Growing plants in paving
ita dreamed of having a stone-paved courtyard, the cracks colonised by ‘lakes of , bumps of thrift, mattresses of yellow stone-crop, hassocks of pinks and rivulets of violets’ . Where we can, we try to replicate this philosophy by sowing things, quite recklessly, in even the narrowest of cracks. We try those plants that would naturally self-seed, such as aquilegias and fleabane, which I recently sowed or the small narcissi. I say recklessly, as a lot will not strike or be trampled, but those that survive, their roots seeking out the cool reaches of the soil beneath, will live long and be protected from the extremes of heat and wet by the paving.
