Summer Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein


Summer

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I'm Carol Klein and this is my garden

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nestled in the heart of North Devon, 15 miles from the coast

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and surrounded by this tranquil and beautiful countryside.

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I've taken care of my garden for 30 years.

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I know every inch of this place and every plant.

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Each season brings its own delights. There are plenty of challenges too.

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But that's what makes it so exciting and so fulfilling.

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Over the next four weeks,

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I'm going to share with you a year in my garden.

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We'll see how it bursts into life, flourishes, dies and is reborn.

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Right now, it's glorious summer.

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Each season has its own kind of beauty,

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but it's in summer that the garden reaches its peak.

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By the time August rolls around, plants are at their zenith.

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The colours are packing a punch and the borders are full to bursting.

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But it's not a question of just letting it all roll over you

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and enjoying it. There's lots to do to try and maintain that peak

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and to keep the whole picture going. You've got to be deadheading...

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..cutting things back, staking things.

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And there are cuttings to be taken of all these herbaceous plants,

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because you've got lots of them, but you want more.

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The warm days of June herald the beginning of summer,

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bringing an explosion of new growth and new opportunities.

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This gravel track runs right the way through the garden

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and it's the sort of all sorts of wonderful plants

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that seed themselves freely everywhere.

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And I can remember the very first time I saw something seed itself.

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It was a geranium up by the kitchen. I couldn't believe it!

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But now, they're everywhere and sometimes these plants

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will put themselves into the most beautiful arrangements.

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Things you could never replicate.

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You could never do this sort of thing yourself.

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There's a whole little garden here, you know, full of alchemilla

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and beautiful geraniums and then this great fennel in the centre,

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this lovely feathery thing and I just leave them,

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because not only are they not in everybody's way,

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but you know, you enjoy them, they're lovely.

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But sometimes they're on a path or in a place

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where they're not going to thrive and flourish,

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and then you can get in there with your little fork.

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This is geranium nodosum in here. Shade-loving geranium.

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And just tuck it into a pot straightaway,

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put some gravel on the top of it.

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And that's it. I'll give it a good water later on.

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There's oodles of them here, absolutely masses.

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SHE LAUGHS

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Such bounty! I mean, that's what the garden gives you.

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'I've got two lovely daughters, Annie and Alice,

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'and I've named a part of the garden after each of them.

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'It's to Alice's garden that I'm always drawn in early summer.'

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And her garden is packed full

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of all those glorious plants that just remind me of Alice.

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There are crimsons, there's pink, there's white

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and everything's soft and beautifully sort of mounded.

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You just wait till this white phlox starts to flower.

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That's Alice's grandma's plant and it's all through this garden,

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but meanwhile, look at these astrantias.

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There are astrantias of all sorts of different kinds in here,

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some of them white, some of them dark, but this probably

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has to be my favourite. It's Astrantia "Roma"

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and it's a sterile hybrid, so it keeps on flowering

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and the place is full of white geraniums

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right from spring into the autumn, but during June,

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this is the one that's at its best - it's Geranium sanguineum Alba.

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And if you have got to choose one plant that typifies Alice's garden,

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it's this lovely rose.

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It's Rosa Mundi and Alice's second name is Rosamund

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and they were planted just for that reason.

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It's got these gorgeous pink and white petals

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that change all the time, masses of buds

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and it's at its best for her birthday month June. Just lovely.

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By mid June, some of the early plants, like oriental poppies,

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have already finished flowering,

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so I just chop them right back to encourage new growth.

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Oriental poppies seldom set seed, but along with plants like acanthus

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and Crambe cordifolia, they have thick fleshy roots

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and can be propagated from root cuttings in early spring.

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All you have to do is expose some of the roots,

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detach them from their mother plant and cut them into short sections.

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Push them into good gritty compost

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and, after three or four weeks, you'll get some top growth.

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Once the crown of healthy new shoots has formed, new roots will develop.

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At this stage, push them out, pot them up and grow them on.

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With a bit of luck, the new plants

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will be ready to be planted out in the autumn,

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or, failing that, in the following spring.

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And after a couple of summers, look at what you get -

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these magnificent towering stems

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covered with a myriad of tiny little flowers.

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It's so light and fluffy, it's the pure essence of the season.

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Compost is at the heart of all I do in my garden.

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Making it is a never-ending cycle.

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This is my present compost heap.

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I've been collecting all this lovely green stuff, fabulous nettles

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and all the sort of leftovers from my chard to put on this heap

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and it's a fast heap.

