The Legacy of Chelsea: Science

So that's another Chelsea done and dusted for this year. The plants have gone, the show gardens are being torn apart and all that bling and razzledazzle is no more. It's easy to focus on these aspects of the show and say they have no relevance to the ordinary gardener like you and me. I'm going to spend a couple of posts this week looking for a different point of view.

For me one of the most important Chelsea moments was a sparsely attended press call last Monday at the new RHS Experience stand. This was the launch of the latest RHS report entitled Gardening matters: Urban gardens.

We all have an idea of how good our gardens are for the environment, but for the first time RHS Scientist Dr Tijana Blanusa (pictured left) has pulled together all the available research evidence on just why this is so. Her report summarises the areas where our gardens have a key role:

• Moderating temperature (cooling the urban environment and gardens as insulation)
• Preventing urban flooding
• Providing urban biodiversity
• Supporting human health (psychological wellbeing and promoting physical health)
• Getting the balance right re carbon emissions and water use

I was surprised to hear over 85% of us live in towns and cities nowadays and our gardens account for about 25% of land in most cities and contain around a quarter of non-forest trees. Therefore, decisions we make about the way we use our little patch of land can have a significant impact on the urban environment.

I spoke to Dr Roger Williams (head of RHS Science and pictured right) afterwards about what happens next. He told me producing the report has highlighted a number of gaps in the research which the RHS aims to fill, either through their own research programme or in collaboration with others such as Reading and Sheffield Universities. For example, they'll be looking to provide information on the best ways to use peat-free products in gardening and looking at which plant combinations (native and/or non-native) are best for wildlife.

I'm also concerned about the increasing pressure on our land in the UK and asked whether this report will be shared with non-gardeners such as town planners and policy makers. Roger told me they're looking to publish this paper in a research journal later this year and are planning a seminar aimed at decision makers around the time of publication.

In the meantime, the RHS are wanting to find out more about how we garden and have an online survey for you to complete. There's also lots more information about the report and sustainable gardening in general on their urban greening web pages.

ABC of Chippenham: Steeleye Span

This Bank Holiday weekend sees Chippenham filled with strangely dressed characters bedecked with ribbons and bells and waving handkerchiefs, sticks or swords at each other.

It can only mean it's time for Chippenham Folk Festival.

As well as a multitude of morris dancing sides and other folk dancers, there's various bands and singers, including Steeleye Span who'll be the headlining act on Monday night. They also played at the first festival in 1971 when they were a relatively unknown band.

The first festival was held in Lacock and the organisers quickly realised its popularity meant making it a dual location event by including Chippenham was needed. Its continued growth led to Chippenham becoming the sole location in 1984, the year we moved into the area.

There's plenty of ceilidhs and performances to enjoy, though I do like just wandering around the High Street watching the morris dancers perform and catching other impromptu performances in a pub or at Monkton Park. Here there's a temporary stage set up for other scheduled outdoor performances. All of this side of things is free, but I always make sure I put something in the donation tin.

This is for ABC Wednesday (late this week because Chelsea Flower Show was still on) and forms the 19th post in my themed series about Chippenham.

The Chelsea Garden Made By Bloggers

Two years ago I returned from my first visit to Chelsea with the romantic notion it would be rather wonderful to have a show garden designed and built by bloggers. James soon brought me back down to earth again, so I'm rather pleased to see this year that it's pretty much happened in the shape of the British Heart Foundation's garden, which was commissioned to raise awareness of their Mending Broken Hearts campaign.

It's designed by Ann-Marie Powell (though her blog can be a tad intermittent!), aided and abetted during the planting stage by Helen, Rob, Simon, Owen and Laetitia. I think they and the rest of the team did a fantastic job.

I wasn't sure about the red structures when I first saw the drawing, but in reality it works really well, particularly when viewed from the pictured angle as some of them look heart shaped as well as forming a heartstring motif throughout the garden. I also believe Anne-Marie was wise in choosing a lush green planting palette with just the odd splash of colour here and there as any other approach would have got lost. She's done her research well and selected plants associated with treating heart disorders, such as the foxgloves seen to the right of (and echoing) the seating.

