A Gardening Woman

Autumn contrasts

This is the first autumn I've had in my new garden in Suffolk and I'm entranced by this colour contrast between the Hydrangea petiolaris and the vine. One minute the hydrangea's leaves were green, the next the colour had drained right out of them and they looked bleached out - totally dramatic against the autumn red of the vine.

In another contrast, I've been finding it hard to look at the top of the garden where the foundations of the new greenhouse have been dug right in the middle of the vegetable garden. The idea is that it will be a vegetable garden again only bigger and better. But the digger has compacted all the soil around it and the piles of sub-soil are worrying.

I'm an impatient person - not a good quality for a gardener - and I just can't wait for Alitex to tip up with all the bits and pieces which will make up the greenhouse. Thank goodness, I won't have to wait much longer - it arrives on Monday. Perfect timing to start getting my tender perennials under cover especially the baby cuttings which will want some cossetting over the winter. Watch this space for an opening ceremony!

What am I doing with this megaphone?

Last Sunday I was thrilled to have the honour of starting the 2010 Watford & Dacorum Memory Walk in aid of the Alzheimer's Society. Authors rarely think of themselves as celebrities as we lead pretty solitary lives either heads down in a library or hunched in front of a computer. But the AS is very close to my heart and I've written in the national press about the shared link of gardening between me and my mother who suffered from Alzheimer's and the comfort that it brought me in her final days and after.

So it was just terrific to see so many supporters turn out for this fund-raiser - much needed. Final figures aren't in yet but over 100 took part and the aim is to raise £15,000 from this walk through the beautiful heritage site of Cassiobury Park. In the Watford area alone there are about 15,000 people living with dementia so support is desperately needed for them and their families. The Memory Walks are held across the country are the Alzheimer's Society's biggest fund-raising events and growing every year. Unlikely other 'races', these are great fun for all the family and movingly unite everyone who has been touched by living with dementia. Thank you to everyone who took part.

Sunglasses needed for Sarah Raven flowers

Just been down to the picking part of the garden in Suffolk and come back with these. The colours are even more electrifying in real life. The gladioli and dahlias are collections from Sarah Raven. Although never the cheapest, she does have a brilliant eye for colour combinations.

It's hard to see because it is so dark but the deep claret dahlia is a gem and has flowered and flowered for weeks. Just in front is the little orange pompom dahlia - not so floriferous but still a fun contrast.

Runner beans of course which should always go straight from the plant to the pot for the freshest flavour. So not a bad start for the first year of growing in Suffolk. It's all got to be moved next week to make way for the new Alitex greenhouse - SO exciting!

Back in the NGS fold

One of the decisions I made on getting the new garden in Suffolk was to no longer open my roof garden in London for the National Gardens Scheme. That was something of a wrench as I've been involved with the NGS since the early 1990s. For many years, I opened my garden in Belsize Park and was an Assistant County Organiser in North London working with the brilliant Penny Snell who is now Chairman of the whole organisation.

You'd think having that job wouldn't leave Penny with much time but as you can see from Trish Gant's photograph of her in her fabulous conservatory, Penny epitomises the saying, 'if you want something done, ask a busy person'!

So when the call to arms came from Penny, I was thrilled to be able once again to join the NGS team,  helping Jenny Reeve and her group in West Suffolk especially around Clare, Lavenham and Long Melford. It may be years before I can even think about opening my own new garden, but in the meantime, I'm delighted that I can try and find lots of lovely new gardens to help raise money for such a brilliant cause. Watch this space to see what I find!

Are you sitting comfortably?

I recently visited a new garden (to me) in Suffolk - Wyken Hall just a little north-east of Bury St Edmunds. This is part of my quest to seek out seventeenth-century houses and gardens for inspiration - and I certainly found some here. Lots of box and yew of course, pargetting on the real Tudor 'Suffolk pink' house which is much darker than the current version - much more earthy.  Lovely long views through to meadows beyond the formal gardens.

