It’s a long weekend, with the bank holiday on Monday, the perfect opportunity to spend some time in the garden.

My garden has certainly grown volumes this summer, with the mix of much rain and some intermittent sunshine. It looks a very lush paradise, however, it is vital, when you have a small garden like mine, to keep shrubs in check.

It is all too easy for them to take over, if their size is not carefully monitored. I have several hedges, notably grisolina littoralis and olearia, to help create the small room boundaries I have created and they are desperately in need of a trim to tidy up the area.

This weekend will see me trim them back with the hedge trimmer. Through the open garden season I tend to trim carefully with secateurs, by hand, to make sure they always look neat but now there are to be no visitors until next year, the trimmer will do the job much quicker.

Inside the house, I’ve got a small collection of air plants or tillandsia, on my desk. They grow differently and are really very hardy, requiring much less attention than other house plants.

Provided the atmosphere in the room is not too dry, they can survive with water misting and the occasional bath in water for two to three hours about every couple of weeks.

In a shaded area or unheated room, you can use a soaking mist once or twice a week in summer and once a month in cooler weather.

I’ve got about 15 and one has produced a beautifully delicate flower this week. You can create wonderful displays with them, attaching some to ornaments and arranging in small containers.

Despite the excessive rain this summer, all my small water features have had to be topped up regularly. They are all shielded from direct rainfall and the intermittent hot days mean the water evaporates quite quickly.

Even the pond, which is crammed with plants, has needed regular top ups. While mine has no fish in it I’m sure there is plenty of wildlife hidden.

A new plant that arrived at Driftwood this week was a pretty salvia, bought online. I’m told, salvias are really on trend right now and this is a beauty.

Creamy white, open-mouthed blooms are thrown up in loose spires above a bushy clump of aromatic green foliage.

Salvia Clotted Cream has a simple, elegant appearance, associating beautifully with other border plants, especially blue-flowered perennials.

This hardy perennial enjoys a sunny spot on light, free-draining soil, perfect for hot, sunny borders, patio containers and gravel gardens.

Read more at www.driftwoodbysea.co.uk