Tim Richardson* has made a fantastic short film which gives an insight into Ann-Marie's Chelsea build, as does her guest blog for the BBC. Helen has given an account of her experiences in The Guardian Gardening blog and when I asked Rob about his, he said: I think this has been one of the best weeks of my life. Awwwww :)

* = no, not the one who writes for The Telegraph - I met him later and he was bemoaning the fact he'd been mistaken at Chelsea for the one who'd made the film ;)

Inside the Wonkavator with Diarmuid Gavin

One of the massive highlights of Chelsea for me this year was a personal tour round Diarmuid Gavin's show garden - The Irish Sky Garden - in the company of yer man and Victoria. This happened on the Sunday prior to the show whilst he was making his final preparations and adjustments.


Victoria and I were commenting on how large this garden is (it's the largest show garden ever seen at Chelsea) and just how that was needed to make the bright pink garden structure (nicknamed the Wonkavator) seem in proportion to the rest of the garden, when the man himself stopped by to join us.


We were swiftly invited to take a look around, which entailed climbing over quite a few hosepipes and other pieces of equipment as the many pools making up the water feature were still being installed. The curving paths through the yew and box made our walk a pretty calming one and as it was quite breezy at the time, the grasses whispered and sighed around us.


Diarmuid joined us after seeing to a couple of things and invited us onto the Wonkavator. It's lushly planted and stuffed to the gills with blowsy blooms in contrast to the greenery outside. There are also two Lutyens benches (the top of which Diarmuid told us were the inspiration for the Wonkavator's design) and we giggled over them having seat belts.

The benches are inscribed Jack and Terry - in memory of Diarmuid's father and mother-in-law who died recently - and Diarmuid told us he imagines them sitting there having a good old chinwag whilst the Wonkavator slowly rises skywards. Sadly we didn't get to fly, but each time the wind dropped a little, Diarmuid reached for his phone to see if he could get us airborne until seconds later the next gust told him it wasn't to be.


Diarmuid also revealed that he'd submitted a design for a 'sky garden' in his early Chelsea days, but the idea had been turned down by the RHS. With hindsight he thought they were correct to do so as he wasn't ready to make it a reality back then. This year the time is right.

We also commented on the size of the garden and Diarmuid told us he hadn't wanted a site so big. Last minute preparations meant he wasn't enjoying his Chelsea experience when we spoke, but he reassured us that in a couple of days he'd be in love with Chelsea again.


I'm sure he is, because two days later he'd achieved that elusive gold medal and the Wonkavator had lifted off at last :)

The Show Garden I Keep Returning To...

... is Nigel Dunnett's RBC 'New Wild Garden'. Don't get me wrong, I love Cleve West's garden to bits and he deservedly won Best in Show. But oh how I wish I'd designed the walls of my own garden to take planting pockets and installed insect shelters just like these. Also, the bright orange Geum 'Prinses Juliana' (for me one of the plants of the show) and rich purples were in direct contrast to some of the more restrained planting palettes seen across on the other side of Main Avenue and made a most refreshing change.

Two years ago, Nigel Dunnett's garden was my favourite: it was more of a demonstration of ideas back then. In this year's show garden they've been refined into a much more cohesive whole. It's also interesting to see how his insect towers of two years ago have been taken up and extended in the B&Q garden at the opposite end of Main Avenue, whilst Nigel is showing something much more sophisticated.

This garden will be moved to the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust's reserve at Slimbridge after the show and will be the second rain garden Nigel has developed for the Trust.

Some of you may remember I'm a great fan of Nigel's ideas, especially after attending his workshop on rain gardens at West Dean back in February. Millions of us will also be viewing the results of his research at Sheffield University at The Olympics next year :)

Chelsea in Bloom

The most frequent criticism I've heard about Chelsea's media coverage is the poor showing the plants have compared to the show gardens. Today I'm aiming to redress the balance a little by showing you some of the wonders of the Great Pavilion this year.

My favourite is the amazing clematis arch fashioned by the lovely Raymond Evison. It truly is a wonder to behold and walk through. You can't help but ask the question how on earth did he do that? as the planting is seamless. The base is a mass of the double clematis cultivars rising through single flowered stems and finally topped with more delicate C. viticella varieties. I believe (to my surprise) it's the first time clematis have been displayed in this way and I'm sure it won't be the last.

There now follows a slideshow of a some of the other highlights I found in the Great Pavilion this year...

NB If the slideshow isn't paging through for you, do click on the View All Images button for an alternative view.

