Please Bear With Us - Garden Viewing in Progress

Peony amongst Weigela florida 'Variegata' - on Friday in my garden

You may find your UK garden blogging pals a little quiet this week. It's the annual gardening feast that is Chelsea that's to blame you see. Many will brave the crowds to visit - the rest of us will be glued to the TV for the daily lunchtime and evening broadcasts, starting this evening. This will result in major anxieties for us gardeners - I don't have the right colour/ plants/ accesories for this year; there's not enough in bloom in my garden; I need a water feature; I so loved that garden, I need to create my own tribute to it; I simply must have that... (insert your own long list of beauties here) etc. etc. As a result, we'll be making even more visits to our local nurseries/ garden centres/favourite plant sales websites and spending more time frantically working in our gardens to get them up to scratch.

So do bear with us during this stressful time - we'll be back with you shortly ;)

Update: The link I've provided takes you through to the RHS Chelsea website - it is their show after all. There's plenty to see on there. They also provide a link to the BBC website which in previous years has had all sorts of goodies such as 360 degree tours of the show gardens. Both sites will give you a very good idea of what all the fuss is about.

Comments

  1. dND18 May 2008 at 07:34

    Oh I'd forgotten it was Chelsea - I'm so jealous. I'll be off to the BBC website when I've a bit of time this week. As I'm out of the country I can't usually get the programmes, but I can drool over the pictures.

    I 'did' Chelsea once many moons ago, BC (before children), and it was a wonderful experience but for information I think the county shows are better to visit as the stallholders have more time to talk. 3 counties and the Bath and West were the ones I went to.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous18 May 2008 at 09:04

    I've been to Chelsea once, but much prefer smaller local shows!

    ReplyDelete
  3. this is my patch18 May 2008 at 09:40

    I've only had a garden for 10 years and since then I have been glued to the BBC coverage of the event every year. The only thing that bugs me is that they tend to repeat some of what they have shown us at luncthime in the evening. x

    ReplyDelete
  4. me18 May 2008 at 12:01

    Beautiful peony. I have not seen one so red before. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Silly Goose18 May 2008 at 12:14

    VP,
    Gardeners here in Canada rave about the Chelsea show too. In fact, some travel to the UK specifically to take the show in.

    I know someone who's there now taking photos she promises to share with her friends. ;-)

    As for garden fashion, I'm not really into that. But if I see a plant I like, I usually fall head-over-heels for it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. HappyMouffetard18 May 2008 at 20:43

    I'm in two minds about Chelsea - I'd love to go, but only if I was like the Queen, and could view it at my leisure. Probably better on TV, especially with the 'red button' which last year gave us a chance to look at lots of stands in the marquee.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Zoë18 May 2008 at 21:47

    I'll be at Chelsea on Tuesday, bright and early at 8 am, and then I shall disappear before it gets mad at around 1 pm. RHS's Website is a good place to do some reading up about the respective shows too, and also Crocus have master plans and planting plants etc that 3 of the 3 big designers are using as they supplied them. You can also order the plants used in the gardens from them.

    Best Wishes,

    Zoë

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sylvia (England)19 May 2008 at 11:55

    I love Chelsea, I have been once a long time ago. Watching on TV, it is the garden designs I like.

    An interesting though on your blog, does the show affect my garden? I had to think about that but the answer is no, I just love the perfection that is achieved but I wouldn't want it in my garden. I think at the end of the week I have more thoughts on what I wouldn't want in my garden! Perhaps the influences are just not obvious.

    Visit Victoria's Backyard for some preview photos.

    Best wishes Sylvia (England)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Rose19 May 2008 at 13:36

    This sounds like great fun! If I lived in the UK, I'd certainly try to visit the show. Thanks for the link to the BBC website; we used to get the BBC on cable, but no longer.

    VP, I have responded to one of your memes from a week or so ago--the desktop. I intend to respond to the tag you gave me on Wednesday, so pop in whenever you have time after the Chelsea show is over.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen20 May 2008 at 10:54

    I've watched the Chelsea Flower Show on telly for years now but so far I haven't felt pressured into buying anything of changing anything in my garden either. I find Chelsea both amusing and annoying.

    ReplyDelete
  11. imac20 May 2008 at 21:40

    Whats this 1st prize at Chelsea, ought to be, great photo. well done.
    Pop and see my R post.

    ReplyDelete
  12. San20 May 2008 at 21:42

    I'm so envious of people like you who live in places with fertile soil that will grow such beautiful things, places where there's rain to water those beautiful things.

    ENJOY!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. VP22 May 2008 at 13:57

    dnd - I will go to Chelsea one day, but I suspect I may draw the same conclusions as you

    Flighty - hello, I enjoyed Malvern and RHS Cardiff. I think they're more like local shows

    Louise - that's reassured me that I don't need to watch lunchtime as well as evenings x

    Sara - thanks for the compliment. It was a pressie from NAH's aunt when we move here

    Dirty Knees - I'm surprised it's so popular. Hope you enjoy your friends pics

    HM - I think the TV coverage is hard to beat, though you don't get the same atmosphere of course

    Zoe - thanks for the info on the planting plans - must go and check them out

    Sylvia - EmmaT has some good photos on her Indyblog post. You've given me food for thought - probably to discuss in a later post

    Rose - so glad you can use the link and I'll hop on over to check out your memes

    Yolanda - another thought provoking comment to add to Sylvia's

    IMAC - you flatter me! :)

    San - you're right, we're lucky. I do have happy memories of Santa Fe though

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more