Funny how June, the month of the longest days, seems to somersault over itself in the blink of an eye. Four times I have started a new blog post, but each time the topic slipped from my grasp after barely a paragraph as something else caught my attention.


My first failed subject was Chelsea Flower Show, then the persistent rain, then my pet topic of not feeding borders (and therefore not staking), then poppies (but James Sinclair got there before me and did it better). And now I want to show you the garden – which looks the best it ever has, but I have promised several people a blog about Hampton Court Flower Show and feel I must say something worthwhile about it. 

So, here’s a picture of one of our herbaceous borders to keep you going while I mull on it….
See that arching white flower this side of the border, dead centre on the photo? It’s this stunning white Dierama. I don’t know exactly which cultivar, but here’s a close up:
And a shot from underneath against the one tiny patch of blue sky we saw late this afternoon.  Those little pink dimples – divine.

At the back are the elegant bud spires of Veronicastrum ‘Fascination’ against the seemingly black yew hedge. In the centre is a gorgeous umbellifer, Seseli libanotis. It’s very long flowering, properly perennial and is sturdier, shorter and denser than Anthriscus. It’s an all round better plant in my view. Right at the front is the top of a clump of Iris ensata ‘Light at Dawn’. 

Turn to the right now and the picotee edges of ‘Light at Dawn’ echo the purple and magenta in Geranium ‘Orion’ and Lychnis coronaria. Many of these subtle combinations are accidental, but I’ve decided that spotting it and noting it for the future is as good as if it was planned all along….
Across a short stretch of lawn, the canal border is growing on nicely – one very welcome consequence of this summer’s rain. It was completely replanted in March this year. It needs a bit more rearranging, but it’s already a huge improvement on the dull mess it was before.

Here’s the same border a year ago. The border looked terrible, but at least it was sunny…
Elsewhere, this combination caught my eye – Campanula glomerata ‘Caroline’  – the perfect partner to the dark foliage of Angelica ‘Vicar’s Mead. 

The exotic garden is beginning to get into its stride after a final planting session (this is the Banana quarter) 

The theme was inspired by a visit to Great Dixter – the Musa basjoo in the centre was one of their cast-offs, generously (or perhaps gratefully) thrown into my little green van by Fergus Garrett and driven carefully back to Cheshire by me with its leaves flapping over the passenger seat. It’s been outside for four years now, in temps down to -15C.


Spot the huge round leaves behind the banana? That’s Petasites japonicus. Every spring I haul out miscreant off-shoots which sprawl where they shouldn’t and compost them mercilessly. I spotted the same plant this week on Mark Diacono’s inspiring stand in the ‘Growing for Taste’ marquee at Hampton Court. Apparently the plant is a choice edible, but I’ve yet to find out whether  roast it, juice it or feed it to less than welcome guests.
So, there’s my seamless link to a review of Hampton Court Flower Show. Here’s Mark in performance mode in the Growing for Taste marquee, keeping a rapt audience waiting less than patiently for a slurp of his heavenly strawberry cocktail. 

I’ve mulled, pondered and fiddled around with a few pictures but it’s late and I’m sleepy. So no Hampton Court blog post tonight, but at least I’ve finished this one… 
July 4, 2012