Update: The Constant Gardener has a post devoted to the wonderful Crug Farm exhibit. Sadly it was being judged when I was there, so I couldn't get near: thank goodness for blogging pals who can fill in the gaps!

Best in Show at Chelsea

I'm sending my warmest congratulations to Cleve West who's deservedly won Best in Show at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show. I've been keeping my fingers and toes crossed since I first saw it on Sunday. I love the drama of these columns and the flashes of yellow in the planting. Elsewhere there's a gorgeous rich red Dianthus cruentus - which I believe is an unusual show garden choice - and I can confirm there really are parsnips from Cleve's own allotment tucked away in there!

More from Chelsea to come :)

Bryan's Ground: A Very Different Garden Visit

You know how it is when a song comes on the radio and you have to turn it up to its loudest setting and dance madly round the room, singing along at the top of your voice? Not only that, but you also feel really alive: from the top of your head right down to your toes?

That's exactly how Bryan's Ground made me feel when we went there last Friday. Patient Gardener and Victoria have absolutely no idea that's how I felt, because I was being very British about it all at the time. It's not just loving the garden with both my head and my heart. It goes so much deeper than that, to something more base and instinctive.

I'm not going to analyse why that's so either, because each time I do I have to stop straight away because my head says 'those irises are totally impractical for a long season of interest' and I feel myself beginning to feel deflated. Yet it's precisely the sight of those flowers arranged in their large blocks which made me gasp with astonishment on our arrival.

So instead, I'm just going to continue to enjoy their moment, the way the light was that day and the magic of how I felt at the time.

To do otherwise wouldn't be doing the garden justice.

Victoria has lots to tell you about our visit and will give you the full tour. Patient Gardener also went last year, so she shows you how the garden looks in summer.

ABC of Chippenham: Rowden

Rowden is one of the oldest parts of Chippenham and you've visited here before when we looked at Eddie Cochrane for the letter E.

The pictured map shows central Chippenham mainly to the right of the page and Rowden to the bottom left. You'll also see an area called Lowden to the centre and top left of the picture. Rowden and Lowden, together with Sheldon - which would be even further to the left if the map extended that far - are some of the areas of land which originally formed the royal manor of Chippenham.

In the 12th century this was divided into parcels of land and thus the manors of Lowden, Rowden and Sheldon were born. In addition, there was the town of Chippenham, which for some reason was attached to Sheldon Manor despite it being the most westerly of the three. Other parcels of land were granted to religious houses, such as the lands which eventually became Monkton Manor (top right) and Allington (not pictured).

During the middle ages Sheldon Manor was the most prosperous of the three until its village was decimated by the plague and became a 'deserted village'. The manor house itself still exists and is the longest continuously inhabited place in Wiltshire. Its gardens are open to visitors and I spent a glorious afternoon there once - well before I started this blog (note to self: must go there again).

Lowden Manor was the smallest of the three and its history isn't that well documented. Rowden Manor prospered until it was destroyed during the Civil War. A farm was built on the site which today bears the name Rowden Manor: in the property for sale pages at least.

These places still live on in the names given to schools (Sheldon), roads (Rowden and Lowden) and areas of the town (Lowden) as Chippenham has since grown to claim all but Sheldon's land back into its fold. They join with other areas such as Pewsham (once a royal hunting forest), Monkton Park (Monkton Manor) and the two Cepen Parks (north and south - modern housing estates called after an old name for Chippenham) to give Chippenham its 'burbs'.

Today Chippenham is facing further expansion with various areas earmarked to provide up to 5,000 houses, which would be a significant increase for the town's size (currently approx. 30,000 to 40,000 people depending on the source used). The proposed development and the areas involved are controversial, so who knows if and when these new suburbs will be built. What's clear is this - if previous form is anything to go by - the names of any of the new estates will continue to reflect Chippenham's geography and history.

This is for ABC Wednesday and is the 18th in my series of themed posts about Chippenham.

Oops, I Lied...

... when I announced to my blogging friends at Malvern I wouldn't be buying any plants owing to the hard ground I have in my garden. It seemed to make sense not to have to care for them until the time was right for planting, whenever that might be.

But I'd forgotten about my summer pots and how I'd planned for a double whiff of knock-your socks-off vanilla from those nestled by the patio door. So once I'd bought 2 Nemesia maritana 'Vanilla Lady' my buying duck was well and truly broken. This cultivar is reputed to be even better than the N. 'Wisley Vanilla' I grew last year.

