A pocket sized prairie garden

On By debeauvoirgardenersIn Gardening, Meetings, Speakers

If you missed our June meeting you are in for a treat. Our speaker, Johnny Le Huquet, has kindly shared some pictures of his garden on Southgate Road. There were some technical issues with viewing his images large on the evening so this helps to give some detail to what was a fascinating and inspirational talk. Of course the best option would be to visit the garden for yourself and luckily it is open to the public on July 10th as part of the National Garden Scheme.

Southgate Road spring planting: bulbs including alliums and umbellifers such as Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’ abound in this early restrained look.
Southgate Road borders in early summer: more delicate perennials including tulbaghias and Dianthus carthusianorum abound while the prairie plants are still emerging.
In mid-summer the borders are brimful as early summer flowerers persist while prairie offerings such as veronicastrum, monardas and echinacea erupt.
Late summer at Southgate Road: larger ornamental grasses such as Stipa pseudoichu have hit their stride, along with taller perennials at the back of the border such as Althaea cannabina. Johnny’s restrained colour palette of pastels enlivened by bolts of magenta and claret accents is most in evidence here.
Early autumn at Southgate Road: The distilled essence of prairie-style (aka naturalistic) planting comes to the fore, as vivacious flowering perennials and soft ornamental grasses blend with each other throughout the borders. Johnny describes this look as ‘organised chaos’.