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It's only been built during the last few weeks and this is

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what I always do in summer and I'm putting this green stuff on

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to really speed everything up, and underneath I've got

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a sort of lovely brown layer with all manner of stuff.

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There are twigs and there's also layers and layers of muck.

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When I shove my hand under there, I can feel the heat.

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It really is beginning to hot up.

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I mean, compost is just, you know, it's the lifeblood of my garden.

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I just couldn't grow things the way I do without it.

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I'm just going to... SHE LAUGHS

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Over the top!

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And I'm going to spread it around, make a thick layer of it,

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and then, later on, as soon as I've got it,

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there'll be more brown stuff on the top too, so...

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Those nettles were... those nettles were a bit stingy,

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but I'm all right, actually.

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And nettles are one of the best ingredients,

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cos they bring all sorts of trace elements up from the soil underneath,

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but I'll tell you what, some of this chard...

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..looks good enough to eat, doesn't it?

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Perhaps we ought to have a bit of this for supper.

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I have two areas I call my hot borders,

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designed to really come into their own in late summer.

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They're a mix of overwintered exotics like cannas, dahlias and bananas,

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plus some spectacular annuals I grow from seed.

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They're all grown on in pots,

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but in July, it's warm enough to plant them out. Come late summer,

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these borders will be a mass of hot, exotic colour,

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but first, I need to make a bit of room.

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Getting these two beautiful Geranium Pratense

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out of the front of the hot bed.

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Now Geranium Pratense is just the best self seeder everywhere

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and these two decided to make this their home.

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Well, I've given them a chance, I've let them flower,

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but now it's time for them to come out.

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I wouldn't normally be lifting geraniums at this time of year,

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but now, they've got to make way,

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cos I've got these wonderful ricinus that have grown on so beautifully.

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They're going to be one of the most important features in here,

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but if I don't get them in now,

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they really won't do their wonderful tropical best by September.

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They should be sort of up here, really expansive

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and giving the whole place that kind of really exotic look.

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And I seem to have been waiting ages to do this!

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Way back in January, I sewed the seed and then potted it on,

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cos it germinated really well.

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And just kept on potting it on until we got these fine magnificent plants.

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I've no idea what these roots are like,

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but I can see some coming out of the bottom of the pot.

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Look at that. So I'm going to lower it very gently into position.

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Where it grows, all around the Mediterranean,

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it makes a huge great big, well, tree, really.

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But because they're tender, they'll never do that in my garden.

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But because I'm giving them such a lovely position,

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they should really burgeon and become enormous

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with these great big dramatic palmate leaves.

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And they're going to set the scene for this whole hot border.

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Lilies are one of the stars of the July show.

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Hemerocallis or daylilies kick off the display.

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The individual flowers last only for a day,

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but regular deadheading really helps prolong the show.

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Later, trumpet lilies provide a splendid boost to the borders.

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They're big and spectacular, either grown in the ground or in pots.

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When I'm planting up my bulbs, I detach a few scales,

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snapping them off cleanly from the mother bulb.

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I'm putting them in a plastic bag filled with damp vermiculite.

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Then I put the whole lot into a pot to exclude light.

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After a few weeks, baby bulbs are formed at the base of each scale.

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Then I just line them out in a seed tray full of gritty compost.

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Eventually, after a couple of years, they'll make big bulbs

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and they'll start to produce flowers of their own.

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It's July and the garden is burgeoning,

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but at the same time, it's teetering on the edge.

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You get the feeling that it's wonderful, but almost out of control,

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like one of those hairdos, you know,

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that's still all right, but only just.

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I mean, take this rose. It's lovely at the moment.

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Sander's White, absolutely beautiful.

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But already, some of the flowers are beginning to die.

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And it's up to me to try and prolong that beauty

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and get as much out of it as I can by a bit of discerning pruning.

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And you walk along here and, everywhere you look,

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you just know that, although you're enjoying it

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and it's wonderful at this moment,

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at any second... THUNDER RUMBLES

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..a storm could come along, cos the weather's so unpredictable in July

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and the whole thing could be flattened.

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The reason the weather in my garden changes so rapidly is that

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we're so close to one of the world's greatest oceans - the Atlantic.

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I just love to come to the seaside. It's so elemental.

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There's nothing but sky and sea and sand. It's wonderful.

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I don't do it nearly often enough, but when I do,

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this is one of my favourite places to come.

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It's Braunton Burrows.

