A Lifetime Ahead

‘A Lifetime Ahead’ was a garden designed by Kim Wilde for an area in Spalding in 2004. See the accompanying text below.

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Almost all scientists now agree that the earth’s climate is changing, primarily due to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases caused by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. The average temperature in Britain is increasing so fast that, in climate terms, gardens are moving south at the rate of 12 metres a day. With waterlogged winters and summer droughts, climate change is going to have a major impact on plant growth, and on the way we design, plant and maintain our gardens.

Our contemporary garden combines several planting styles including Exotic (to take advantage of milder winters and reduced frosts), Mediterranean (able to deal with summer droughts) as well as a bog garden, benefiting from warmer, waterlogged winters. In addition, a wildflower and woodland area provide a valuable natural environment for encouraging wildlife and promoting biodiversity in the garden. Planting is juxtaposed against imaginative sculpture including one comprised of car exhausts – the great emitters of CO2 – as well as a unique water feature incorporating ceramic electricity insulators (usually seen high up on pylons which transmit electricity generated by the burning of fossil fuels) and a totemic windmill structure – a direct reference to one.

Natural sustainable energy resource. Carved wooden totem poles interpret the artwork of the generation set to live ‘a lifetime ahead’, depicting their hopes for tomorrow’s world, and are of course made of wood produced from a sustainable source.

Even though this garden is set for ‘a lifetime ahead’, all planting is suited already to our present climate, given appropriate planting conditions.

Plant list

Agastache foeniculum
Agave americana
Agave americana
Allium sphaerocephalon
Allium schubertii
Allium cristophii
Angelica gigas
Anthemis tinctoria ‘E.C.Buxton’
Armenia ‘Joystick White’
Artemisia ‘Valerie Finnis’
Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’
Arum italicum
Astelia
Aucuba jap. ‘Variegata’
Bambusa vivax
Bambusa vivax spectablis
Betulis utilis
Callicarpa bodinieri
Callistemon vigidus
Camassia
Canna ‘Panache’
Carex elata ‘Bowles Golden’
Carex pendula
Catalpa bignonioides ‘Aurea’
Ceanothus thyrsiflorus
Cercis ‘Forest Pansy’
Chamarops excelsa
Choisya ‘Aztec Pearl’
Cinnanomum camphora
Clianthus puniceus f. albus
Cornus ‘Porlock’
Cornus sanguinea ‘Winter Beauty’
Corylus maxima ‘Purpurea’
Cotinus ‘Grace’
Crambe maritima
Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’
Cynara cardunculus
Cytissus ‘Allgold’
Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’
Cornus stolonifera ‘Flaviramea’
Deschampsia ‘Golden Dew’
Dicksonia antar
Dierama pulcherrimum var.album
Digitalis ferruginea
Digitalis purpurea
Digitalis Purpurea
Echinacea purpurea
Echinops ritro
Elaeagnus ‘Quicksilver’
Elaegnus ebbingei
Eremurus robustus
Eriobotrya japonica Coppertone
Eriobotrya japonica
Eryngium oliverianum
Eryngium giganteum
Eucalyptus gunnii
Eucomis
Euonymus ‘Emerald Gaiety’
Euphorbia myrsinites
Euphorbia purpurea
Euphorbia characias wulfennii
Euphorbia griffithii ‘Fireglow’
Euphorbia polychroma
Fargesia muriellae
Fatshedera
Fatsia japonica
Fejoia sellowiana
Ferula communis
Festuca glauca
Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’
Fritillaria imperialis
Gunnera maculata
Gaura lindheimeri
Hedychium coccineum ‘Tara’
Helictrotrichon sempervirens.
Helleborus argutifolius
Helleborus feotidus
Heuchera micrantha ‘Palace Purple’
Hippophae rhamnoides
Hordeum jubatum
Hosta sieboldiana var elegans
Hydrangea panniculata ‘Unique’
Hydrangea ‘Snowden’
Iris foetidissima
Iris germanica
Iris sibirica ‘Royal Blue’
Juncus ensifolius
Knautia macedonica
Kniphofia caulescens
Lavendula Papillon
Libertia ixioides
Limonium platyphyllum
Linaria purpurea
Liriope muscari
Lobelia cardinalis
Luzula nivea
Lychnis
Lysimachia ephemerum
Mahonia x media ‘Charity’
Malus ‘Rudolf’
Melianthus major
Millium aureum
Miscanthus saccchariflorus
Miscanthus sinensis ‘Roland’
Mulhembeckia
Musa basjoo
Nandina domestica
Nandina domestica
Nandina ‘Firepower’
Nectaroscordum siculum
Olearia macrodonta
Olea europaea
Onopordum acanthium
Ophiopogon nigrescens
Osmanthus delavayi
Pencil Cypress
Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Hamelyn’
Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’
Phlomis russelina
Phormium ‘Sundowner’
Phormium Atropurpurea
Phormium tenax
Phyllostachys .v. aurecallis
Phyllostachys vivax ‘Aureocaulis’
Pinus pinea
Pittosporum
Pleioblastus auricomis
Primula bulleyana
Prunus lusitanica
Pseudosasa japonica
Pulstatilla vulgaris
Rheum palmatum ‘Atrosanguineum’
Rhus typhina
Rhus x pulvinata Lacciniata
Rodgersia
Rosa glauca
Rosmarinus ‘Point du Raz’
Rudbeckia ‘Goldstrum’
Saginia
Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurascens’
Salvia uliginosa
Sanguisorba officinalis
Santolina chamaecyparissus
Sasa veitchii /palmatum
Sedum ‘Autumn Glory’
Sedum spathulifolium
Senecio ‘Sunshine’
Sisyrinchium ‘Aunt May’
Soleirolia soleirolii
Stachy’s lantana
Stipa gigantea
Stipa tenuissima
Teucrium fruticans
Trachycarpus fortunii
Typha minima
Verbascum bombyciferum
Verbascum olypicum
Verbena bonariensis
Viburnum lucidum
Yucca filamentosa
Yushiana anceps