After that it seemed churlish not to add Heuchera 'Blackout' for some dramatic architectural foliage in another pot, plus a more delicate trailing Tiarella 'Appalachian Trails' for this summer's hanging basket.

I then remembered I wanted to replace my Fuchsia 'Garden News' after its demise last winter. This is a hardy double form, but obviously not quite hardy enough. I do like the way I have it arching over one of my terrace walls, so I want to recreate the effect again. On the edible front, some Ransoms seem to have sneaked into my haul when I wasn't looking.

There might be something else, but it's a secret for now ;)

GBBD: Papaver Spotlight

Some plants need patience, such as this Papaver orientale 'Beauty of Livermere'. It's its third season here: the first two only yielded a couple of blooms, but this year has seen it really bulk out and begin to perform well in my garden. Each bloom only lasts a few days, but now there are plenty of them queing up to form a succession over the next few weeks. The architectural foliage, almost rude looking buds, plus the seedheads mean the season of interest lasts for much longer than just the flowers.

It's in my sunniest terraced bed and the combination of the light and a single flower like this one is enough to act like a spotlight there without the need for garden lighting. It's just peeping above the wall when I look over from my kitchen window and is in complete contrast to the pink Clematis montana behind it.

The rest of the garden is currently all mauves, blues and pinks where the Alliums, perennial cornflowers and Clematis hold court. I'm so glad I placed my Papaver where it is. I'm beginning to understand why Christopher Lloyd advised Jekka McVicar to include a little red in her exhibits*. It adds excitement to my garden without being overpowering. I'd like to say this was all planned, but the effect is pretty much accidental on my part.

What happy accidents do you have in your garden this Blooms Day?

Garden Bloggers Blooms Day is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

* = another snippet from when I interviewed her. The little bit of red in her gold medal winning exhibit at Malvern this weekend were some delightful wild poppies.

Thwarted Plans and No Dig

Oh how nature laughs and thumbs her nose when allotmenteers make their plans for the growing season! No sooner had I published my plot plan for the year and mentioned a few projects, when she decreed we'd have the driest March and April for decades.

The ground became parched and hardened, defeating my spring clearance and digging efforts. So rather than following my lovely plan, I've had to shove things in where I've been able to get any decent tilth at all. Even with over an inch of rain last weekend, cracks are still to be seen and a fair portion of the plot remains undiggable.

Thank goodness I religiously watered my trees during this time, so the prolific spring blossom has resulted in an excellent fruit set on my apples and pears. The juvenile fruits spread beneath the cherry tree warn that the annual 'June Drop' is still to come and that watering may have to continue if early promise is to result in a bumper fruit harvest in the autumn.

A shelved project for this year is my 'Dig' vs. 'No Dig'* comparison as I can't do anything with the area earmarked for the 'Dig' portion of the trial next to where I've installed my 'No Dig' bed. I guess this means the 'No Dig' method wins this year.

The picture shows the bed just before I sowed my salad leaves selection. It's beneath the apple and pear trees in a cooler, more shaded spot on the plot which will prevent the leaves from bolting so quickly as summer takes hold. The raised bed was a freebie from Garden Answers last year and is probably the smartest thing on my plot. It swallowed up an entire bin of compost in one gulp ready for planting. You'll see I'm also trying out the square foot style of gardening for the first time.

I don't really go for ready mixed selections of leaves as I've found that one leaf tends to dominate over the others (usually mustard). I prefer to make my own mixes instead. My selection this time is:

Beetroot 'Bull's Blood'
Coriander
Greek Cress
Lemon Coriander
Lettuce 'Little Gem'
Lettuce 'Mint Crisp'
Lettuce Morton's 'Secret Mix' very mixed lettuces (from Ben at Real Seeds)
Spinach 'Reddy'
Wild Rocket

I'll combine that little lot with the self-sown sorrel, nasturtiums (leaves and flowers) and fennel I have elsewhere on the plot :)

What are you trying for the first time this year and has the weather thwarted any of your plans so far?

* = Charles Dowding is the expert on the No Dig method and his website is a mine of information on this and organic growing. Go and hear him speak if you get the chance: his talk at the Bath University Gardening Club last year was inspirational.

