The Grevillea has to go

Garden designers have to take account of time as well as shape, colour and texture. This is because the shape and size of a plant will change with the seasons and from year to year. What looks good this year may be horribly out of proportion the next. Interior designers don’t have this problem. ​

If they put together a design for a room and choose a sofa, a rug and a table lamp they won’t find, a year down the line, that the sofa has doubled in size, the rug has changed colour and the lamp has withered away. Their design may become a victim of fashion or taste but that is all.
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The problem of the effects of time are startlingly illustrated by my Grevillea Rosemarinifolia. This evergreen shrub is ten years old and has grown into a magnificent plant. It’s in flower from February to November, puts up with the nastiest winters and is as happy a performer as anything in the garden. And yet, it has to go. The problem is that it’s simply too good. It’s meant to grow to a maximum of 5 feet high and 5 feet wide- i.e. 25 square feet. In fact it’s grown to 10 feet in both directions- that’s 100 square feet, or 4 times it’s expected size. The Grevillea was supposed to take up a corner of the sunken garden but has ended up dominating it. The sofa has filled up the entire room and is destined for the skip.