Say it with flowers
It was when Laetitia Maklouf found a packet of sweet pea seeds stuck in the back of a drawer of paperwork that she first thought about giving gardening a go. When they bloomed – not in the ground where she had sown them, but by mistake in a mug she had used to water the ground – she became hooked. Soon, she became compiling ‘recipes’ to provide inspiration for people with all sorts of budgets. Even if you don’t have a garden, you can use her tips to enhance a window box or your kitchen table.
An easy dinner table
When you are entertaining guests and you want things looking chic, there’s a balance to be struck between things looking ‘too done’ and not making any effort at all. Here are some ideas for table arrangements that look smart and sophisticated and take no time at all.
Find some little pots of whatever plant you choose and put them inside a decorative container. (You can buy terracotta pots for next to nothing or get those galvanised metal buckets that you can buy at the supermarket in sets of three). Lay torn off pieces of Sphagnum moss on top if any ugly bits need hiding, and arrange the pots on the table. If your guests compliment you, pull a plant out and show them there’s no excuse for an unlovely table.
Borage for ice and fireworks
Borage is the easiest of plants to grow and contains large amounts of GLA, but most importantly, it’s the prettiest thing you can possibly put in a summer drink. It is a hardly annual and it originally comes from the Mediterranean. It’s very good for reducing a fever and is said to impart courage. You can grow it from seed anywhere you have a spare patch, and even in a large pot filled with multi-purpose compost. You need sow it only once – in early spring – because it self-seeds everywhere. In due course, pick the flowers and freeze them individually in ice cubes for your summer drinks. The incredibly pretty flowers can also be used in pot-pourri.
How to age terracotta pots
This is an age-old trick for making new pots look not so new. The flaky look is infinitely preferable to the startling orange of brand-new terracotta. Simply paint the outside of the pots with a good coating of yoghurt and leave them outside. To speed up the process, make sure that the pot stays on the damp side, by leaving it in the shade and spraying it with water from time to time.
A night-scented bower
When I started gardening, I amassed a small collection of plants that were not only beautiful but famed for their evening scent. Although we might be forgiven for thinking that night-scented plants are there purely for our pleasure, the truth is that this is a by-product of their reproductive drive. These plants rely on pollinators such as moths and bats, who come out at night to get their sweet treats. For this reason, many of the plants in this category have pale or white flowers that glow in the dark, but rely primarily on the heady scent they give out. It is best to concentrate on one or two scents in a small area rather than lots.
My favourites are Matthiola longipetala (night-scented stock). You can get seeds or buy it in summer as a plant. I plant it in window boxes and let the scent waft in on warm summer nights. There is also Gladiolus tristis. This is nothing like the day-glo blowsy blooms, but a rather understated thing with funnel-shaped flowers of the palest yellow or creamy white. They flower in summer. Another gladiolus, G.murielae will provide you with the same pleasure in late summer.
Taken from The Virgin Gardener
Laetitia Maklouf studied at the Chelsea Physic Garden. She has just acquired her first garden in West London, where she lives with her husband, her daughter, Jemima and her dog, Mr Pug. The Virgin Gardener (Bloomsbury, £14.99) is her first book.
