Soggy, boggy bliss

By Hannah Stephenson

The other week, maverick designer Diarmuid Gavin advised gardeners that they would have to roll with the weather to ensure their gardens survived and thrived the extremes.

That advice may prove useful to people who are looking out on yet another rainy day and wondering which plantings will withstand consistently soggy conditions and come to life in very wet soil.

Look at the positives of having a boggy site. Damp ground is a valuable wildlife habitat and there are plenty of plants which will thrive happily with wet feet, including bugle (Ajuga reptans), Siberian iris, lobelia, Arum lily and globeflower.

As for trees, native willows and alder are at their happiest in damp conditions if you have plenty of space to plant them a safe distance from your house.

Quite a few perennials and shrubs will thrive, such as hostas (although be vigilant against slugs and snails) and Jerusalem sage (Pulmonaria saccharata), an evergreen with white spotted foliage and red, pink or white flowers that bloom from late winter to late spring, while the foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia) is a spreading perennial with spikes of creamy white.

Popular shrubs which will tolerate a lot of water include many viburnums, dogwoods and spiraea. For those with big bog gardens which are wet throughout the winter and damp in summer, go for the enormous Gunnera manicata, which has dark green deciduous leaves spanning up to 2.5m (8ft) and provides a great backdrop for seasonal flowers.

If you haven't much space, it may be better to plump for smaller specimens such as houttuynia and mimulus, which go well together.

Another plant that boasts impressive foliage is the skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus), which grows 1m (3ft) high by 1.25m (4ft) wide. But try not to plant it too close to nose level, as its big yellow flowers have a striking odour.

If you are creating a bog garden, bear in mind that bog plants look best in bold groups. Combine a good clump of foliage with some smaller, more colourful choices.

For those who want more colour, astilbes love wet soil and produce delicate plumes in white, pink, mauve, red and crimson in summer.

For a splash of green and yellow in spring, Euphorbia palustris is the one to go for, although beware of the milky sap which can irritate skin.

Cowslips should also be included in your bog garden border. Among the best is the giant cowslip (primula florindae), which grows to around 1m (3ft) and carries stunning tubular pendant yellow scented flowers in summer.

Another wonderful variety which is easily sown from seed is Primula denticulata, which bears beautiful flowerballs in lavender, cerise, mauve or white. And candelabra primulas are also bursting with colour in early summer, in a vast range of colours.

For a tall, elegant perennial, try Ligularia przewalskii, which has 2m (6ft) high stems and produces spires of yellow flowers in mid to late summer.

If you want your colour scheme to last longer, plant some Rodgersia podophylla, which has creamy white flowers in the summer and leaves which change colour beautifully in the autumn.

Remember that with plants which love soggy conditions, weed carefully as many of them will seed around the parents. If primulas do this, they have a tendency to produce a lot more colours.

If you want your wet garden to look natural, plant around existing features such as logs or mossy tree stumps. And make sure you dig in plenty of organic matter to help them along.

With a little imagination, you can soon reap the rewards of consistently wet soil and it should help stave off the misery of looking out at the rain.

Chelsea round-up

Sustainability, protecting the planet and environmentally-sound practices were among the key themes running through the main show gardens at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show in its centenary year.

While the subject of gnomes - allowed at Chelsea for the first time - brought some light-hearted relief to the event, there was less of the frivolous and quirky and more of what we need to do to protect our environment.

Eco-friendly roof gardens, designs such as the B&Q Sentebale Forget-Me-Not Garden, backed by Prince Harry, a contemporary view of the tiny South African country Lesotho, contrasting the cutting-edge technology at our fingertips compared with the primitive facilities of Lesotho, and the stark message from Defra's Stop The Spread garden of the threat of diseases, pests and invasive non-native species to our land all had dramatic impact.

Health also played its part, from Chris Beardshaw's Arthritis Research UK garden which represents the stages from diagnosis to managing the pain, to the SeeAbility garden, whose theme was sight loss.

It was refreshing to see that many of the plantings are now easy to adapt to domestic gardens - involvement from retailers such as B&Q, Homebase and, for the first time, Marks & Spencer, ensure that the public will be able to buy at least some of the plants on display in their local stores.

So, what can ordinary gardeners take home from Chelsea this year?

