Edges give that finishing touch to any garden, writes Jane Powers
Here's an exercise in design. Draw a doodle: any doodle, perhaps the sloppiest doodle you've drawn in days. It doesn't look great, does it? Now draw a frame around it. Suddenly it looks a whole lot better. The frame pulls it together, and gives it a bit of gravitas.
Well the same principle applies in the garden. Perhaps there is an object (a bird bath or greenhouse, say), or a planting scheme, that needs some help. Frame it with lavender or box hedging, or with frilly, lime-green, lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis), and it immediately deserves a little respect. This doesn't mean that the garden equivalent of a dreadful doodle should be solemnised and given permanence (some eyesores are better bulldozed, or ripped up, or hidden behind an impermeable screen). But in some cases, an edging of a particular plant will pull a border together, or nicely garnish the fringes of a garden building or other hard landscaping feature.
A concrete path, for instance, is not usually a thing of beauty, but blur its edges with a ribbon of low thyme, or with some rounded clouds of marjoram, and you no longer notice the cold grey cement. When you brush against or step on the herbs, they release their perfume, giving an extra, fragrant dimension to the journey. And when they flower, not only are the sides of your path lapped by waves of pink or purple, but they are also a-buzz with bees foraging for nectar.
Or perhaps you have a bed of shrubs or tall plants adjoining a patio, and the margin of the paving makes a severe line where it abruptly meets the bare soil of the bed. What you need here is a flurry of close-to-the-ground plants to soften the unlovely join. Low grasses, such as the smaller Carex and fescues (Festuca), are suitable. Or for a really bright blast of limey-greeny-yellow then try Bowles' golden grass (Milium effusum 'Aureum'). It's a grow-anywhere grass - even in dark and starved conditions - with broad, elegantly drooping, paper-thin leaves (excellent for making shrill squeaks when blown between thumbs and cupped hands).
Black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens'), with its strappy licorice leaves, isn't a grass at all, but an evergreen (or everblack) member of the lily family. It makes a nice, gothicky edging, like an advancing troop of large black spiders. We have teamed it with the dark-bronze celandine, Ranunculus ficaria 'Brazen Hussy', whose heart-shaped leaves disappear in mid-summer. By that time the greyish-green succulent leaves and wine stems and flowers of the sprawling Sedum 'Bertram Anderson' have appeared to partner the Ophiopogon.
Bergenias, with their shiny, elephant's ears, are unfussy plants, growing well in most soils and sites. The larger ones are too bulky and dishevelled to use as fringe plants in small gardens, but the daintier ones are just right. One of the best is 'Wintermärchen', with cerise flowers in April and May, and neat leaves that flush maroon in cold weather.
Edging plants need to be chosen judiciously, to complement the existing planting. Jolly annuals such as French marigolds and lobelias may be just the thing to girdle a vegetable bed, but don't put them around the patio, or along the front path unless you're aspiring to the Coronation Street look. If you want an old-fashioned, cottagey feel, London pride, Sempervivum and Echeveria all have ground-hugging rosettes of leaves, and in most cases, wiry sprigs of flowers.
Choose plants that suit your garden's soil and conditions, and that have a fairly compact, non-wandering habit. Most important though, is that they are robust enough to form a continuous edge. If you're going for a frill of plants, the last thing you want is a gap. And this means that there's no point in trying hostas (lovely as they are en masse) if your garden is inhabited by hungry slugs and snails.
EDGE YOUR BETS
Low hedge-type plants
Box, Lavender, Santolina, Berberis
Perennials
Alchemilla mollis and A. erythropoda (less invasive), Small bergenias, Bugle (Ajuga reptans), Bulbs, such as snowdrop, grape hyacinth and crocus (interplant with a hosta or deciduous hardy geranium, which will follow later), Catmint (Nepeta), Euphorbia: E. myrsinites is suitable for sunny, dry places, while the purple wood spurge, E. amygdaloides 'Purpurea' grows almost anywhere. Avoid E. cyparissias and its many cultivars, which are pretty but invasive, Ferns, Compact varieties of hardy geranium, Small grasses, Hostas, Lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina): not suitable for overly-moist soils, Liriope muscari, London pride (Saxifraga x urbium), Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens', Rock rose (Helianthemum), a small shrub: cut back flowering stems to within two centimetres of old growth when finished blooming, Small sedums, Sempervivum and Echeveria, Viola cornuta and V. odorata
Annuals and biennials
Forget-me-not (Myosotis), French marigold (Tagetes), Pot marigold (Calendula), Nasturtium (compact varieties), Poached egg plant (Limnanthes douglasii), Pansies and heartsease (Viola tricolor)
Edible edgings for potagers
Chives and garlic chives, Alpine strawberries, Lettuce (loose-leaf so you can pick leaves without making gaps), Coloured-leaf chard, 'Bull's Blood' beetroot, Dwarf beans, Parsley, Thyme
The Chelsea Irish
The "greatest show on earth", as the Royal Horticultural Society likes to call it, runs from May 25th-28th in the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea (ticket details: www.rhs.org.uk). As most of the Irish nation is aware, Diarmuid Gavin will have one of the 21 large show gardens. Look for his plantation of coloured spheres and green foliage on the Main Avenue. Harder to find might be the Woolworths/Pickard School of Design garden, but seek it out (on Western Avenue), and give your support to Co Waterford designer Naomi Coad-Maenpaa, one of the 10 graduates involved. Some of the smallest designers are also Irish: children from class P6, Cedar Integrated Primary School, Crossgar, Co Down, have worked with Celia Spouncer to produce "A Dream Come True", one of the City Gardens on Northern Road. And in the floristry marquee, Elizabeth Rose's from Nenagh and Flowers by Lucy from Kilkenny will also be wearing the green.
Italian Lakes
Fancy a horticultural tour of the Lake Maggiore area of Lombardy? Travel with Dermot O'Neill from August 28th to September 4th, and take in the gardens of the Villa Pallavicino, the Borromean Islands, Bellagio, and the gardens at Villa Melzi and Villa Carlotta. The price is €1,595, and includes staying in the Regina Palace hotel (www.regina-palace.it). Book before June 4th, by contacting Alison Andrew at 01-4951048, 087-2902988 or showhost@eircom.net