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SEAGULLS CALLING

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It's strange to think, standing on these sand dunes, looking out at this

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lunar landscape, that my garden is only about 15 miles away from here.

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But this is where our weather comes from.

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This vast sky and these huge clouds that belt over us at a rate of knots.

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And the weather changing so rapidly too. So fast.

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One minute brilliant sunshine,

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the next big, dark clouds and torrential rain.

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It's Atlantic weather, I suppose, and it is what our garden is

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influenced by, it's what it's subject to.

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It's beautiful.

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This is the plant I've really come to see.

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This is Eryngium maritimum, a dingy. A true sea holly.

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And Braunton Burrows is one of the places where it really thrives

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because the conditions are totally perfect.

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This is a plant which has evolved with its environment.

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It is a very specialist environment

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and very specialist adaptations that it's got.

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Just look at this. It's incredibly prickly.

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You're certainly not going to get any grazing animals

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tucking into this. And it's a bad place to have a picnic too!

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Each of these cones of flower is protected by these incredibly

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fierce bracts. These spines really hurt.

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The bracts and the basal leaves are covered in this thick

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sort of wax to resist the sea spray,

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to protect the cuticle of the leaf

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and to allow the plant to go on growing.

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Eryngium maritimum is a native plant

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so I hoped I would be able to grow it, but no such luck!

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It must have pure sand to grow in and, of course,

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it loves to be by the sea.

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But what I do grow is Eryngium bourgatii,

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and it's an especially blue form.

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The place it thrives best in my garden is in the raised bed.

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It likes high fertility, but it also demands really sharp drainage

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and that is just what I give it.

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As it's ready to be pollinated, it does exactly what this one does -

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all these flowers go from silver to brilliant blue.

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But in the case of my bourgatii,

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the stems and all the bracts go blue too.

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So even though I yearn for that steely foliage,

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I am very happy growing that.

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My hot borders are beginning to come into their own now,

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with masses of exotic foliage

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and the hot, hot colours beginning to emerge.

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But there is always room for some more.

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In this bottom corner of the hot borders

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is this ricinus that I've planted, just a matter of weeks ago.

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It's really got established. They're almost like little trees.

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But look at all this bare soil here.

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I want to fill it up and I think these are exactly the right thing.

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This is Rudbeckia Rustic Dwarf, all grown from seed this year.

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This big wide range of hot colour.

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And this little cosmidium, so pretty, look at that.

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I've never grown this before, but it is ideal.

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It's going to mix in really well.

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What do you think?

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But this is what I was going to show you. Come and have a look at this.

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I put these willows in, just as stakes,

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big strong stakes to hold up this fence panel.

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But they've taken root and they've grown up to the sky.

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They are absolutely enormous.

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Meanwhile, I came over to think about sawing them down,

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but look what's on here.

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Hornets. And they've stripped the bark off some of these.

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I don't know whether it's to build a nest -

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I doubt it, it's too late in the year.

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There's probably some sort of sticky deposit on there, sugary.

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And they're tucking in and really enjoying it. They look quite drunk.

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Might be aspirin, of course, it's a willow.

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Perhaps they've all got a headache.

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It's just a couple of weeks ago that I was at Braunton Burrows.

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It was so beautiful, I really should go there more often.

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In fact, it's tempting at this time of year just to enjoy yourself.

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The garden is looking pretty special.

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But there are a few things that I've got to do right now,

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otherwise they won't get done.

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I've got to strike while the iron's hot. That scoop will do.

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And some grit.

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Taking cuttings of my favourite herbaceous perennials.

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This is it.

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This is Aster lateriflorus horizontalis. I adore it.

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It's this gorgeous dark colour, but it sticks its arms out like this.

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You can even make a hedge.

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It's one of the plants that I've added to Annie's border.

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Look at how this has come on, it's astonishing!

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But it's got another sort of era that is just coming on.

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All these gorgeous asters.

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But before this one starts to flower, I want to take these cuttings.

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All you do is just pull a little piece down like that,

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with a heel.

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You can raid these plants

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and you really won't know that I've been here at all.

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I'll get several brand-new plants out of it.

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It's not crucial what length these are.

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Quite sort of short and strong and each with this little heel.

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So if I have half a dozen from there to start with,

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and then all you do is just strim

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these basal leaves off like that.

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Between your thumb and finger.

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And if there are any nasty little extra bits at the bottom

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where you've pulled a bit too much of the stem,

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just take a sharp knife and trim them up.

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Then you just plant them round the edge of this pot.

