大象传媒

Summer would not be complete without a trip to the seaside. Carol takes a walk along her local beach, Braunton Burrows, which sits on the western edge of the Atlantic Ocean.听

The Burrows are an internationally significant shifting dune ecosystem, where nearly 500 species of wildflower have been recorded. Carol finds here a plant that she would love to grow in her own garden, eryngium maritimum, our native sea holly.

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As Carol says, compost is at the heart of everything she does in her garden. She does not feed her plants but feeds the soil. Compost improves soil structure it also adds valuable nutrients that over time will be released to the benefit of your plants.听

Whether your garden is acres or the tiniest of plots, composting can be accommodated into any garden. It is sustainable, good for the environment and truly good for your garden.

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Carol鈥檚 Hot Borders are a late summer extravaganza of hot exotic colour. Sinuous box hedges run the length of the borders and are underplanted with herbaceous perennials like euphorbias, rudbeckias and crocosmia.听

This is just the start; Carol has a trick up her sleeve. Under cover, she grows on lots of tender exotics like, cannas, dahlias and bananas and when they are in their prime and the weather is warm she carries them down triumphantly and places them out to bring a hot zing to her late summer garden.

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Whilst Carol would love to grow our native sea holly, eryngium maritimum, the conditions in her garden are not quite right for it to thrive.听

Instead she grows eryngium bourgatii. A plant of the Mediterranean, it enjoys a moderately fertile soil but must have a very free draining situation, so with its steely blue flowers, foliage and stems it looks perfect growing in Carol鈥檚 raised bed.

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Taking cuttings is perhaps the easiest method of propagating plants.Once you first succeed, you see those new roots appear, taking cuttings becomes addictive.听

As Carol says, you want more and there is always room in the pot for a few cuttings more. The real benefit to the gardener is that a favourite plant can be increased in numbers rapidly and any extra plants can then be shared with friends and fellow gardeners - try it and see.

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