ABC of Chippenham: Quaint

Quaint* might not be the word which immediately springs to mind when describing Chippenham to someone unfamiliar with the town. It's grown so much since we moved here and the bulk of the population now live in sprawling new housing estates.

However, an observant walk in the centre of town soon reveals little details like this water fountain I found at the side of a very quaint old building. The latter won't be revealed to you until we get to the letter Y...

Quaintness can be found down much of the High Street and surrounding side streets and alleyways, especially if the modern shop frontages at street level are ignored and the eye wanders upwards to look at the original architecture. It's these details combined with the mellow stone of many of the buildings which prompted visitors to describe Chippenham as 'Little Bath'

This is for ABC Wednesday and forms my 17th themed post about Chippenham.

* = Quaint is defined in my copy of The Penguin English Dictionary as 'attractively unusual esp if old-fashioned: odd, fanciful, whimsical'.

The Terracotta Pot Has Spoken...

... and revealed the winners of my fab Easter giveaway:

An Artist's Garden
Gwenfar's Lottie
Plantaliscious

Congratulations to the winners :)

I'll get your copies of The Garden to Kitchen Expert off to you as soon as I have your addresses...

Guest Post: Fennel and Fern on Garden Photography

When Issy Eyre from Fennel and Fern asked me recently if I'd like a guest post sharing her top tips for taking luscious plant photographs like she has on her blog, I was delighted to say yes...

Plants sit so well for their portraits: I love photographing them. Crouching on slightly damp grass to photograph a shy bulb, or contorting into an odd position to snap the arching stems of a witch hazel has become a bit of an addiction ever since I started blogging in 2008. It's not just about taking a photo of the plant: it is capturing its character and its setting that grips me so.

I taught myself photography with the help of a point-and-shoot Nikon Coolpix, and more recently, a Canon EOS 350d. Most of my favourite shots have come about through a mixture of messing about with the camera and leafing through the work of my favourite garden photographers, including Rachel Warne, Marianne Majerus and blogger Susy Morris.


Far from technical knowledge, I've found the most important ingredient in a photo is the photographer's own eye. Our own eyesight is totally deceptive: we gaze at the things that we love most about a view, and manage to filter out all the boring details that a camera so willingly picks up. So learning what it is that attracted me to a plant in the first place (the fresh, clean rose petals resting on one another? The light tickling the edges of the leaves?), and then working out how to arrange the whole photograph around that was a key step for me in moving from slightly boring snaps to images that made me very happy.

One of the biggest mistakes I made initially was cramming too much into the image. I would take a photo which included the whole plant, and the soil and dead leaves around it as well. Now I tend to get much closer, and I try to work with as shallow a depth of field (this means how far into the background you can see) as possible. I also take care that there are not lots of different colours in shot. This just confuses the eye, and makes the photo look messy.

Once you've taken your image, it's time for a little post-shoot editing. I'm trained in Photoshop, but now use the free, open-source GNU Image Manipulation Programme. Some of its most useful tools are levels, curves, and the dodge and burn tools. Adjusting the levels is a more sophisticated way of altering brightness and contrast without damaging the quality of the image, and curves change the saturation of red, green or blue in the image. Just a little tweak on one of the curves can transform a picture, such as this image of a summer snowflake, which has had its blue saturation increased very slightly. I use the burn tool to lift the central subject out of the photo by brushing the burn around the edges very gently.

Once you're fiddling with your camera and taking as many shots of flowers as you possibly can, all this will seem terribly basic, but it's a start. The best thing you can possibly do is crouch down on that grass and start snapping your tulips and alliums. Keep doing it until you find a shot you love, and then shoot some more. It's great fun.

Thanks for a fab guest post Issy :) Now, how about you having a go and showing us the results of your endeavours via your blog? You might like to check out Issy's blog for further inspiration or try the experiment Happy Mouffetard showed us recently. Or do you have a top photography tip to share with us in the comments below?

All images are courtesy and copyright of Issy Eyre.

ABC of Chippenham: Poll

Tomorrow's an historic day as the nation decides via a referendum (the first we've had in over 30 years) whether to stick with the first past the post system for electing its MPs or to try the AV system, where we rank the candidates in order of preference.

I'm not going to go into the fors and againsts with this decision. What's more interesting for ABC Wednesday is that since we've moved to Chippenham, we've had some rather unusual locations in which to mark our ballot papers.

