Page 21 - nov

Mimi’s secret garden patch

I wish to turn today to the darker areas of the
garden. Those little areas under the trees and in
between shrubs or simply the shade from the
surrounding wall or fence. I took a critical walk around
the garden and cleared up the undergrowth of
darker areas and mixed in coloured pots of Impatiens
and put in any grey coloured plant I could find.
The Bromeliads are now very happy in a filtered
medium and have almost doubled their size when
put straight into the ground. Bromeliads are fine
in hanging baskets, but tend to produce offshoots
(pups, as they are called) very quickly and after
being faced with prickly Bromeliads to re-pot one
time too many, I decided to limit my selection to
Tillandsias ‘Air’ Bromeliads, which can be happily
draped over tree branches, and create the most lovely
avalanche of grey foliage. I have hung baskets with
cacti/succulents – with all their different ‘desert’
colours where they have taken to hanging over the
edges of the baskets which compliments the shady
areas. Not forgetting begonias – these also work
perfectly in baskets hanging on the stronger lemon
tree branches and one would think that this would
affect the lemon crop – however so far so good!
On the edge of the bench in our shady area we
have placed two maidenhair ferns in pots. As long
as they are regularly watered these grow beautifully
and make a stunning show for a long time. When
the fern starts to die down, I just give it a good
haircut and plenty of daily water and in no time the
shoots appear again and the new cycle of growth
recommences.
The idea with your shady areas is to try and create
contrasts of colour between the leafy permanent
bushes or trees and any flowering plants that you
know of that like filtered light. Not all of them
work, so its trial and error – excepting for the
Tillandsias…they are almost guaranteed to be

Basel Botanical Gardens, by S.C happy in filtered light.
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