Writing in yesterday's GUARDIAN, Patrick Barkham referred to professional gardener Harriet Rycroft noting "a huge increase in wildlife since she left her lawn to grow long". He commented that he has "recently re-wilded my lawn and I'm logging far more butterflies . . . overgrown gardens require a mental readjustment but a wild tangle is much richer that a tightly trimmed sward".
That made me feel a lot better. The end of my garden has become something of a wilderness now that Yvonne is not around to pull out the weeds ('wildflowers in the wrong place'). The path that winds its way towards the water butt is now overgrown, the barrel seats have all but disappeared, the lilac sweeps the top of the greenhouse, the buddlea climbs ever skywards (and I cut it to the ground last autumn).
But it is the main side bed that pleases me most for here I have grasses that move softly silently in the slight breeze that make a humid day bearable. And in a pot is Salvia Africa Sky, purchased at the Hampton Court Flower Show last year, cosseted in the greenhouse over winter and now in full bloom - with cuttings doing even better. Socks has a hide-away here in the long grass and I sense that he may have the company of a young fox at times.
I have made the 'mental readjustment' and I like to think that Yvonne would approve. Today in B &Q to buy seeds (before the weekly shop at Aldi and Pets at Home, the first for me, the second for Socks), I spotted a Salvia new to me - Suncrest Lemon Light. It stands with Africa Sky with cuttings in the greenhouse.The red and white Salvia (which I call Hot Lips) is in the front garden. It survived a harsh cut back and an equally hard winter and blossoms now.
