''English'' Cottage Gardens

When I was in infant's school, decades ago, now, the headmistress gave us all a lecture on Commonwealth Day. The gist of it was that we were all, basically, ''part of England''. That's, at least, the impression I got. The vases of delicate thirsty ''English'' flowers in the hall seemed to stand as proof of our ''Englishness''. We were read ''Pookie'', a story about a rabbit in rather ''English'' conditions. We also were obliged to sing and dance to a song that went, ''I want to go to London Town, How shall I get there...?'' There was a picture of Betty Windsor on the wall, and the Union Jack was intertwined with the Australian flag. Australia was supposed, somehow, to be this far-off ''England''.

You can't, realistically, though, expect to have delicate and thirsty ''English'' plants, in any great number, in the Australian heat and dryness--not without environmental consequences. This is not England!!! I know in the village in which I live that people still use huge amounts of water trying to keep ''English'' lawns alive and green. They pump out huge amounts of underground water--a finite resource--to do this. This is not right! It is unfair to the environment. Our psychology must change.

It's crazy to try and make a cottage garden out of thirsty ''English'' plants. They just cannot cope with the heat and dryness. You can, however, create a beautiful cottage garden effect, by careful selection of attractive dry climate species, including native Australian ones.