THERE will come a point in the life of most gardeners when time pressures mean there are just not enough hours in the day for your favourite pastime. Yet you can still be the proud owner of a beautiful garden by replacing some of the more demanding plants with those that are almost indestructible.
Using observations made during a lifetime of gardening, I’ve put together a list of plants that fill out quickly and hold their own, withstanding incursions from weeds, drought, cold, and attacks from pests and diseases. Peer over the fence of a badly neglected garden and they will be the survivors, including plants like the globe thistle (Echinops ritro), shasta daisies, hardy cranesbills and the double orange-flowered daylily (Hemerocallis fulva ‘Flore Pleno’).
Garden microclimates
Beth Chatto famously popularised the concept of ‘right plant, right place’ that has usefully become something of a mantra. Her husband
