some heroic survivors

Many of my accounts of the effects of last winter have been of losses, so I should like to pay tribute to a couple of unexpected survivors, which are still alive despite my best efforts at neglect, and which I would not have thought were that hardy.

The first is the white form of Vitex agnus-castus, the chaste tree.  I don't know when the white flowered form came on the scene, but the species is said to have been cultivated in the British Isles since 1570.  It originates from Mediterranean regions and across to central Asia, and is generally considered to require a sunny, sheltered position (nursery code for not fully hardy).  It carries buddleia-like sprays of scented flowers at the ends of its shoots in September and October.  I'm always on the lookout for plants that will continue the flowering season on into autumn, and was charmed by the chaste tree when I saw it.  There is a large and handsome specimen in the botanical gardens at Leiden (interesting and well worth a visit), and both the blue and white flowered forms grow in the walled garden at Marks Hall (a really good modern scheme within an old walled garden, and much easier to get to than Leiden).  Comparing the blue and the white I decided in favour of the latter.  I bought a likely-looking plant at work, and put it down outside the greenhouse.  As I brought pots in for the winter the greenhouse became full to bursting, and it was very difficult to see what everything was, and I lost track of what was in and what was out.  When the snow came down before Christmas the Vitex was still outside on the concrete, and there it stayed until the spring.  I found the pathetic bundle of twigs as I started moving things about in March, and cursed myself for losing a perfectly good plant through carelessness.  The ones at work come inside for the winter, into the tunnel with the heater in it.  Then I saw that the buds were swelling.  It is making generous new growth from low down, and will be planted tomorrow, or next week.

Also left on the concrete by mistake were two 9cm pots containing young plants of Geranium 'Stephanie'.  Again, we take all hardy geraniums inside for the winter at work, and I assumed that I had lost them.  They must have been frozen solid for long periods.  However, both sprouted healthy sets of leaves, and are now planted out and flowering cheerfully.  I first planted 'Stephanie' a couple of years ago, and was pleased enough with it that the two maltreated plants were bought to bulk up an existing group.  I guess that it might be derived from Geranium renardii, as it has similar sage-green scalloped leaves, and is said to like the same conditions.  The flowers of 'Stephanie' are a rich violet-blue, with purple veins, very pretty, and my plants are doing well on some of the thinnest, hungriest sand in the garden.  I would advise all gardeners on light soil (who like hardy geraniums) to seek it out.

Addendum  The robin eggs have hatched so did not cook in the heatwave.  I have put the frame with netting on it left over from the strawberries across the door as planned, which should at least deter the cats from wandering in there casually for a lie-down.  It is a relief the hen isn't sitting any more, as she did keep flying off the nest when I went in to water anything, and I have been reduced to making quick raids to collect things that need potting on, and doing the potting outside, sitting on a low wall with a wheelbarrow of compost.

Also the decking is officially finished.  We moved the last of the Hamamelis pots back on to the further deck in the back garden yesterday, and today some of the offcuts were used to make a doorstep for the door we mainly use.  It is functionally the back door, but is at the front of the house, and as built had an ugly concrete doorstep with a manhole cover in front of it.  The wooden doorstep covers both of these, and with any luck some of the gravel will fall out of the treads of our shoes before we and it make it into the house.  The Companion Animals are rather suspicious of the new doorstep, but they'll get used to it.  The decking looks very good in a Chelsea flower show sort of way.  I realised during construction that freshly cut cedar was one of the smells I associate with Chelsea.  In the end we had two or three deliveries from the timber company, as we used them for the beams as well.  They are called Silva Timber Products, and we found them reliable and good value.  (The bad news is that the chopped-down Hebe in front of the near deck are going to have to go.  Only clipped box will do, but at the thought of grubbing out five Hebe stumps my heart sinks).

the great decking project

The project to replace the decking is progressing.  It's a pity that decking now has such a bad image: so last decade, TV makeover, probably only still being installed in bastions of bad taste like Essex...If you want to provide level hard-landscaped areas to give somewhere to put a table and chairs and some pots, and divide up the garden internally, and you are dealing with a sloping site in an area of the country with no natural building stone, on a limited budget, decking is rather what you end up with.  Brick retaining walls and properly laid paving would cost a multiple of my annual income.  The only time we had a brick wall built in the back garden, when we had the conservatory installed many years ago, the builders hit quicksand digging the foundations.  Better not go there again.

I had fancied the idea of industrial metal grating, probably after one or two visits too many to the Chelsea Flower Show.  There turned out to be several problems with this idea.  Industrial grating is expensive.  It comes in set sizes which are not multiples of the dimensions of the existing decks, so there would be an awful lot of cutting with an angle grinder, and a lot of waste.

Instead we hit on western red cedar.  This has good technical properties, the most important being that it is naturally rot resistant outdoors and doesn't require wood treatment.  This will spare me many tedious hours with a paintbrush, and avoid that sinking feeling as the stain dries to a colour that is much more orange than it looked on the tin.  If left untreated it fades to an agreeable shade of grey.

The big pile of planks arrived in mid November.  They looked very nice, with bevelled edges, and hadn't been bundled together with steel bands so there were no problems with crushed edges or marked faces.  After some time making jigs to do the job properly the first deck went down, and looked extremely smart.  Then it froze, then it snowed.  It is impossible to lay decking in those conditions because (a) the planks stick together and you can't get them off the pile (b) the planks won't lie flat on the beams because there are ice crystals on all surfaces (c) drilling the frozen planks risks splitting them (d) it is impossible to line up the screws wearing gloves and without gloves you lose the use of your fingers after ten minutes (e) the cordless screwdriver battery won't hold a charge.  A powered screwdriver is necessary because laid end to end there is 1.6km of decking.  It is also tricky laying decking in the rain because (a) you can't see which the best side of the plank is (b) you get wet and then you get a cold or your back goes (c) the power tools get wet and stop working or you get electrocuted.

Nailing decking down is a lot faster, and you are not supposed to do it, because if it warps it will lift the nails straight out of the beams.  This is what happened with the old decking, which was only untreated softwood and had gone badly rotten in places.  Some of the less rotten bits have already been recycled into a new compost bin.  Waste not, want not.