UR TV CAST

The foliage of pinks, `spurge’, rosemary, thyme, Arum cyclamen, Aquilegias and fern will provide all the background necessary for quiet contemplation of flowers.I would also do away with the rampageous evergreen honeysuckle which has taken over the whole of the back boundary. The effect should be Persian carpet, rather than knitted squares Woven, not welded. That means putting in more than one of each plant and letting each group flow into its neighbour, as though it had seeded itself there.It also means getting rid of monsters such as the common laurel which Mr Shotter has planted here The area is open, light and bright. Violas such as `Ardross Gem’ would make mats in a shady area.But not in pots. Drainage is sharp, as you would expect and I would gravel the whole area and plant it with pinks, rosemary, thyme, dwarf bulbs such as Anemone `de Caen’ and crocus for spring; houseleeks for their fabulous sculpted leaves; Arum italicum `Pictum’ tucked under one of the shady walls, Cyclamen, both the spring and the autumn flowering kinds, Scillas, Aquilegias, Shirley poppies of the most diaphonous kind, bearded iris, Alliums, snaky ground hugging Euphorbia myrsinites, and some Polypodia ferns. So you would not want to plant anything to obscure that grand panorama.At present, a narrow gravel path, edged with stone, leads from the steps to the seat, making a dog leg on the way.

Mr Shotter is right in thinking the area might look better if it were treated as a discrete whole. The garden already divides itself very nicely into three distinct territories. Further subdivisions here verge on the fussy.So, away with the path. That means redistributing the soil, which at the moment is slightly higher in the bed against the back boundary than it is in the front one But not dramatically so. Behind is hilly pasture belonging to a city farm, ungrazed and filling up with noxious weeds.From the cane seat, there is an extraordinary view to the west, over plunging terraces of houses that stumble down the hill, then climb up the slope on the far side of the valley. Spires and towers of various parish churches loom up out of the roofs like trees in parkland.

Room for that though at the far end, behind the barrage of Mediterraneana that this particular area calls out for.As Mr Shotter’s letter indicated, the area that needs most thought is the intermediate one, between yard and raised stone platform It has good boundaries of local stone. Where could all that be done, if not here? The cane chair set against the right hand boundary next to the stone stage spoke of productive hours spent in this spot, pricking out cabbages and lettuce, sowing tomato seed, transplanting courgettes. It’s so much easier to tell other people to throw things away than do the same thing oneself. I have a hideously disfigured bamboo in a pot displayed in a prominent position. It should have gone long ago, but I can’t bear to think of it sobbing on the compost heap.And the raised stone platform has another use as an outdoor potting bench, where Mr Shotter brings on seedlings for his allotment down the road.