In a Vase on Monday… on Thursday

July 18, 2019 ~ Sam ~ 9 Comments

I picked, plonked and photographed these flowers on Monday, fully intending to join in with Cathy’s Monday vases, but the week has run away with me and suddenly it’s Thursday. School finishes for the summer tomorrow but my uni-student son is working shifts for P&O throughout the holidays and my other son has a part-time kitchen porter job at the local pub/restaurant on the beach – both are torn between being completely outraged at the loss of seemingly endless summer days of free time and very happy at the thought of the money. Managing one’s time is a life lesson that may well be taken on board by them both in the next couple of months 🙂

We don’t have a summer holiday booked this year, partly because of working children and partly because we’re spending our money on renovating the ‘sunroom’. We may have a few days away over the August bank holiday and there is a family gathering in Suffolk at the very end of the holidays to celebrate my mother-in-law’s 80th(!) birthday, so we will get away at some point. Getting away is important, don’t you think? Even though we live by the sea and people come here on their holidays, a change of scene always perks me up.

Anyway, back to the flowers… I surprised myself by picking a very romantic pastel-coloured handful of blooms. We do have plenty of hot colours going on out in the garden but the purples and pinks are looking particularly lovely at the moment. In the blue spotty jug are:
Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’
Verbena rigida
white scabious (a giant one) and pale purple scabious
a pale pink Achillea
a small pink rose (unknown variety) which has started to bloom away after years of looking sickly following a bit of tlc
a couple of pink pinks (Dianthus)
a pink Penstemon
a spire of Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’
and some blue salvia (which I think is ‘Azure Snow’).

Here it is in the soon-to-be-renovated-if-the-builders-turn-up-and-get-on-with-it sunroom:

I know it’s not quite the end of the week (nearly there) but I am so looking forward to the weekend – we have dinner with friends, my daughter’s end-of-year dance show and some gardening planned, plus my mother-in-law is coming to stay and she is always a tonic. I hope you have a good one, whatever your plans. Bye for now.

Chinks of light

July 12, 2019 ~ Sam ~ 13 Comments

I’ve been feeling weighed down lately with too much complicated life going on here and world-weary and thoroughly aghast at the behaviour of the people in power. Even David, who, for as long as I’ve known him, has always kept up-to-the-minute with current affairs, switched off the news earlier in the week Before It Had Finished and said, “The world is going mad”. There’s just only so much one can take, isn’t there? More and more, I’ve felt the need to ignore what’s going on outside my little patch of land and instead think only about what needs watering and who needs feeding. (And even the ‘who needs feeding’ can seem like a massive chore sometimes.) I quite fancy switching off all the devices and cutting myself off from the world for a year or so. I might then have a peep to find out if it all really did go Pete Tong (wrong) but I suspect I’d be quite happy not to.

But as that’s not terribly practical, I’ve been focusing on simple tasks like hanging out washing – listening to the birds and feeling the sun on my skin as I peg laundry on the line – and spending as much time as possible looking at plants. Rather than completely sink into a pit of despondency, easy though that would be, I am sitting quietly on the clifftop and looking out for all the slivers of hope and beauty and optimism that I can.

In the spirit of carving out some pleasure, today I took the day off and drove to Sissinghurst Castle with two good friends. We’re all women who juggle work and family life – we have 10 teenagers between us – and we kept commenting on how wonderful it was to be out, to be away from the everyday and to be in such a beautiful place. We had coffee and cake and lunch and coffee and cake. We ooh-ed and ah-ed at the planting and the architecture and the arrangement of the place. On the way home, we stopped and bought Kentish cherries from a roadside stall. We returned happy, recharged and ready to turn our sunned faces to the onwards march again.

Happy weekend, friends.

A stroll around the garden

July 4, 2019July 4, 2019 ~ Sam ~ 21 Comments

Although I haven’t been keeping an end-of-month record of the garden this year, I’m glad I have the photos from 2018 to see how everything has matured since the end of June last year. One striking difference is how much greener the grass is from all that rain we had earlier in the year.

Anyway, here’s a little tour to show you what the village garden safari visitors saw over the weekend when they visited our garden. It was overcast when I took these pictures, so imagine hot sunshine, a light breeze, the distinct smell of the sea and birds singing, and a weary pair of gardeners raising a mug of coffee to you from their chairs in the shade.

Salvia hot lips — Salvias and *Verbena rigida* in the raised planters. ‘Hot Lips’ loves it here.

garden wall — I bought a bistro table and two chairs for under the old apple tree in the back garden and several people stopped to sit in the shade for a while.

Nepeta 'Walkers Low' — This bed was a riot of osteospermums and nasturtiums last year but I’ve planted three insect-friendly *Nepeta* ‘Walkers Low’ along the path edge. I bought it as one plant about six weeks ago, divided it into three, potted them on until roots poked out of the bottom of the pots, then planted them out. They seem very happy. In the background there are the step-over apples underplanted with geraniums and chartreuse *Euphorbia oblongata* to the right of the pic.

Mixed border — The border by the back wall is a mixture of blue/purple, pink and orange. *Iris sibirica* has gone over but there are agapanthus coming into flower and asters later in the year. *Perovskia* ‘Blue Spire’ is also coming into bloom. Please avert your eyes from the slightly scrappy path. You see those pine cones? Hundreds of them. I’d cleared them all the day before. Every time the wind blows, more drop from the pines. If you have any tips for what to do with them, other than use as firelighters, I’d be grateful. They don’t compost well.

Hollyhocks and roses — Moving round the side of the house to the sea-facing side, here are remarkable self-sown hollyhocks growing in cracks in the paving and the prolific rose bush that has no scent, sadly (as it’s next to the house). The lavender hedges are just coming into flower.

mini-orchard — Looking down onto the mini orchard and more lavender from the top terrace – the bees, hoverflies and butterflies love it there and you can hear crickets/grasshoppers singing their songs in the sunshine.

steps and rose arch — Looking down the Erigeron Steps to the rose and jasmine arch (both starting to flower) and the wildflower patch beyond, and our black cat hiding in the daisies.

Garden pond — Looking down onto the pond area, which we’ve recently cleared, with the wild area beyond (and bench on the area where we’ve had bonfires!). David relaid the flag stones around the pond (yet to be pointed) and we planted up the beds with heucheras and geraniums (permanent) and cosmos and snapdragons (temporary) and should mature to form lovely mounds of foliage with flowers in spring/summer. All the new beds (and bare soil elsewhere) have been mulched with bark chippings made from the tree work we had done last summer to help keep moisture in and cut down on weeds. Lugging trugs and trugs of that up the steps has improved my fitness levels somewhat!

lavender — Down the steps to have a closer look, you can see David’s ‘work in progress’ in the background. It’s going to be a covered seat with a cedar shingle roof and climbers growing up the sides. The hosepipe wasn’t there for visitors to trip over.

Crocosmia and grasses — The border around the orchard is a mix of grasses (*Stipa tenuissima* and *Calamagrostis*) with perennials like *Crocosmia* ‘Lucifer’ (just coming into bloom), *Verbena bonariensis*, osteospermums and heucheras. You can just see the mounds of *Gypsophila* ‘Gypsy Pink’ tucked into the edge of the border, an emergency purchase from a local supermarket to fill the gaps here!

Hoverfly in flight — We’re trying to plant as many plants that are beneficial for insects as possible – lavender, verbena, salvias, geums, poppies, scabious, wild flowers and many others are insect-magnets. Above you can see a hoverfly coming in to land (more luck than judgement on the part of the photographer!).

The two most commented-on plants during the garden safari were *Erigeron karvinskianus* (Mexican fleabane) and *Stipa tenuissima*, both looking rather lovely at this time of year.

Light blue salvia — I can’t remember the name of this blue salvia but it’s perennial and lovely 🙂

Pale pink rose — This rose was a gift about 5 years ago, planted elsewhere in the garden, moved twice and is now in its final home, breathing a sigh of relief and sending out beautiful scented blooms.

