“Are you admiring my snowdrops?”

This question was asked in well-modulated tones by a well-preserved well-dressed woman of mature years as I stuck my camera through the railings of the planted area next to some mansion blocks in Victoria.

I was on my way to the RHS Halls to visit the Spring show last Tuesday. I enjoy these London shows very much & of course it is so easy for me to pop onto a District Line train for a quick visit & then pop home again, hopefully with a bag or 2 of some choice goodies. What I also enjoy when I go is walking from the station through an area full of large mansion blocks, probably home to some rather well heeled residents, & admiring the planting in the communal gardens along the road-side, the pots in court-yard areas & planting boxes on window-sills or on the railings.

Now the snowdrops through the fence look nothing compared to the treats at the RHS Show. How could they!

This is the first show of the year & I suspect some people get a little hysterical! Someone kept blocking my view with a, admittedly stylish hat.

But I did manage to drool over the little gem like hepaticas which you can’t help but love with their delicate pastel colourings often with contrasting stamens.

 

Don’t you wish you had a woodland just to fill with these beauties?

Now I wasn’t alone on this early spring jaunt. There was Arabella Sock of course, (these jaunts are becoming a pleasantly regular habit with us, but there was also VP, Victoria who have all written about the show more speedily & descrptively than me, Helen & partner & an all too brief attendance from Simon. Other than Simon who had ‘done it all’ before we arrived, we all made our way to the Jugged Hare for a little sustenance after we had had our fill of things horticultural. And very enjoyable it was  too. I even met a neighbour who had also been to the show; he claimed to have heard my voice! Most odd really as I say very little.

Jacqui et James

Two early spring favourites; Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ & Garrya elliptica ‘James Roof’. Such a shame you can’t smell the Daphne!

The Trollop’s Pop-Up Shoppiwop

I have taken advantage of a niche of opportunity to promote this SALE of beautiful sculptures.

You already know how talented I am……actually I may not have made myself totally clear on that point being of a rather slothful nature, but I can assure you that I am.

My brother is also really rather good at all sorts of things & has made some exciting sculptures. Sadly he has to find good homes for some of these for reasons of space, or rather lack of it.

Now this is a serious matter dear reader, so I immediately thought of you.  There are pictures of these sculptures below in case you feel you must give one a good home, subject to the usual terms & conditions applying to such transactions.

I am only acting as middle person so have no information other than the photos (which have sizes on them) but I will be delighted to put you in touch with my brother if you are interested. (Sorry, contact details on photos no longer valid)

Le ciel was very couvert

 

Whilst we have just about avoided the extremes of weather recently suffered in many parts of the Southern hemisphere & I don’t like to grumble, honest, we seem to have suffered a surfeit of that grey dreary depressing nothing type of weather here. January is a month in which many people feel particularly low & feeling a dark grey sky pushing down on you  for much of the day is enough to make even the most cheery of souls feel like muttering something slightly rude.

In these circumstances it was lovely on Sunday morning to see a bright blue sky & a bit of sunshine so after a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs with the last of the christmas smoked salmon we duly got a train up to Waterloo to take in whatever culture we could find……..of course when we arrived the sun had once more disappeared behind that grey murk.

So, first priority was to have a coffee of course, & I persuaded the slightly reluctant MrB to honour a french style cafe with our presence; ‘that’s a bit arsey’** was his comment on having to drink his coffee out of a bowl but it did hit the spot. We left feeling perkier to then find it had started to rain; the day was beginning to look more & more like a black & white photo.

In fact the only bit of colour seeping in to the day was the graffitti, oh, & the neon cement mixer at the top.

A visit to the National Theatre to see the winners of the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition was foiled because it was not open! The pleasant stroll was not as pleasant as anticipated so we walked rather more quickly along the river towards Vauxhall, a walk last taken at about 2am on January 1st, wading through abandoned bottles & cups whilst listening to the glorious song of the blackbird welcoming in 2011.

We reached our destination slightly windswept & rosy cheeked but full of anticipation of the main aim of our Sunday perambulations, the Garden Museum.

It is a number of years since we last visited & much has changed but the exhibition, ‘Going Dutch’ was the main reason for this return visit. This lovely little exhibition looks at the influence of Piet Oudolf and Henk Gerritsen & their naturalistic planting styles on British garden design in the 1990’s. I have seen the Oudolf designed borders at Wisley many times but had forgotten about his award winning design at Chelsea in 2000. Certainly a more naturalistic style of planting is far more prevalent now & we loved the Prairie Gardens in Sussex designed by a couple who have been working with Piet Oudolf. We liked the gardens so much we visited them twice, here & here. Being a sad person our visit to the museum was enhanced by the half-price entry as members of the Art Collection Fund.

Having mentioned Wisley & the fact that MrB & myself like a bargain has reminded me that on a visit to Wisley just after christmas we were able to take advantage of their sale; as well as buying next year’s christmas cards half price we also bought some grasses reduced by the same amount & bulbs which were 75% off. In a rather chilly window of opportunity a couple of weeks we managed to plant these bargains in the front garden having at last been able to tidy up after having a new path laid. It was all very satisfactory other than the fact that the slate mulch we bought did not match the colour of the existing despite our best efforts. I think a bit of mixing up is likely to happen!

 

** Having just read Nigel Colborn’s very excellent blog I do hope I, or rather MrB used the correct arse!

We had lights, we had cameras…….

The place: Wisley.

The time: 18.30.

The problem: too many small people & Surrey type 4x4 buggies in the dark.