There is nothing quite like a sojourn to the Chelsea Flower Show to galvanize one into activeness vis - à - vis one ’s own garden . I returned home on Tuesday dark brimming with melodic theme but with an ominous stuffed - up feeling . I assumed this was concern to the notorious Chelsea cough , only to find that by Wednesday forenoon I had rise a full - blown cold . Two day of ego - enforced quarantine gave me time to knock out five Chelsea position and one for the NGS , and by this morning I had find sufficient vim and vigour to get back outside where I belong .
Before I could put all my Chelsea - root on plans into action I had to visit the dentist and hygienist . assay as I may , I never get my ‘ casual function ’ quite right . This time I ’m guilty of brushing too hard and eating too many work on intellectual nourishment , which is evidently what causes the ulcers I ’ve been prostrate to since I was a child . I listened to the advice , smiled , take it with a nip of salt and went to Boots where I purchase some interdental thingies ( which I ’ll probably never employ ) before continue directly to my local garden centre .
I already have a rarified plan for the Gin & Tonic Garden but it will be a few years before this can be earn . In the lag I am trying to create myself a happy , flower - filled space with a mistily xanthous and royal radical . My pallet has already been pollute by a deep red blush wine , which is the only plant in the garden that the previous owner had planted . Since he ’s no longer with us , I feel it ’s my duty to keep it going in his memory . It ’s a healthy , vigorous , nameless rose , but the bloom have no scent , which is felonious . Truth be told I have a few other cherry - bloom plants , includingCestrum fasiculatum‘Newellii ’ and a rogue tree diagram paeony which was labelled as being sensationalistic and flouncy but has annoyingly turned out to be burgundy and average .
At the garden center I buckle under to yet more plants , when what I should have been doing is dealing with the ones I already have . I purchased armfuls of an osteospermum that has canary - yellow flowers with a plummy heart . It is optimistically called ‘ Blue - Eyed Beauty ’ ( see above for evidence of deficiency of wild blue yonder ) . Then my eye alight onMagnolia‘Daphne ’ , which I have been covet for some time . It is a little tree with properly yellow-bellied flowers which seem at the same time as new foliage – lemon and lime tree all at once . Dear Reader , I buy it ( roll heart , have hands in atmosphere ) . I know this was in all probability wrong of me , but it ’s a humble magnolia , the blossom are the correct colour for my garden , and it was there … begging to be given a unspoilt home . Who was I to decline ? I straightaway planted it in the turgid terracotta pot I had to hand and eventually I will plant it in the undercoat where it belongs .
My carpenter paid a sojourn at midday and frown a great deal when I explained my plans for substitute the fencing around the Gin & Tonic Garden . I took this to think of a ) it was going to be a lot of work and b ) I probably could n’t afford it , so this project may have to wait until next year . Since my banner tend to be raise to unrealistic level following Chelsea , there is no damage in him managing them down softly . As with the dental practitioner , I smiled and nod politely whilst I took the frowns on circuit card . In the meantime he ’s start out the restitution of the outdoor kitchen and service department doors next week , both of which are job I ’ve put off for too long and which require nail before I give the garden in August .
The joy of let the Gin & Tonic Garden as well as my original garden is that I can grow sun worshipper again . The short to the south - facing recession create where the subroutine library meets the garden elbow room is a sheltered sun trap , sodding for growing some of my tender plant . I change the grouping regularly so that it ’s always looking saucy . Currently I haveEchium candicans(behind me as I drop a line and still covered with bees),Polygala myrtifolia , Tulbaghia‘Purple middle ’ andProstanthera‘Poorlinda Ballerina ’ . All are rifle great guns and helping me through that odd period between the tulip fading and the summer flowers gathering steam . Geranium palmatum , which I was so pleased to see designate on the Todd ’s Botanics exhibit at Chelsea , is also starting to bloom , sending long stems of pink peak out over the gravel patch .
Somehow everything seems to be turning a recess this week after the rough winter and springtime . Even those plants that were cut to the dry land , includingFuchsia arborescens , Hedychium‘Tara’,Melianthus majorandAgapanthus africanus , are showing the first sign of recovery . Warm , muggy weather over the Bank Holiday will see them come along even further . In the greenhouse , the tomato plants I put in only a fortnight ago are give rise their first trusses of flowers and look very tidy indeed .
Although I stay without lupins , rammed - earthly concern wall , a swanky Modern glasshouse or a collector’s item sculpture , Chelsea compels me to try novel thing and arrange my standards in high spirits . Whilst I will never be capable to exercise the chasteness of a show garden architect , I can still garden better . In the remnant that ’s what Chelsea is all about ; encouraging gardeners , nurserymen and decorator to up their biz and reach for the hotshot . TFG .
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Categories : Chelsea bloom show , Flower Shows , Flowers , Foliage , Musings , Our Coastal Garden , Photography , Plants , Small Gardens
Posted by The Frustrated Gardener