Garden planting — I’m really happy with how the different levels are working – lavender on top of the wall, mixed border below, further mixed border, pond area. I’m looking forward to seeing how these all fill out and develop.

Rose 'The Garland' — I think this rose is ‘The Garland’, a highly scented climber from David Austin. I say ‘I think’ because David and I bought a rose for each other at roughly the same time and temporarily planted this one in a trug while we cleared the area and the labels got muddled. I am not very good at keeping track of labels… Anyway, it’s been here for a couple of months and is looking happy. The hope is that it will eventually cover this fence and look fabulous.

So, here we are, nearly at the bottom of the garden. I haven’t shown you the area to the right of the rose in this picture because it’s more of the same (geraniums, grasses, Erigeron, Artemisia and ivy) or the wildflower area in detail but I’m sure you’ve seen enough for now.

Hope your week is going well. I’ll be back soon x

In a Vase on Monday: the first day of July

July 1, 2019 ~ Sam ~ 9 Comments

June has passed by in a blur and I feel as though I’ve skidded into July with a definite need to slow down a little and smell the flowers. Our village garden safari happened this weekend – the weather was a-ma-zing, plenty of people visited the open gardens and lots of money was raised for charity. We certainly enjoyed sitting in the shade, chatting to visitors and not gardening for a couple of days 🙂 I’ll show you a garden update in my next post but in the meantime here’s a blue spotty jug of summer flowers to join in with Cathy’s Monday vases. Thanks to her, as always, for hosting.

The lavenders and jasmine are beginning to flower and there are clove-scented pinks. Joining these fragrant beauties are some Nigella seedheads (which I think I almost prefer to the flowers), a dark-flowered sweet William, some Erigeron karvinskianus and a few flowerheads from the lovely grass Calamagrostis x acutiflora Karl Foerster.

Building work is starting on Wednesday to renovate the ‘sunroom’ at the sea-facing side of the house. This is the final room to be updated and I’m really looking forward to being able to use it. Currently it’s full of camping equipment, old shoes, weights and the rowing machine, an old cupboard, a bike, and other assorted ‘stuff’. All this needs to be moved out and found new homes. (Cue much muttering and discontent among the troops.) The boys are not happy about losing their ‘weights room’ and we need somewhere for the rowing machine, so the next big job in the garden is to customise an old shed or build something suitable. Things are never quiet around here…

Have a great week!

Poppylicious

June 25, 2019 ~ Sam ~ 9 Comments

The poppies have been magnificent this year.

Each flower starts off tucked away as a tiny bud.

They grow into plump, hairy nodding buds.

The stem starts to straighten, sending the bud skywards.

The bud case turns turns brown and starts to split…

revealing the delicate, papery bright-red petals. They remind me of crumpled silk or crushed tissue paper.

They nod about for a couple of days, bringing joy to bees and gardeners.

Before discarding their petals on the ground and…

revealing their perfectly designed seed heads.

Hello. How’s it going with you? It’s been all about getting garden safari-ready here, which is very boring to everyone who isn’t interested in the garden, especially our teenagers. I was going to pull out these poppies – they’ve passed their peak but they’re still flowering so I’ve left the clumps where they are for now and noticed that they had flowers at each stage of development, so I thought I’d record it here. I find the whole process of seed to plant to flower to seed fascinating.

We had a massive push outside this weekend. My mother-in-law came to help and, as usual, galvanised us to do more than we’d planned, so it is looking great even if I’m not (exhausted, grubby, terrible hay fever-face at the end of each day). I’ll take some photos towards the end of the week so you can see – of the garden, not me, obvs!

The weather has been amazing but I’ve had such revolting hay fever which doesn’t combine well with sticking my head into ornamental grasses to remove bindweed. Nothing seems to be helping, so I just keep splashing water on my face and carrying on. What with all the gardening, having a nose like a tap and having everyone at home and all that entails, I am exhausted and looking forward to having an excuse to sit in the garden and do nothing other than chat to any visitors who wander in. In the meantime, I’m off outside with my pockets full of tissues.

Have a good week.