When we moved to Pewsham in 1988, the local school was yet to be built so our polling station was a house in Buckingham Road. We'd register in the kitchen, then move into the lounge for the actual voting. Sadly coffee wasn't served at the time, though it felt like it should be.

Here in Cepen Park North again there's no school, hall or other public building available to host the polling station. When we first moved here the back of the staff area at Safeway (now Morrison's) was commandeered for our democratic process. We'd have to walk to the back of the supermarket, then go through a plastic curtain and past walls showing various sales figures and targets to where the polling station was located.

The school promised for the estate was never built and I think the supermarket's new owners weren't that happy with the staff room arrangement. The polling station's in the supermarket car park nowadays, in the county's Mobile Classroom wheeled in especially for the event. I'll put up a picture tomorrow, so you can see exactly what's been used for our voting.

Will you be casting your vote in a more unusual location than me?

This is for ABC Wednesday and is the 16th in my themed posts about Chippenham.

Playing With Picture Sizes in Blogger

You may have noticed I've been playing around with the size of the pictures in my blogs lately. It's pretty easy to customise the image size option you choose in Blogger to one more suitable for the size of your blog area if you're happy to do a little bit of editing in HTML.

Blogger gives you the option for small, medium and large images in the old editor, plus extra large in the new one. In the past I've always taken the large option, which displays a picture 400 pixels wide and 300 pixels in height. However, lately I've wanted it to fill the available area so I've scaled up the image size using HTML as the Extra Large option is far too big for the area I have available on my blog.

This is how I do it:

• Go into New Post
• Load up the image you want to use into Blogger in the usual way
• Go into the Edit HTML window if you're in Compose Mode
• The key text to look for is:
  height="300" i8="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q1ey_PWQJsQ/TbcNWbG3r7I/AAAAAAAAGAE/Vq0mgrp8lTI/s400/And+the+winners+are.JPG" width="400"
• Note: your src= text will be different as yours is a different image. I'm just showing you the text for the first picture above before I changed its height and width. Your height and width numbers might be different too, depending on the image size you selected
• The numbers highlighted in red are the ones you need to change to get the image size you want. You'll see that the image width:height ratio is 4:3, so you'll need to make your adjustment within the same ratio otherwise the picture will be distorted
• I wanted my image to have the same width as my text, and by a little bit of playing around with the sizes I found this to be 460: therefore the height needed is 345
• So my revised image HTML is:
height="345" i8="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q1ey_PWQJsQ/TbcNWbG3r7I/AAAAAAAAGAE/Vq0mgrp8lTI/s460/And+the+winners+are.JPG" width="460"
• Note that if the 400 in the src= isn't changed (i.e. the first one), then the image displays as shown in the second picture above. As you can see this isn't as sharp as first one shown. I discovered this by accident the other day when I was puzzling over why my images weren't looking as sharp as when I'd first started altering their sizes!

I hope that's clear. Have a go and let me know if I've missed anything out, or if my instructions need clarifying. I'd love to hear about how you get on :)



GBMD: The Columbine

Early evening on the allotment with my Columbine

Still, still my eye will gaze long fixed on thee,
Till I forget that I am called a man,
And at thy side fast-rooted seem to be,
And the breeze comes my cheek with thine to fan.
Upon this craggy hill our life shall pass,
A life of summer days and summer joys,
Nodding our honey-bells mid pliant grass
In which the bee half hid his time employs;
And here we'll drink with thirsty pores the rain,
And turn dew-sprinkled to the rising sun,
And look when in the flaming west again
His orb across the heaven its path has run;
Here left in darkness on the rocky steep,
My weary eyes shall close like folding flowers in sleep.

Jones Very (1813-1880)

Until recently these honey-bells were 'mid pliant grass' until I freed them to stand tall with my raspberry canes up at the allotment. I've no idea where they came from: they appeared the first year I had my plot, so I don't know whether they are the result of a deliberate act by one of my predecessors or if they self-seeded themselves from elsewhere. I love this white one above all the others which appear at this time of the year.

One year I'll remember to collect some seeds and add them to the Aquilegias I have in my garden. Or would that detract from the special feeling I have for them when I see them up at the plot?

Garden Bloggers' Muse Day is hosted by Carolyn Choi at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago.