The traditional border (Filed: 27/06/2001)
In the fourth part of our series on borders, Mary Keen explains how old favourites in pastel shades create a chintzy look
TRADITIONAL borders are safe. No one will be offended or surprised by them, though a few people may be bored. Their high season is midsummer, with very little to follow: traditionalists go north in August, returning to a second flush of roses in September.
Pale blue, pink, white, and a touch of crimson are preferred. Think pastel chintz. You will find no fashionable oranges, browns or deepest near-black. Foliage is never an important ingredient and grasses are out.
This week I have suggested a wall behind each border, which gives maximum space for roses. The old-fashioned sort are the traditionalist's flower.
Roses are demanding plants. They need plenty of nourishment at their roots and should not be allowed to get too dry or mildew will strike.
Greenfly you can live with. There is no need to spray them: pick off the worst with finger and thumb and pray for ladybirds. Blackspot is harder to endure without resorting to chemicals.
Aim to look after your plants so that they are healthy and well grown. If blemished leaves appear, pick them off and remove any that fall.
Border plants for sunny spots
All the roses and the peony are pink. This colour will be a feature for most of the summer. The two roses in the border are small, bushy and flower for longer than most of the older varieties. Rosa 'De Rescht' is a lovely thing, with small, flat-faced, dark crimson flowers. R. 'Yesterday' is a dusty-pink dwarf floribunda that blooms in clusters for quite a long time. It is modern but no one would ever know. R. 'New Dawn', on the wall, is the silvery-pink climber that everyone will recognise.
Clematis 'Purpurea' makes a soft bush in the background with a few flowers in spring and C. 'Gravetye Beauty' on the wall is a clear dark pink that will start to appear as the roses fade. Blue is the other important colour. Early in the year, it will be provided by Geranium 'Brookside' and the catmint Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant'. Cut back the nepeta as it fades and it will produce a second crop. The best blue-bearded iris, 'Jane Phillips', will also appear before the roses. Its flowers are heavy and usually need support.
Around midsummer Delphinium 'Cliveden Beauty' will start to flower. This is a pale, porcelain blue and only about 4ft tall. Not only are the belladonna types more manageable than the towering giants, but they also last longer. Dead-headed, they should keep going for six weeks. When they seem to have finished throwing up flowers, cut them to the ground, water and feed them and you should be rewarded with a second flush. Slugs are obsessed with delphiniums, so the plants must be protected early in the year.
During the delphinium lull, Aster 'Little Carlow' will provide more pale blue in the form of starry daisies. It will need staking. Silver leaves are a feature of traditional borders and Artemisia 'Powis Castle' is one of the best; it may not be hardy unless you live in a mild area, but it takes easily from cuttings. The large Dianthus 'Laced Monarch' also has silver leaves and strong crimson and pinky white flowers. Renew the plants regularly or they will become straggly.
Plants for shady spots
The scheme for semi-shade abandons pink in favour of blues, as well as white and palest yellow. On the wall the obliging white rose 'Madame Alfred Carriere' is one of the rare roses that will not mind the lack of sun. It is a vigorous grower and needs plenty of attention. The pruning and tying of climbing roses can be very demanding.
Next to it, the honeysuckle named after Graham Thomas has a long season of highly scented, pale yellow flowers. Where full sun is not available, many aconitums make a good substitute for delphiniums. A. 'Kelmscott' is a deep, almost violet blue. Give it plenty of moisture and do the same for the two phloxes.
The white-with-a-pink-eye Phlox 'Omega' is a graceful plant. On the other side, the stiffer P. 'White Admiral' will take over from the early Campanula persicifolia and should overlap with the stronger-growing hybrid, C. 'Burghaltii'. The phloxes will keep going if you dead-head them and do particularly well in cooler northern counties.
The long-flowering prize goes to Geranium 'Buxton's Blue', a rambling, twining affair that has small china-blue flowers for months. You can even have catmint in shade, but a catmint with a difference. Nepeta govaniana is not well known, but is pretty with pale yellow flowers. It does not like dry conditions.
In the front row, the familiar Alchemilla mollis must be cut back hard after flowering or it will self-seed. As summer heads into the dog days, the new growth looks very fresh, especially after rain when drops are caught on the round leaves. Alchemilla needs dividing every two years, or it will get too big.
The saxifraga, which we know better as London Pride, is a
neat edging plant with evergreen rosettes of leaves. The
variegated apple mint provides a splash of white on its
leaves, like a shady version of silver foliage, and you can
even use it when cooking the potatoes - although
traditionalists will know it is not quite the real thing.
-- Anonymous, June 28, 2001