A good day

June 9, 2019 ~ Sam ~ 11 Comments

My son is home. The dog gave him her special howl of happiness that she only does when her very favourite people are all together in their pack. There’s a mountain of bedding and clothes that need washing, boxes of books and bags of shoes. He’s already surveyed the contents of the fridge, cuddled the cats, commented on how lovely it is to be able to use a clean toilet and is now lying on his bed surrounded by suitcases and boxes. Happy. I’ve put a chicken in the oven to roast and we’ll have that in about an hour with new potatoes and salads, followed by scones with clotted cream and fruit. He’s been existing on pizza and skipping lunch and needs feeding up.

David had the bright idea that we should go and collect him today via the RHS garden at Wisley for a wander and a reminisce and coffee and cake en route. I didn’t need much persuasion. We used to live about 30 minutes away and would visit regularly when the children were small. I also volunteered here for a couple of years, working once a week in the Trials Department, and I also surveyed all the model gardens as part of my garden design course. I pretty much knew every metre of the gardens in detail, specific plants, views and buildings. But it’s changed quite dramatically since our previous visit about 4 years ago. There’s a major new visitor ‘experience’ (opening tomorrow, so the signs said), with a new plant nursery and various other attractions. All the model gardens have disappeared(!) and there’s construction work for a new plant laboratory, world kitchen garden and learning centre.

When we first used to visit with our babies and toddlers, we’d be among the youngest visitors by far, there was always room in the car park and you could easily wander round and not see many people. It felt like a horticultural haven where only Very Keen gardeners went. Today, there were car park attendants in hi-vis jackets, several overseas coaches, loads of people of all ages, lots of children running about, an outdoor music and dance performance going on for smaller children and a real sense that the garden was a destination, a great attraction. If it gets more people outdoors, looking at plants and enjoying all the benefits, I’m all for it but the place seems to have lost a little of its charm. Maybe there’s no place for charm at the forefront of horticultural progress.

Anyway, it was still possible to get photos without people in them of gorgeous plants! Alliums. Alliums everywhere – tall ones, taller than me, short ones, enormous globes and vibrant purples – all buzzing with bees. Glorious. And sumptuous peonies and roses whose scent hits you before you round the corner and clock them. There are still delightful touches here and there – a mown design in a patch of perfect lawn, lovely hooped hazel or willow (not sure) edging alongside the meadow. It was certainly a treat to spend a few hours here soaking up plant inspiration before collecting our boy and bringing him home for the summer.

Right, I must get that dinner on the table. Hope you’ve had a good weekend.

Friday flowers

June 7, 2019June 7, 2019 ~ Sam ~ 10 Comments

I’ve missed posting Monday vases for the past couple of weeks so here are some flowers for Friday 🙂

The lupins and clematis are in my mother-in-law’s garden. We can’t grow lupins here because a red alert goes out for miles around and all the slugs and snails in the neighbourhood make a slimey trail straight for them. The same goes for delphiniums. And dahlias, although David is de-ter-mined to try growing them again this year so we have a few precious specimens in pots and I’ve been on snail watch… Also, it’s very windy here which plays havoc with tall top-heavy flowers. We don’t have much luck with clematis, either. Most varieties don’t like chalk, according to expert clematis growers. The sweetpeas are also not from our garden! They’re grown by a lovely friend whose garden I had an impromptu tour of this morning – it’s a wonderful cornucopia, a feast for the senses, and she kindly said I could go back with my camera some time.

So, there you are. Some beautiful Friday flowers not grown by me.

I hope all’s well with you. Life plods on here. My daughter and younger son are half way through their end-of-year exams and the eldest will be home from university on Sunday as it’s the end of his first year (which has flown by). His sister will have to vacate his bedroom which has become an extension of hers (because it has wifi and hers doesn’t!) and I’m clearing the backlog of laundry and filling the fridge and cupboards in readiness.

Have a lovely weekend.

PS I’ve been having trouble commenting on blogs that aren’t WordPress. Sorry to my blogging friends who are on Blogger, etc (CJ, CT et al). I am reading and would love to comment but for some reason I can’t! I will ask my technical support to take a look.

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gardening and family life by the sea