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You can try this with all sorts of herbaceous perennials.

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Anything that produces these sort of side shoots.

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Water it well, keep it somewhere nice and bright, but not in full sunlight.

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Not so it bakes. They root surprisingly quickly.

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They'll be decent little plants if I keep on repotting them.

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A bit of grit over the top. I can probably get a few more in there.

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I'm always too greedy when it comes to things like taking cuttings.

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How's that?

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When summer hits its stride, so do my hot borders.

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Today, we are going to add some exotic touches

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to make them really zing.

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Staging day is a big event,

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so thank goodness my husband Neil is here to help.

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The colours may be hot, but these plants are tender

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so I keep them undercover until the weather is hot as well.

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Then, just as they hit their prime, out they come.

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This is going to be brilliant.

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Not too bad, is it?

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Then, as we move into August, I add the final touches. I love doing this.

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It's like creating a show garden.

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The transformation is instantaneous and wondrous.

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This is really, really heavy.

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I think I will have it up here.

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Just make this as intensely red as I can.

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This is the last part of staging these borders.

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But look how well everything is doing in these hot borders.

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All these rudbeckias. Look at that. That cotinus.

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And the hedychiums have only been out a couple of weeks,

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but they're brilliant.

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The crocosmia, that one is actually called Flame, so it is ideal.

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All this rudbeckia and helenium,

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it's beginning to look really magical.

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And sort of what I had in my head. You never really know though.

0:24:440:24:48

But this is a beauty. Already, masses of these red flowers.

0:24:480:24:54

This one's Bishop of Llandaff.

0:24:550:24:57

And I think it's the most fabulous dahlia and perfect for this spot

0:24:590:25:05

because these flowers are the most brilliant vermilion red.

0:25:050:25:10

They just set the tone for here.

0:25:100:25:12

Look how they are going to mingle with all this ricinus...

0:25:120:25:17

That's been out a few weeks too, but it's grown elsewhere.

0:25:170:25:21

I think it's sort of magnificent.

0:25:210:25:24

SHE LAUGHS

0:26:100:26:11

To get anywhere in the garden, you really need a machete.

0:26:130:26:17

Everywhere is growing so lush and so fulsome.

0:26:190:26:22

This border has been brilliant.

0:26:240:26:26

Firstly, with Geranium psilostemon

0:26:260:26:29

then floriferous phlox

0:26:290:26:32

and spiky veronicastrum.

0:26:320:26:35

But I want to add a few things because at the moment,

0:26:370:26:40

everywhere is sort of quiet and I want

0:26:400:26:43

the interest in the borders to continue right the way through.

0:26:430:26:46

So I am adding these Nicotiana Langsdorffii.

0:26:460:26:50

It's not what you would call a smack-you-in-the-eye sort of plant,

0:26:500:26:54

but I love it.

0:26:540:26:56

It's got these long green trumpets,

0:26:560:26:58

and little blue antlers in here.

0:26:580:27:01

It's just such a pretty plant.

0:27:010:27:03

And I can remember in March or so, sowing the seed of it,

0:27:040:27:09

very fine seed, on the surface of a tray of compost.

0:27:090:27:13

It took ages to germinate. But once it did, it moved on quite quickly.

0:27:140:27:19

I pricked out all those little seedlings into separate modules

0:27:190:27:23

and then potted them on into pots.

0:27:230:27:25

Some of them I put out into the garden

0:27:260:27:29

when they were nice, chunky rosettes.

0:27:290:27:32

But I always save a few and keep on potting them on

0:27:320:27:35

so I've got some big resplendent plants

0:27:350:27:38

that I can just drop into spaces where they're needed.

0:27:380:27:41

I think they are ideal in here now.

0:27:410:27:44

You know, July and August, it has been wonderful, really.

0:27:450:27:49

There has been such exuberant colour everywhere. Marvellous.

0:27:490:27:52

But now, you get up in the morning and you come out... It's shivery.

0:27:520:28:00

You can feel the cold and you look up at the trees

0:28:000:28:03

and you get this hint of russet and orange.

0:28:030:28:07

And that's what September's going to bring.

0:28:070:28:10

It's as though somebody has swept across the garden

0:28:100:28:13

with a giant paint brush and joined all those colours together

0:28:130:28:16

so they all become soft and subtle and mellow.

0:28:160:28:20

I'm looking forward to it, but for now,

0:28:200:28:23

I'm going to really make the most of this.

0:28:230:28:25

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