COASTAL gardens in Britain are as varied as the coastline itself. Those of south-west Scotland, Devon and Cornwall are bathed in the warmth of the Gulf Stream, which keeps temperatures high enough to grow exotic plants. With that warm air comes high rainfall, something that gardeners in the dry coastal gardens of Norfolk and Suffolk can only dream about.
In the North-East and in Lancashire, coastal gardens are exposed to bitterly cold winds. Even the coldest place, however, is likely to be warmer than those inland and all seaside gardens will have higher light levels, thanks to light reflected off the sea.
Growing conditions can vary enormously within one region. Inland gardens in a particular locality usually have minor environmental differences, but, on the coast,the differences can be extreme, depending on topography, the way the wind turns or where the sun falls. Taking time to become familiar with the microclimate of any garden is important, but in a coastal one, it’s essential and could mean the difference between a beautiful garden or a windswept, barren piece of land.
Although there is no generic British coastal garden, all have one certainty: wind. The more open to sea views, the more damaging the wind will be to the garden. It will bring salt to scorch leaves and sand to blast them. Plants will lose moisture through increased transpiration and establishing new plants will be difficult. A windbreak of some kind is essential.
Denne historien er fra July 08, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra July 08, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
