h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I started leaving my perennial borders unkempt and uncut because I am basically a very slovenly gardener. Now I leave things alone because it is an easy way to enjoying a garden through another season.

Keeping things clean and tidying up in the autumn is a good way to control insects and disease in a traditional border. But for the sake of a few nibbled leaves, learning to think of a garden as a miniature ecosystem is easy and rewarding alternative. And working Mother Nature certainly is a lot more sensible than trying to work agin her.

Nothing in a summer border looks any more beautiful than a frosty teasel in the winter garden, especially one that is draped with spider webs. One of my favourite things is Butterfly bush in a snow-covered garden. The old seed pods dry a beautiful chocolate colour after a few frosts. Wonderful! Ornamental grasses are often at their best in the winter, too. Little blue stem, a North American short-grass prairie native turns a gorgeous copper colour after a good freeze. The gentle rustling of taller grasses is worth getting up on a cold morning for.

JTG

This entry was my way of justifying my laziness, but I love the time spent clearing it all up in the spring. Seeing what's lurking beneath the 'rubbish' is exciting.

I've been enjoying the sound of bamboo in the wind, but my neighbour's fence rattles, so that's a bit irritating.