True grit

Swedish plantsman Peter Korn is a pioneer of growing in sand, and his glorious new garden near Malmö is testament to its success

-  JONNY BRUCE

Eight years ago, Peter Korn and Julia Andersson moved to their current house in southern Sweden, where they have created not only a beautiful home but also a nursery, Klinta Trädgård, that provides plants for their numerous public planting projects. These commissions, as with much of their home garden, are planted in pure sand, and Peter has become well known as a pioneer of this approach, which offers a range of benefits such as less watering, staking and weeding. "Think of a hot sandy beach," says Peter. "The surface can be so hot that you can't walk on it, but dig in your toes and a few centimetres down it is always cool and moist." Plants access this limited moisture by producing larger root networks and although there is an abundance of mycorrhizae in sand, the relative lack of available nutrients means that plants don't grow as lushly - hence less need for staking. Helianthus salicifolius, for example, gets so tall on regular soil that it inevitably flops, whereas in sand it remains erect at a more manageable two metres high. This slower - but harder growth - means short-lived plants often persist for years, and in many cases plants literally develop a thicker skin' meaning they are less susceptible to pests such as aphids and in turn the diseases that are spread through these pests.

However, plants first grown in conventional potting compost often struggle to establish in sand. As Peter and Julia's number of public commissions increased, they needed more sand-grown plants, which wouldn't suffer this 'transplant shock. Moving to Klinta offered the opportunity to expand the nursery and for garden and nursery to work together symbiotically, with the various borders acting as a source of propagation material for the nursery, and the nursery returning a steady stream of plants. As Peter explains, "the nursery allows the garden to exist.