COPING WITH DIFFICULT SITUATIONS It is relatively easy to grow plants in ideal or near-ideal conditions, but the position often arises where a part of the garden or an individual plant bed offers very little encouragement for cultivation. Maybe the garden is very wet in winter and sometimes floods, while in summer the water table drops and the soil is relatively dry. It is obvious that plants which thrive when given good drainage are not likely to be successful where the roots lie in wet ground for several months of the year. There are, however, certain shrubs and plants of other types that will tolerate these physical extremes. They include, among shrubs, Viburnum opulus, V.o. 'Sterile', Cornus alba 'Elegantissima', Cornus alba 'Sibirica' and Arundinaria (all cultivars); among trees, Taxodium distichum, Metasequoia glyptostroboides and Salix, all cultivars, provided the ground is not waterlogged at the time of planting; and, among perennial plants, Astilbe, most cultivars; Filipendula, most cultivars; Zantedeschia aethiopica; Lysimachia punctata; Lysimachia nummularia; Polygonum amplexicaule, all cultivars; Ms sibiricu and its cultivars and Trollius x cultorum cultivars. Another problem site is the disused concrete pond, which, for various reasons, it might not be practical to break up and remove. A disused pool in the garden is not too difficult to cope with for if there is adequate drainage the depression can be filled in with soil and planted or grassed over. Such a pool might, however, be part of a paved formal garden with raised sides and low retaining walls. This could be structurally difficult to demolish. A suggestion of the presence of water can be created by filling the pool site to within a few inches of the top with a good soil mixture and then covering this with several inches of 2 to 3in(5 to 8cm) pebbles. In this, plants can be grown, choosing those with good leaf shapes which are often seen near water; for example, Hemerocallis, Bergenia, Astilbe, Iris sibirica and Hosta. When they are in position the stones are drawn up close around the crowns of the plants and a few largish water-worn rocks can also be partly buried to give the effect of a pool or stream bed. Another difficult position is at the back of a bed where the soil receives virtually no rain because the eaves of the building or a projecting bay window overhang the area. To cover the ground, very flat shrubs can be planted just outside the dry area where the soil is moist and the prostrate growth should spread out in all directions. Suitable shrubs for this purpose include Cotoneaster dammeri and Rubus calycinoides, interplanted with larger subjects such as Dutch lavender (Lavandula angustifolia 'Vera') and Hebe. These are clothed to the ground and would also spread towards the wall. In places where an area of paving on a terrace or patio might seem disproportionately large, something more decisive and bolder than rock plants is necessary to soften the texture.