many years ago. It is quite a big border, roughly 12 feet deep (4 metres) x 33 feet long (11 metres). It started off as 5 x 33 feet and gradually increased in depth for the first five years. I didn’t have a master plan as I knew so little about gardening at the time. I just bunged in stuff that I liked. Every year I planned to do something about it but never had the time.

So I made a start. The border is south facing with sun until mid afternoon. Standing in front of the border I twigged that a quick simple solution would be to divide it into two halves with a focal point in the middle. Create a focus and then work out from that.

I had been flirting with the idea of a bower for a couple of years. My sister had donated an unwanted Monet arch that had been kicking around in a couple of carrier bags for months. I’d bought a bench in a Homebase sale the Autumn before. It was lurking in the garden without a proper home. We hadn’t even sat on it as it looked out of place everywhere we tried it.

With all these ingredients, I hatched a plot. I could create A Bower. Seat and arch, with the glorious established honeysuckle in the spring. I also had a couple of clematis plants that I bought on the last day of Hampton Court Flower Show two years ago. They had survived in pots. Perfect, as they were clearly strong.

With some turf and baby box plants I created our bower. Sometimes I sit in the bower and contemplate why the Min Pins have chosen to pee on the new turf.