So, I had my gold scissors but where was the ribbon……

 

This was, of course, for the Grand Opening of Rob’s shoppiwop, The Garden Sage.

Now there have been rumours that this particular shoppiwop was for the sale of curtains & other types of window dressing, but I can assure everyone there was neither curtain nor blind in sight, & as for chintz roses, the man has much more taste than that!

So, let me go back a little. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.

In fairly recent times I got to know a fellow blogger called Rob. I do a mean that I did met him in the old fashioned way rather than in the virtual world where many people lurk. And I should clarify the use of the word blogger in describing myself as calling myself one at that time was more than a bit of an exaggeration.

(ooops, sorry about that duck’s head!)

It happened like this…. I was perusing the blog of my good friend, Arabella Sock, something of a minor celebrity in blog world for her carefully crafted & insightful  bloggywog, The Sea of Immeasurable Gravy (beware it contains pictures of kittens). I was doing a bit of stalking of those who made comments, as you do, & came across Rob & his blog. ‘Hang about’ I thought, ‘I think I know where this person works’ which was in a garden shop very close by.

So, I pop into this shop, casually buy a few plants whilst checking out the man working there before confronting him with the words ‘Are you called Rob & do you write a blog?’ It was the very same so we had a bit of a chat. I really should have been more suspicious when he became very animated after I explained I was a friend of Arabella Sock.  When he asked if I was a blogger, for some ridiculous reason I said yes when all I had been doing was fiddling around just to see if I could.

Rob told me of his plans for his own shop & so I eventually found myself on a very lovely sunny Saturday afternoon in Raynes Park all geared up to make a speech & cut the ribbon…….

There was food, there was drink & of course many beautiful plants but no ribbon. And I had made him his very own celebration cakes too.

And at last, here he is, hiding behind the orchids……..

Well done Rob The supposed great & good who spurned your invites have missed out on South West  London’s premier event!

(I still think Little Shop of Hostas would have been a better name, don’t you?)

A Case of Simple Yet Effective

Bless me for I have sinned. It is some time since my last blog & why is that? It was almost done & dusted. I was going wow you nature lovers with a chat about the joys of parent-hood in an urban setting. You see the robins had started building a nest at the back of the garden. This then led onto lengthy reminiscences about my trials & tribulations last year with the blackbird family which had me in a state of high anxiety for some weeks. I had the stories, I had the pictures, then the bloody robins decided upon some better bit of real estate, they had called in Kirsty & Phil & moved elsewhere.

What to write about now?

It came to me whilst wandering round Wisley on Sunday morning admiring some of the flowers. The camellias were beginning to get into their stride; lots of big blowsy blooms which I duly admired. I was then reminded that, on the whole, I love single flowers much more. This camellia flower says it all.

The double kerria japonica is widely grown, but look how more effective the single flowered version is.

 

 

 

 

 

I love the many & varied flowers of roses of all stages of blowsiness but at the end of the day am a real ‘sucker’ (there is a vague joke there by the way) for the single flower. I have a lovely deep red ‘Dortmund’ in my front garden which I love. Indeed there are many examples of different plants I could talk about, but best not.

Needless to say there are some doubles which quite frankly should not exist!

Narcissus ‘Rip van Winkle’

Oh, OK then, here is one picture of one of the (now deceased) baby blackbirds from last year.

‘Runty’

Mums & Molehills, Badgers & Bunnies

Painshill Park, Cobham, Surrey.

Sunday, Mother’s Day, daughter had forgotten to send a card & son wondered if I wanted one on that day or when we go out for belated curry later in the week. Hopeless! But happily the sun was shining brightly & the temperature was a bit higher than in recent days so it was time to get out for a bit of fresh air.

If you drive to RHS Wisley from London on the A3, as I frequently do, you will pass a sign to Painshill Park & this is where we decided to go.

It is quite a few years since we last went, indeed said rubbish children were fairly small & whining at the time if I remember correctly, but in recent years we kept saying we must return, so return we did.

Unbeknownst to us it was a ‘Mums go free’ day at Painshill. OK, so we did not have to fork out as much cash as we thought (even though I did not have a whining child in tow), always nice but it did mean there were rather a lot of mums around along with myriad other family members. But no worries, it is a place where you can avoid lots of people quite easily.

Painshill Park, also referred to as "Pains Hill" back in the day, was developed between 1738 and 1773 by the Hon. Charles Hamilton, 9th son and 14th child of the 6th Earl of Abercorn. It is claimed to be one of the finest examples of an 18th Century English Landscape Park. It has a number of follies in various states of repair & views of the ‘living paintings’ that Hamilton was trying to create.

It has been restored/developed quite a bit since our last visit including the reception & there are now reasonable paths to every area. Despite this it still has a slightly abandoned feel to it which I like. Last year we visited Stowe Landscape Garden & whilst it is beautiful in its way I felt slightly annoyed & manipulated that everything was positioned just so in order to get the best view or vista with the buildings carefully placed within. Painshill is also nowhere as near as ‘grand’.

One of the most interesting areas of restoration is the Grotto which was closed when we last visited. It is now open & the crystal interior is being painstakingly restored, bit by bit. They reckon at least 5-10 man years before completion!

   

There were lots of snowdrops still out & daffodils just beginning to open up to the sun.

It is obviously a perfect place to see nature; lots of evidence of rabbits, badgers ripping up turf & more molehills than I have seen in ages (although I guess SW London is not conducive to mole tunnelling).

The walled garden at the entrance is due to open this Spring.

Was slightly taken aback part way round…….

It was a lovely walk on a glorious day to be rounded off with a cuppa & a little light lunch……………………….wrong, sadly I think the catering was slightly overwhelmed by the success of the ‘Mums go free day’.

We went home.

Guerrilla Gardening Lazy Trollop Style

  Still no daffodils

Guerrilla gardening is a bit of a political side to gardening where direct action is taken to plant derelict areas of land. There is plenty of advice around about the whys, hows & wheres which I don’t intend to go into. Take a look at this site for more information.

I thought I might give you the Lazy Trollop take on this interesting aspect of gardening, something I am intending to participate in later this year.

 

Try to ensure you live in a house with a side alley. Terraced houses will provide the best setting for the impact of your surprise attack of floriferousness in which case you will be better situated in the end terrace for ease of access. Don’t make too much effort. If you don’t live in the right place then don’t bother.

 

 

 

Now take some packets of hardy annual flower seeds; given away free in a magazine, handed out at a flower show some years ago or just festering in a box from goodness knows when. No need to buy specially.

 

 

Now you just chuck those seeds artistically along the sides of the alley in question making sure you don’t mess up the right of way . If you can be bothered perhaps mix the seed up with a handful of compost to give it a bit of a start.If you have any seeds left & are lucky enough to live in a street with trees, try a few seeds round the bottom of the tree along with all the usual detritus that hangs around in such places.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will let you know what happens………………………

 

Daphne bholua Jacquline Postill 

Today’s Special Guest is….

I wanted one life
you wanted another
we couldn't have our cake
so we ate each other.

Roger McGough

.. Chocolate & Banana cake.

Enough of gardens, we now have a short interlude, an interruption to normal service, the first of possibly a number of short breaks to settle down with, perhaps a cup of tea &, some  cake.

Today’s cake is  a great favourite & extremely useful for using up those blackening bananas, in fact the riper the better!

Enjoy! I did!