Travels

I have been out and about since my last blog. A great day at the Harrogate Flower Show then a couple of days touring the Yorkshire Dales. You will be able to see the fruits of my travels shortly with features on the RHS Garden at Harlow Carr, Constable Burton and Millgate House, Richmond. (pictured)

Unfortunately, the weather could have been kinder to us, while the West coast basked in sunshine during those few days the East Coast side of the country had rain, never mind, no matter what the weather, a good garden will always have attraction to a visitor.

Now it is Hampton Court time and so we are preparing for our trip down to London for one of my favourite events of the gardening year. I know Chelsea is the creme de la creme but Hampton has a lovely festival feel to it and the backdrop is just superb with the Palace and long water adding a very special atmosphere.

Having had a glorious spring with the clematis this year - think this might be something related to the food I have been giving them as usually my clematis are stringy affairs - the wind came along and did a lot of damage. We had three weeks of drought in the Lakes and then it rained and blew a gale with a vengence.

The dry spell has had me thinking about water a little more and so we have invested in an additional water trough. The clematis are just recovering but as I write the wind has risen up yet again so I am unsure what tomorrow will bring.

Someone described a garden to me the other day as being 'Jurassic' - they were not being complimentary! I have noticed this word being used a lot lately with relation to things which are old or old fashioned - Jurassic jets being an example - well I wouldn't quite describe any garden as Jurassic, for one thing, a garden is special because of its history, development and its place in time. Sometimes I feel Jurassic myself but I wouldn't feel happy if someone called me that.

Some gardens benefit from moving on in time and developing, nothing should stand still, and I always think the really successful gardeners are those like the late Christopher Lloyd who could utilise the best of a garden and its history while at the same time making progress and moving with the times so that the garden truly reflects its history.

At Kiftsgate for example, they have successfully blended in modern design with the older more established historic garden, and to me that is what gardening is about. Nothing need become Jurassic or set in aspic, but we don't want to lose the historic elements of a garden, rather they should continue to set the backbone. In Christopher Lloyd's case he ripped out his rose beds and planted a hot border - much alarm and scandal at the time but wow what a statement.

Chelsea was for me very 'green' this year, and I mean colour not necessarily environmentally - so I wonder what the predominent theme will be at Hampton. You get a lot of variety at Hampton which is one of the things I really like about it. If you haven't been following Claudia de Yong's diary of her water-garden build, check into the website and see what she gets up to everyday.

Until next time, cheers.