East Ruston Old Vicarage
Desert Wash & Californian Border
The Californian Border contains some good
specimens of ceanothus varieties with their
splendid blue flowers. These are joined by
other Californian plants and backed by a
protective belt of trees such as Alnus cordata
and various species of eucalypts to the
northern edge.
The Desert Wash is designed to resemble
parts of Arizona where it probably only rains
once or twice a year, but when it does rain
it floods and great rushes of water channel
through the landscape tossing rocks and stones
asunder, leaving behind dry channels and
islands where succulent plants flourish.
The real work in making a garden such as this
starts some one metre below the surface where
we break up the sub-soil and incorporate lots
of gravel. Then we build layer upon layer of
gravel and gravel mixed with soil, the aim
being to keep this area very free draining
especially during the winter. Many of the
plants grown here are able to tolerate some
cold provided they remain dry at the root.
Some three hundred tonnes of flint of various
sizes have been used in the construction of this
area so far and the work is still ongoing with
improvements and additional planting.
The plants that are growing here are
agaves, aloes, puyas, beschonaria, dasylirion,
various cacti and other related plants. We are
always experimenting and pushing the
boundaries.
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