Roger Platts, who designed the M&G Centenary Garden - 'Windows Through Time', says he hopes gardeners can gain inspiration on how to blend contemporary with traditional, as he's doing in his own show garden, where formal box topiary sits happily with wilder planting.

"If someone wants a little meadow in their garden with wild grasses and wild flowers, but they want contemporary planting as well, you can go from cultivated plants through to the wild seamlessly."

Jinny Blom, who designed the B&Q Sentebale garden, loves the idea of growing ornamental veg in borders alongside flowers.

"We've got to think about our stomachs a bit more and grow more veg at home. In most domestic gardens, our parents would have had veg as well as flowers.

"We've gone through naturalism, we've gone through new perennials. I've seen enough masculine architectural stuff.

"Now I have a veto on anything too complicated and too clever. When I first started my job, I loved all these really rare plants. I remember once planting some incredibly complicated and rare rose for somebody which flowered for about half an hour once a year and a friend of mine said, 'Why don't you just give them Rosa 'Iceberg', then they'll have flowers forever?' They were right. Now I only use uncomplicated, sturdy, reliable plants. And I think that's the way it's going."

Best of the bunch - gunnera

The spectacular leaves of the gunnera, or giant rhubarb, are among the sights to behold in the garden at this time of year, providing a show-stopping architectural spectacle as a stand-alone feature or a canopy for smaller, shade-loving specimens.

All gunnera like bog gardens and plenty of food and water but not all of these perennials are as huge as the G. manicata, which reaches some 2.5m (8ft) or more within a season.

For smaller spaces, there are some small, mat-forming gunneras growing to no more than 15cm (6in) tall, or for a medium-sized type look to G. tinctoria, whose pleated leaves make a bold impact, although it needs other large plants to keep it company.

The large-leaved varieties make fantastic architectural plants alongside streams or ponds - but are only really suitable for large gardens. They make good plant partners with astilbes and other moisture lovers.

Gunneras thrive in moist soil in the sun or partial shade in a sheltered position. Their crowns will need protecting in winter with a covering of the old leaves.

Three ways to... deal with seasonal pests

1. Bright red lily beetles may be munching their way through your emerging lilies now. To control them, move the beetles and grubs (which are reddish brown) by hand or, as a last resort, spray plants with a contact insecticide and repeat if they reappear.

2. Aphids start multiplying in mid and late spring. Disperse them with a jet of water from a hose or pick them off, and encourage their natural predators such as ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies by planting nectar-producing and pollen-rich plants such as the poached egg plant (Limnanthes douglasii).

3. Check under leaves for egg clusters left by moths and butterflies, which can be crushed with finger and thumb. Remove caterpillars when you notice them.

Good enough to eat... sweetcorn

Sweetcorn plants should be almost hardened off and ready to plant outside, unless you live in a frost pocket, in which case leave them another week or two. Sweetcorn is usually grown in blocks of at least nine plants (three by three), which should ensure that pollen from the male flowers at the top of the plant reaches the female tassels which make the kernels.

Put the plants 35cm apart to give you around two cobs per plant, although you may only get one. To save time on weeding, plant through a sheet mulch, which allows rain through.

In July, when they start to flower, they will need a really good soaking regularly and later in the summer you will need to heap earth around the stems to stop windrock damage, as the cobs start to ripen. They can be harvested when the tassels on the cobs start to shrivel.

What to do this week

:: Start to harden off aubergines, courgettes, marrows, peppers and tomatoes grown from seed, but keep them under cover if late frost threatens.

:: Ensure fruit trees and bushes have enough water while the fruit is setting or the trees may shed fruitlets.

:: Hoe regularly on dry days to prevent weed seedlings becoming established.

:: Feed seedlings and young plants which are growing poorly or have pale, yellowing foliage.

:: In the greenhouse, pinch out the tips of side shoots of cucumbers two leaves beyond developing fruits.

:: Apply lawn feed. Liquid feeds can be applied with a watering can, or slow-release granular feeds with a wheeled lawn spreader.

:: Cover gooseberries, currants, strawberries and soft fruits with netting to keep birds at bay.

:: Complete planting out of tender bedding plants.

:: Plant out chrysanthemums and dahlias raised from cuttings.

:: Prune late-spring and early summer-flowering shrubs such as philadelphus, weigela, ceanothus, escallonia and kerria immediately after flowering.

:: Lift and divide water lilies.