Uncategorized – Page 15 – Off The Edge Gardening

Denial

Aeonium, a stained glass window in the gentle low light. No driving snow, no Klondike wind, no freezing rain, just sun. The good old days. Or should I say good old day? Hope you are all safe tonight.

It has begun. The snowy beast has arrived. Two days, very unfashionably, early. How rude! Last night, not long after returning from yoga, all chilled but warm, my neighbour rang. “Look out the window!” There is was, where all had been clear half an hour previously, now there was a carpet of white, with moreContinue reading “Snowy Beast”

Diversions and Poor Decisions

The day started with a van parked across our driveway. I should have taken it as a sign. But I didn’t. When I win the lottery/premium bonds/marry a Rockefeller the first thing I am going to do is employ a chauffeur. The thought of never having to worry about driving a car again is aContinue reading “Diversions and Poor Decisions”

Frozen

Fresh out of school, dungareed and open-hearted, I packed my bags and headed off to college in Kent. Although it proved to be path I was not destined to follow, with the wonders of hindsight it was time well spent. Those that I met, similar in their innocence, have proved to be some of myContinue reading “Frozen”

Odd

I did something very odd in my garden today. No, not gardening, although that is a little unusual, I sat on the bench, in the sunshine and I drank a cup of coffee. I have never been one to sit in the garden. It makes me twitchy, remembering things that need to be checked orContinue reading “Odd”

Velour

We moved Lomatia ferruginea last year, Max’s Dad and me, dragging it unceremoniously across and up the garden in a plastic garden waste bag. Past azaleas and rhododendrons, we pushed and shoved, until it reached its new home, next to a sheltering privet hedge. Previously it had been stifled under the canopy of a Cornus kousaContinue reading “Velour”

Plan B

Today I made cheese scones. It was set to be a beautifully sunny day, and as my Tuesday is now my Thursday I didn’t have to go out to work. Why on earth, you may well ask, was I messing about in the kitchen and not out in the garden doing the myriad of jobsContinue reading “Plan B”

Pulmonaria

Pulmonaria offinalis, not the most glamorous of early flowering perennials. They lurk in the background, often unnoticed, out-shone by showy daffs and moon-faced hellebores. But take a moment to study the first red turning violet flowers, hirsute sepals glistening in the soft sunlight. As the blooms mature they achieve this colour change by adjusting the pHContinue reading “Pulmonaria”

Garden Poker

I will match your brambles, couch grass and let-loose mint with an attentive robin, sweet winter box and a golden bossed camellia. Then, just in case you imagined there was still a chance of winning, I will raise you one day of wall to wall sunshine. I would fold if I were you.

Fuchsia splendens

Fuchsia splendens, growing in the cloud forests of North Devon.