READER'S GARDEN
Clive has created a garden from scratch, and the results of his passion, in his tiny courtyard space, won him the Judges’ Choice vote.
This is just a snippet of the conversation with Clive - hear the full chat on the 'Scotland Grows Show'.
When I moved in back in 2005, there actually wasn't a garden at all. It was a small house in the centre of Edinburgh and at the back of the house was a very old, rundown, lean-to extension. Initially I thought there wasn’t enough space for a garden. I lived in the house for six months and then I thought there'll be enough space outside just to have a garden. It is probably about as small as you could get for a garden at three metres by three metres.
It is absolutely tiny, unbelievably small, but I had the vision so I drew up some plans to knock the extension down and get my builder to construct some walls around the garden and put in the Yorkstone cobbles.
A large part of the planting that I first put in was smaller perennials, in a cottage garden style. I fell into the mistake that many gardeners make, which is, because it was a small space I put small pots and small plants within that space, which, while it looked very nice, emphasised its lack of size.
The other thing I had to consider was that when my builder knocked down the lean-to extension, he hadn't taken all of the subfloor up. So, when he put the cobbles down and created some small planting areas around the edge, there was only about a foot of soil there, and not a single drainage hole.
As a result of that there are some very large pots in the garden which I have purposely hidden with some of the planting. It is a combination of plants in the ground and some in large pots, disguised with more planting.
What I grew to realise was that although I love colour, I saw more and more jungle gardens, primarily down south and I needed more structure within the garden to create a sense of a larger space so I gradually started to change, only four years ago, from a cottage style garden into more of a jungle style garden - a strange thing to do in Scotland with the weather conditions and with the tiny space that I had.
It is supposed to be a relaxing area with lots of planting that envelops you. So when you are sitting there, you can't see the walls of the garden and you get that feeling that you are actually in quite a relaxing clearing within a little Amazon rainforest with the tree ferns.
I used the vertical space in the garden to grow lots of creepers over the walls to try and push the walls outwards. If you have a small space, you can trick the eye into thinking the space is bigger by covering the walls in greenery, which I have done with Clematis.
A lot of people looking at my garden might think that I just love greenery. For the style of garden I was trying to create, I actually had to hold myself back a lot. I had to edit the planting to make sure that I had flowers within the garden but I did not let the flowers dominate.
The flowers which I do have tend to be subtle bursts like Clematis that will come out on the walls, and Salvia ‘Amistad’ which is quite subtle in amongst the green foliage. I also use astrantias which are also quite subtle, they do not jump out immediately, but if you are sitting in the garden you spot these colourful additions.
Fragrance is important in the garden too, in order to achieve that tropical rainforest feel. I've got things like star jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides, and a few other little plants like that. On a warm summer's evening, you can almost think you're not in Edinburgh, particularly when the fountain is going as well.
One of my neighbours, further down the lane where I live, saw my garden and said I should enter it into the competition so they first planted the seed. Then the other seed that got planted in my mind was actually from Kirsty Wilson. I volunteer at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh and Kirsty saw my garden and was impressed with what was a foliage garden, because it is not the easiest of planting schemes.
I entered the competition in February and got a phone call in June which took me back because I was not expecting it. It was a bit of a shock to get to the final eight gardens within the UK, and then I had to wait until November to find out who was the winner.
I think what the judges liked about my garden was that it was a small garden. They were also impressed with some of the challenges that I overcame in terms of planting primarily with foliage, trying to structure the garden in such a way that the different types of foliage looked interesting and gave impact, and also ensuring that it looked great not only from downstairs, but from the upstairs balcony that overlooks it.
The other thing that they pointed out was the quality of the plants and how healthy every single plant was.
It was actually voted at one point the prettiest street in the UK, and the seventh prettiest street in the whole world, but I think that is pushing it a little bit.
We have put in lots of streetscaping with benches and lovely urns, and have added trees and loads of flowering plants. I have been doing all the gardens along the lane where I live for the last eleven years, planting up all of their front gardens. It is a different style to my own outdoor space, but it is an extension of my garden for me and gives me a lot of joy doing it.
If you would like to hear the full conversation with Clive, search for the ‘Scotland Grows Show’ on any good podcast platform.
If you would like to see your garden featured in a future edition of Scotland Grows magazine, please do get in touch to mail@scottishgardeningmagazine.com - we would love to hear from you!