Almost three weeks of not blogging – apologies to one and all. My PC died and I couldn’t connect my camera to Dave’s PC, then I just got madly busy and blogging was always one task too many. Who was it who said ‘never apologise, never explain’? One piece of advice I’ve clearly not got the hang of.

My last post was about my visit to Great Dixter to collect plants. When I got back I mentioned to Dave what a relief it was not to have do that 600 mile round trip again any time soon. Two days later the BBC rang – could I go to Dixter before Tatton for a spot of filming for the Tatton Show programme? So, less than a week later I was back at Dixter again with Bob for a filming session with Fergus in the exotic garden. I had company for the journey this time, at least, and Bob is good company indeed. So, fellow gardeners, it seems likely that I’ll be back on the small screen in your living rooms once more this year – probably the 25th July – but only probably mind you – nothing is certain in TV land.

We start building our show garden on Monday. In an ideal world I’d be doing nothing but primping, preening and coaxing the plants into life. But I have four group visits this week, a talk tonight at Great Budworth gardening club and a very important event on Sunday – to which you are all welcome. I mentioned on an earlier blog entry that I was building a garden in Knutsford. Well, the very generous spirited owner has teamed up with her neighbours and they are all are opening their gardens on Sunday 13th July 1-5pm in aid of the Knutsford Children’s Adventure Farm Trust, which offers respite holidays to disabled and sick children. Details are on their website http://xcellfundraisers.com/events.aspx. I’ll be there so do come along if you can spare the time and a fiver.

A couple of new pictures today of the new borders that I planted back in spring. The most revelatory thing about this project has been how much better plants do in the ground compared to a pot. Almost all these plants were taken off the nursery for planting while others were left behind to grow on for sale. So they were identical plants in spring, but the difference now is vast. The ones on the nursery may have been proactively fed and watered, but they are tiny by comparison – a quarter the size of the planted ones, at best.

An overview of the two new borders. Click the picture for a better view. There is a path through the middle – honest!
And a closer look at the planting

And this is how it looked in mid March, less than four months ago.

And finally, does anyone recognise this clematis? It looks for all the world like an alpina, but it is in flower now, first week in July and is a climber. It is also slightly scented. A real beauty.

July 8, 2008  
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