YAWA's Madame Zelda Predicts: The Garden Just For You


Easter is when many gardens open their gates for the season and at last we're spoilt for choice on where to go. To help you decide at this most special of times, I've coaxed Madame Zelda out of her sherry soaked dreams to predict the very one to suit you - I feel there's slightly more chance of a successful outcome this way than my original idea of using a map and her hat pin.

To obtain the very best result she has cast aside her usual blue ball and is using her all-powerful magic blue mushrooms. I fear I may have woken her a little too sharply as she's seeing stars and has chosen to couch her reply using the signs of the zodiac ;)

Oh my dear, the impenetrable clouds part to reveal a whirling firmament - a galaxy of possibilities only the deeper mysteries can resolve. [she pauses to poke at the largest toadstool with her gnarled finger which promptly falls over] Ooooh, such pretties and colours and lush green vegetation you can only dream about my lovely.

But lo! My shooting star messenger comes forth to reveal the answers you seek...
The Dell and Foggy Bottom: the twin gardens of Bressingham. Both introduced new approaches to gardening

Aries: the first sign of our astrological circle requires a pioneering approach and a glimpse of Adam and Eve, the first gardeners. Alas the their earthly paradise is long gone, but a trip to The Eden Project will suffice.

Taurus - our cosmic bull demands straight talking and no nonsense, so you're bound to find your spiritual home at Veddw. But there's no need to rush there like you're in a china shop: it doesn't open for this year's season until June.

Gemini - a dual natured garden is needed to sate the curiosity of our celestial twins. [she peers deeply at the two smaller mushrooms] Aha, I have the very idea! A double pioneering garden, presented in two different ways: Bressingham!

Portmeirion - where gardening meets the sea
Cancer - a place of tranquility and fantasy is the recipe required to soothe away any hint of your characteristic crabbiness... somewhere with the salt-laden tang of sea air... [a pause]... and a rocky pool... it has to be Portmeirion.

Leo - your leonine airs and graces demand a need for regal exclusivity. The royal gardens at Buckingham Palace are the truest of settings for our own king of the jungle.

Virgo - as the most logical minds of the universe I see something more cerebral is needed. The Garden of Cosmic Speculation will appeal to your sense of order. Though you must hasten and don the most comfortable of your travel garments - this garden only opens its celestial doors for one single day each year.

Just a tiny portion of the vastness that is Blenheim Palace
Libra - the scales of power and balance in your sign suggest a more formal setting which dominates over all who dare draw near. The immaculate landscape and formal gardens of Blenheim Palace does your sign justice.

Scorpio - the warm, dry regions of the world are your natural habitat, the rarest kind found in these lands of the Elizabethan queen. And Eden is already spoken for... so where does destiny lie for my pretty with the sting in its tail?... ahhhh, Kew has the answer... in the form of the Princess of Wales Conservatory.

Sagittarius - our celestial archer demands a chivalrous scene, where knights are bold and can win the favour of many a fair lady. A courtly place, where the talents of valour preside is found at Arundel Castle.

Hawkstone Park Follies - the  perfect garden visit for a mountain goat

Capricorn - our wily mountain goat requires all his sure footedness and stamina to view the multitudinous charms of Hawkstone Park Follies.

Aquarius - your age has dawned and the shock of the new is all you desire. No permanent garden can bind you to this earth, but the conceptual gardens of the RHS Hampton Court flower show will make your spirits soar.

Pisces - as the most mutable sign of the zodiac any of my astral projections above will suffice. But you are drawn to water and your opposing fishes need contrasts to make you whole... so the cliff top gardens of the Minack Theatre is your special place.

With one final cry, Madame Zelda sinks to the ground in a drunken stupor. I fear it may be many a year before she is able to join us to make a contribution to the pages of You Ask,We Answer once more ;)

Happy garden visiting! NB Other gardens are available... or do you have something to suggest that's more suitable?

Comments

  1. Anna27 March 2013 at 09:38

    Brilliant VP - so glad that Madame Zelda has shaken off the sherry fumes and emerged from semi-retirement to come up with such excellent and thoughtful suggestions. From an Aquarian perspective we do not usually like crowds, so may I suggest an alternative to appeal to our psyches. Just a short hop across the Channel, water bearers and others would relish the International Garden Festival at Chaumont sur Loire. This year's theme is most apt - 'Gardens of sensation'. Just to finish with an a question for Madame - can she predict when it's going to warm up ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Angie27 March 2013 at 18:56

    Great Blog!! I wonder just how many visitors gardens will loose out on with the weather!
    Here's a garden if any of your readers are going to be north of the border...

    http://www.camboestate.com/gardens/

    I must second Anna's request - please ask Madame Zelda when the weather will improve?

    ReplyDelete
  3. VP28 March 2013 at 14:25

    Madame Zelda replies:

    Ah Anna - Chaumont has called me many a time, but alas I have yet to succumb to its charms...

    ... I have consulted my crystal mirror and the soothsayer of the four winds*, but sadly the answer to your question is shrouded by the mists of time.

    * = enter the name of the weatherman of your choice

    Angie - I'd love to see Cambo. Shirl, another blogger north of the border also recommends it highly, particularly at snowdrop time :)

    ReplyDelete

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