Monday, July 23, 2007

Good day sunshine

I woke this morning and found a red thing shining in the sky and someone told me it was the sun. So I donned my sombrero, took hold of my miraccas and did a Carmen Miranda impression around the rose trees - I like you very much I, yi, yi, yi - comes to mind. Which film did she sing that in? I couldn't remember but I was so jubilant at being able to get out into the garden and actually make contact with plants and the soil that it didn't matter.

In case we get a drought in August I now have a plentiful supply of water collected in all manner of barrels, tubs and pots - what I will probably end up with is biting stinging things which like to live near water. We shall see - the weather this summer seems so perverse that it is impossible to tell just what will happen within the next 24 hours.

It has been miserable for the Flower Shows and so many have had to be cancelled. We can only hope that the weather is kinder for the Southport show which runs in the middle of August.

As the rain has kept me indoors and unable to garden I have had the time to appraise what is working and what is not in the garden. Some things will just have to go - I have decided that we cannot stand still and what may work for one year might not for another and so overgrown Hebe are definitely out and geriatric rose trees are taboo. So this autumn major works to dispose of overgrown plants.

I still haven't got the courage to grow any vegetables despite my good intentions in the spring so maybe next year - or the year after !!! But I am proud of the little Hosta collection which I have now gathered. I am getting into Ferns too and perhaps a little stumpery might go down well.

Ah now the sun is out I really must put fork in hand and do something - the sun is shining, yi, yi, yi, - I can't afford to go down to Rio but I can potter in Cumbria - so see you all soon.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Tatton triumphs

Carla Carlisle writing her column in Country Life recently said that this summer had been created by Chekhov - I know what she means - rain, rain and more rain. Poor Tatton got a deluge today but smugly I was in the main marquee at the time and was able to while away the downpour feasting my eyes on a whole host of absolutely devine plants and displays.

They have done really well at Tatton to get gardens finished and looking so good after the past two weeks and hopefully from tomorrow visitors will get kinder spells in which to enjoy all the gardens and displays. I could have had a bad case of trench foot from yesterday but once again - smug smug- I took my big boots and kept myself snug and dry. Thank God for wood shavings is all I can say - without which I think I would have disappeared in a cloud of not very nice brown stuff a couple of times. By tomorrow all will be pristine and welcoming - so well done to everyone.

Met up with the delightful James Alexander-Sinclair - what a pleasant and entertaining guy he is - and yes he was wearing the hat! Glad I was able to chat with him because Emma ran off and left me - during the brief periods of sunshine she made a passable impression of the road runner - beep beep - as she flew (literally) all over the site clicking away. Then some really nasty black clouds came over - very Chekov indeed - and we beetled away to the big tent to enjoy the smells of all those wonderful plants.

Thankfully it was a short lived downpour but torrential nevertheless and it certainly made all those journalists who had been sitting outside the press tent enjoying their coffee to disappear in a hurry.

A friend of mine used to look at that kind of black sky and say "We're Doomed" and I was a little concerned at one point we might be - but after the blackness came the most lovely blue sky - can you fathom that?

Absolutely adored the Wallace and Gromit flower bed from Preston City Council especially the sheep hanging basket - cool - and drooled over a slate garden - just imagine what that looked like after the rain - cosmic.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week is kinder so let's hope all goes well.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Tatton awaits





I have been tardy in not blogging for awhile - we had a great trip to Hampton Court but oh how different weather wise to the wonderful 94degrees we enjoyed last year. Rain, rain and a lot of mud, but who cares, we are gardeners after all! Then I whizzed off on a three day trip to Northumberland - you will be able to read all about it shortly on Reckless - gardens to die for and we managed to keep dry - but only just.

Wonderful to see how Alnwick has now blossomed out - what a terrific garden - I think the Duchess of Northumberland should get a big pat on the back for the creation of that garden, a great space to be enjoyed by everyone. Great to watch the kids in little pastic tractors filling up buckets of water from the big fountain and then driving them over to tip the water out - what a great entertainment for them.

Those of you who read my features on Hampton will have remembered me writing about the little grave for Pedro on the Torres Tapas Garden. Designer Anthea Guthrie informs me that Pedro started out as an old faithful dog who had spent many happy hours snoozing under the olive trees, then morphed into a hamster, and finally became a little tiny big eyed puppy, slain by a falling olive. Apparently Miguel Torres was amused by the grave as he does have a graveyard full of family dogs. So thanks Anthea because that solves the mystery of Pedro and I can stop worrying about it now.

Our preview trip to Tatton went well today but everyone was really struggling against the elements - and the usual mud which seems to have been a characteristic of so many shows this year, never mind Glastonbury, very impressed with those gardens which were nearly finished, and hopefully good luck to those who were still racing against the clock and the downpours to get finished. Hopefully, tomorrow might see some dry periods for press day, but I have the boots and umbrella ready just in case.

Will blog again tomorrow and let you know how it went.