That wooden trellis planter I bought when I moved here 4 years ago has seen many plants in its life, and only the nasturtiums were a success really, so disappointing. It must be its shallowness in combination with the growing conditions on my balcony. And my own mistakes obviously: not so strange that a Lonicera, used to dappled shade, was extremely unhappy in the 40 degrees sunshine we had that first summer. I sensibly decided against turning that planter into a pond (the weight!), yes, sometimes sense takes over from sheer enthusiasm. Almost dragged it to the basement lockup to wait for that allotment (When? When?), and then had a brainwave. Now, I have many of those and most are unusable and unrealistic. But this time...
Plants that know how to rock
Volcanic rock doesn't weigh much (tuff), so I bought a bag full of those, and mixed my old soil with a load of grit and sand. That was the sensible part. After that, the fun part: the plants!
Determined not to fall into my usual pit (falling for exciting but unsuitable plants), I went to a garden centre that caters for dummies, and thus labels all sections accordingly. They have a 'rock garden selection', where could I go wrong here, eh?
I bought Silene schafta, Sempervivum, Campanula garganica and a gorgeous silvery leaved creeper with pale purple flowers that had the name on the pot and which I forgot to write down, and Sedum cape blanco.
That Sedum took off! It quadrupled in size that first year (2020), and has bright yellow starry flowers right now, draping elegantly over the rocks. The Silene did well too, hasn't grown much but that's fine, and has plenty of buds. The Sempervivum was attacked by Jackdaws (why on earth? I saw a bird fly off with a section of the plant), but I divided the remainder over the planter. That pretty silvery creeper suffered terribly from the frost this winter and 3/4 died. But what is left has perked up and is in flower. But that Campanula...
Campanula on the rampage
 |
| Coreopsis |
Here something went 'wrong' again. Something always does, don't you agree? The best laid plans of mice and gardeners, eh? Even though it came from the rock garden section and was labelled as such, my cheerful Campanula doesn't realise it is growing in a 100x50cm planter. Or it does, but doesn't care! Last year it was a pretty 10cm round mound of flowers, this year it has gone wild. Not only has it covered most of the planter already, it also tries to climb the trellis. Showing it my scissors with a dark look has not tamed it one bit. I fear I must show it who is boss here. But I'll let it flower first...they are like little lavender stars.
Plans
 |
| Nasturtium Black Velvet |
The weather has turned lovely, plenty of sunshine, temperatures into the middle twenties C (add 10 degrees for my balcony). So that means: watering. Even though I try to get plants which either like or tolerate my clifftop conditions, most of them are gasping by nightfall. Watering them is a pleasure, it is relaxing, it releases a lovely earthy scent and I go all Zen. But it does take quite some time. Puck is wise to this routine and stands ready to lap up everything I spill, for some reason she loves all water which is not in her water bowl (shower, dishwasher, puddles, etc), which is a bother when I use a liquid feed. I have to lock her inside then, and she sulks.
So. I have decided to rearrange my garden. I will gather the plants from the many many individual pots, and group them in 3 large planters. Hopefully that will make them happy, will save me some time, and give me more space to sit and perhaps even have a tiny table on there, so I can eat without spilling everything in my lap, and walk around without stubbing my toes when I hunt for those slugs. I'll keep you informed about my progress.
You can read more about the rock garden, and see lots more photos on Instagram @songsmith2962 and my original art is @grashoffr
