There was something wonderfully monochrome about today. This photo would be quite different if the sun had been shining. The azure blue sky, peaking through the burnt umber twiggery, would skilfully highlight the ballerina pink blooms of the winter flowering cherry. But it wasn’t sunny. It was dull and dreary. Therefore we have a pale grey sky, darker grey branches and off-white flowers, with perhaps a cheeky hint of germolene in places. Not worse, just different.
Today I went shopping for gifts for my beloved’s impending birthday. I came home with a new pair of jeans (for me), a handbag (for me) and this book (um …. for me). Success! What was I supposed to be doing again?
Recently one of our local garden centres was swallowed up by a well known chain of stores. *burp* The prices have gone up, the variety reduced, but the tat has stayed pretty much the same. This does not bode well. Attached to the centre, adjacent to the restaurant, is a small garden and playground. This area of mainly trees and shrubs is solely for the customer’s delight, not for gain. Not so long ago there was also a large pond, replete with carp, for whom you could buy paper bags of food. Adults and children alike marvelled at the gaping fish mouths, gasping for the bread in a very unseemly manner. It was filled in and laid to lawn a couple of years ago, no doubt a casualty of Health and Safety.
Yesterday we popped in to buy a terracotta pot and whilst we were there I sauntered in the sunshine. The wonderfully ridged horse chestnut tree doesn’t care who owns it, wearing its cape of ivy, reaching its boughs into the blue. I only hope the new owners don’t find a more profitable use for this calming space. Fingers crossed the tree’s nonchalance isn’t short-lived.
This year my lovely boss (me) has decided to let me take January off. There are many reasons for this, the most important being that I want to. This does not mean that you will be party to the same generosity. No, the blog will continue, perhaps in a more random manner. Yes, you heard right, even more random. That means I will be sorting my photos and meandering down memory lane. I will be catching up with friends and visiting a few gardens. I will be sorting stuff, my tools, my seed, my plants, my head. And, drum roll please, I will be working in my own garden.
Which is exactly what I did for a couple of hours this afternoon. One of our two misplaced apple trees was pruned. It is far to big for our small plot (says the gal who has just bought a 12m conifer), the crows enjoy the fruit before we can get to them and those that they knock off in their vigour turn to mush. If I had my way it would be gone, along with the other, but this is a democracy and I have conceded. For the moment. There may be an “oops” moment in the future. I potted up the Sciadopitys verticillata and the pack of six Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ I purchased earlier at the garden centre (did I fail to mention this visit …..). There was weeding and chopping and planning.
I also checked my little plastic greenhouse, the act of which is becoming increasingly treacherous due to a dodgy zip. Here I found that the diminutive Ipheion uniflorum ‘Rolf Fiedler’, stored safe and sound against the cold and wet, had begun to flower. Such a beauty.
Another new year, another new plant. This Sciadopitys verticillata, the Japanese Umbrella Pine, has irresistible charms. It is true that I am not know for my resistance (generally futile), but when I noticed that this little darling was half price the die was well and truly cast. A mere babe in arms at the moment, it has the potential of reaching 12m in height. Until that point, which will hopefully not come too quickly, it is another one for the pot (terracotta not cooking). Here it will wait patiently with the others until I move to my grand estate. I know it will be very happy with me, as I am with it.
Wishing you all a magnificent 2017, may you both give and receive tolerance and empathy, may you share love and kindness with friends and strangers, and, most important of all, may you indulge in regular disco dancing marathons and drown in an ocean of laughter. xxx
That went very well. Hope yours did too.
To you all; to the ones that I know really exist and to those who I am not quite sure about, I wish every single funny, kind, clever one of you a wonderful Christmas and a 2017 full of love and laughter. Thanks for keeping me company. xxx
The furry foliage of Meconopsis napaulensis, the satin poppy. Need I say more?
Throughout my very early years my family were gypsies. Unfortunately this does not mean we lived in a caravan drawn by a faithful carthorse called Neddy. What it did mean was that we moved five times before I was seven. I know just what you are thinking, we were not on the run from the police. At least that was what I was led to believe. Come to think of it …. Anyway, the story I was told was that we had to keep relocating for my Dad’s job, who was an aeronautical draughtsman. Eventually we settled in Cornwall and my Dad commuted weekly. Neddy went to the home for retired carthorses.
An advantage of living in the home counties was that we were taken on frequent trips to London. It was my Dad’s home city and my parents had lived there when they were first married, so they enjoyed revisiting and showing us the sights. To a small child who lived in rural Sussex it all seemed very big and noisy and slightly scary. To a middle aged gardener who lives in North Devon it seems pretty much the same. We visited the museums, Oxford Street, the Tower of London. We also took a trip to the planetarium. The word alone is almost good enough, a word full of mystery and magic. I can remember quite clearly, head tipped back, mesmerised by the voice that came from the stars, watching the solar systems and planets move across the pseudo-sky. I didn’t understand a word but I was hypnotised and thrilled. Years later I revisited with my partner. We were just as thrilled. I may have understood a little more.
A wonderful day at The Farm. Absence definitely has made my heart grow fonder. And it was pretty fond already. I planted out Allium atropurpureum, Brodiaea laxa ‘Queen Fabiola’ and Anemone blanda. I primped and preened and mulched and collected seed and my horticultural zeal was invigorated.
Then, as I was dragging my tired feet towards the greenhouse to tidy tools and do a last check of the cossetted ones, a flitting in the blackthorn trees caught my attention. Something made me stand, silently, and wait for the story to unfold. As my eyes grew accustomed to the gloom I started to pick them out, first one, then another, then a dozen long tailed tits. These tiny birds, looking like ping pong balls wearing their big brother’s tail, weightlessly hopped from branch to bough, impossible for me to capture. It was an all too fleeting visit, soon they were on their way to where ever these bijou beauties reside. This spectacle made my day. Which to be honest had been pretty good already.
Off The Edge Gardening