But what really struck me were the benches. Carla Carlisle who lives at Wyken and writes a regular column in Country Life is American and that perhaps explains her courage in dotting these beautiful blue benches around the place. Not that they are all blue! But they are all different and very special. Definitely food for thought.

 

Can a blog blush? This blog has been chosen as Dobbies Blog of the Week

I'm deeply flattered to have this blog chosen by the gardening company Dobbies as their Blog of the Week. This has come quite out of the blue and it's thrilling to know that my ramblings are enjoyed by others.

Read what they have to say - enough to make one blush like a noisette rose!

Dobbies Blog of the Week - A Gardening Woman

Mystery roses - help needed

One of the joys of getting a new garden is discovering what is already there. My Suffolk garden has about thirty roses of various ages and degrees of healthiness.  Giving them a severe prune in the spring followed by a good feed has helped most of them spring back into life. Now the game is to identify them! So help needed. Above is a strong red rampant climber/rambler which is already twelve foot up a holly tree. Any ideas?

This beauty, complete with those little black insects that seem to be everywhere at the moment, is a lovely 'old' rose with a delicious scent - could be one of so many.

What a sweetie! Masses of tiny pink rose buds - but what is it called?

Could this be Queen of Denmark? Answers - not on a postcard - but on this blog, please. Any thoughts on all the above most welcome.

Gardeners World Live - my first visit

I'm just back from the Gardeners World Live show at Birmingham's NEC thanks to the generosity of fellow blogger, My Tiny Plot.

In return for my ticket, I've given a contribution to the MTP blog on veggies and more. Pop over and see what I said - should be posted shortly.

For those interested in flowers rather than allotments, here are some more images.

First a stunning display of hostas in the Marquee, just one of several around the show. I had to stop myself from buying some especially as I succumbed at Chelsea and ordered a very expensive collection of tiny hostas to go with my Blue Mouse Ears which still hasn't been touched by slugs.

I was very tempted by this enormous campanula but how would I get it home without it being squashed and damaged? Far better to photograph it and order later.

So what did I buy?  Three Agapanthus 'Tornado' - small plants but with the promise of masses of beautiful deep blue flowers next year. A deep violet Streptocarpus 'Crystal Wonder' for the windowsill in my porch. I've never been successful with them but this comes with a promise that the leaves won't get too big and that it flowers all year round. We'll see... A Dierama pendulum 'Blackbird Group'. I just love these 'angel wands' of dark maroon (there is a colour pattern emerging here, isn't there?). It wants full sun which I can certainly give it and self-seeds 'gently'. That's my sort of plant!

Bargain of the day: seven packs of seeds that I bought from the Plant Heritage stand for just a £1 each. Stuffed with seeds and much better value than the commercial stands across the way.

Abiding memory? Forget vuvuzelas - for me it's those plastic shopping carts! Watch your ankles! Chelsea it ain't, but GWL was a good day out.

A Visit to Spencers

Yesterday I made my first and possibly last visit to Spencers, the beautiful garden owned by the Courtauld family, in Great Yeldham, Essex. It's just over the border from my garden in Suffolk and I have been keen to see it since I heard that Tom Stuart Smith had done some work on the borders. Henrietta Courtauld now works for Tom and so it came highly recommended.

Sadly the house is now up for sale and who knows if the new owners will want to keep opening it. Here are some of its delights. I was especially impressed by their sweet pea supports and rhubarb forcing methods!

 

Impossible name for an enchanting tiny plant

Since a squirrel managed to climb five floors and eat my expensive tulips bar one 'Queen of the Night', the roof garden is rather devoid of colour at the moment except for these little beauties.

This is my pan of RHODOHYPOXIS - such a complicated name for something so enchanting.

I bought this collection from Pottertons nursery a couple of years ago and they seem so happy baking in the summer sun (what little we had last year) on my roof terrace. It's actually quite a deep pan which allows their roots to go down among the grit and get moisture just as they would in the alpine setting they are used to. They were one of Valerie Finnis's favourites - she's one of my women in Gardening Women and a superb plant photographer - unlike me! - but I'm learning.