At long last we have had great weather for the open days and have made the most of it. With staunch support from Cate, Andrew, Ellie, Carole and Shirley -Ann has passed on a cheque for £1993 to the NGS, £1000 to Hospice in the Weald, £1000 to Kent air ambulance plus supported the Gardening for the Disabled open day(raised money not yet known) and the Ellinor  Lions Hospice open day. We believe nearly £5000 was made in total in that week. Well done everyone and thanks to all those who came and supported us. We hope you enjoyed the cakes and lunches. I know I did-I think I lived on coffee and walnut cake for several days.

The plant stalls on the marquee lawn enjoyed the fabulous views. These were present for the Gardening for the Disabled day and although the customers were fewer on the wednesday I hope they did reasonably well. Val of Knockholt plants was there from Sunday to Wednesday, as she always supports us on the Ngs opendays and I know the regulars appreciate the high standard of her plants.The new marquees were used this year and gave pleasant shelter from the wind and sun. The raised sides allowed the views to the wild flower meadow to be appreciated while the sun lovers were able to take advantage of the seating around the house. The ducks and the pheasants were a bit put out, having their afternoon spot taken. But the mother mallard on the natural swimming pool held on with 5 little chicks keeping close to her and seemed to tolerate the visitors. Luckily the goslings were on show at the wild life lake.The wild flower meadow was still in its’ spring form but the blue of the camassias made a pretty show. Normally the events are held to coincide with the spring  garden being at its’ best. However all the May flowering tulips were already over -a shame as there were huge swathes of colour from early April - and the banks of hellebores had already lost their colour. To make up for it some roses had started to bloom, although the “Canary bird” had already sung its song.

Now the realities of the drought are starting to hit. The priorities are the newly planted and it is difficult remembering all the sites of the little treasures ……and yet the weeds still come. We are also dealing with the winter losses that we left to start sprouting. Many haven’t and it is now time to take them out. The skeletal branches seem to stand accusingly and we can’t face them anymore. Better a gap than a corpse.

On that cheerful note…. Regards Sian

The little house on the prairie is still closed up for the winter but its pathway is lined by daffodils. It was originally called the fairy house by the grandchildren, but as the boys have grown it has changed to the elves house for obvious masculine reasons.

We are still counting the winter losses but are leaving very dead looking specimens unclipped with the hope of resurrection. Ann feels enough is enough and no more exotics will bought…. sturdy british origins only(that is until she sees another callistemon in flower!) In fact she has just purchased some shrubs for the track to the wedding plot. Things like viburnums, euonymus, buddleas(I know there should be J in there somewhere) and berberis filled the car. There was quite a painful battle getting the berberis in and out and we have the wounds to prove it! Anyway I had forgotten how good these old hardy shrubs can be en mass. In the end a healthy plant always looks better than a wilting exotic.Just to prove it, the hellebores are magnificent again. They do so well on clay and can take anything these arctic winters can throw at them. We have several “beds” of these and because they are so good in any position here Ann will be increasing them. As we have Hadlow on our doorstep with their national collection I think there will be trip in the offing.Actually the crown imperials have been spectacular too and don’t they look exotic. This bed is imported sand and yet they have done nearly as well in a clay border if a little slower. Their near relatives, the fritellarias have flourished too.This is the sheltered spring border but they have sprouted(leaves only so far) in the wild flower meadow. The camassias are coming up there too and I’m sure they have increased. It seems amazing that those delicate fronds can force their way through compacted clay.

Time to tuck up the chickens. The early evening still holds some perfume from the daphne and clematis armandii so I shall enjoy the stroll.

Sian

I have been in hibernation since November, huddled next to the radiator and making endless lists of desirable plants. As we buy in bulk I have been trying to source these through trade nurseries. But many seem to be reluctant to deal with the medium range gardens. However I have found Beth Chatto gardens have been a very good price for excellent plants - not much more than some of the trade nurseries and a range that includes some unusual varieties. I have bought over a hundred Hostas, usually in groups of 3 or 5. There are so many varieties but I have generally stuck to the larger leaf ones as the small thin leaf varieties tend to get lost in large plantings. These are yet to arrive as are the summer bulbs and ferns. The delivery day is so exciting but getting down to the planting is a bit daunting.

The appearance of the spring bulbs is a great encouragement. Everything is appearing together though. It is almost as if they are taking advantage of the early warmth before a new wave of winter comes. I may be paranoid but I think that we haven’t seen the last of the arctic conditions. I really want to take off the bundles of fleece to see what has survived but I know it wouldn’t be a good idea yet.

A lovely combination this year is the soft, almost delphinium blue of the Iris “Katherine Hodgkin” with small species red tulips and then a large swathe of snowdrops backing them. The background white seems to make the colours more vibrant and could almost be a summer combination. The giant blue crocuses have done really well after their early mulch which surprised me as I thought they were happier in poor stony soil, as in their natural habitat. They obviously appreciate the good life.

Many so called frost resistant pots have crumbled and we will be looking for replacements. It seems that the fibreglass containers will be the way to go as they are much lighter for us old ladies and will probably hold the moisture better in our dry summers (seems such a long way off, but no doubt I will be moaning about the heat then)

We have cleared some of the chalk that we applied to the wild flower meadow to reduce the fertility. It became compacted into the wet clay whenever it was walked on and only docks seemed to cope with it. So now there are swathes of much improved seed beds in amongst the wild flowers in which we are sowing seeds from “Pictorial Meadows”. Yellow Rattle was sown in early winter to prevent the incursion of the grasses but I suspect we will have to sow more next November. Weeding on that scale is out of the question so I hope it does its job. We do cut down the docks before they seed and that is a days job in itself.

The Ngs open days are Sunday May 1st, 2nd and 3rd this year. We found that 2 sessions were very labour intensive, erecting marquees, baking etc and so we thought we would do it in one hit. The rest of that week we will be hosting an open garden with plant stalls and a gardeners question time session for the Gardening for the Disabled charity and then a childrens Hospice open day on the following Saturday. When all is cleared the barn roof comes off to be repaired. This means scaffolding on the borders and the cutting back of all the climbers - shudder!! So please come and see us before the hacking takes place!

Ann is out in New Zealand at the moment. She just managed to bypass Christchurch as the earthquake hit. I know it has been a terrible time out there and we send our best to all our NZ  cousins - we are thinking of them.

As soon as there is any real daylight I will take some photos of the early spring garden. Sandra has been potting on sweetpeas and young tomatoes and both greenhouses are overflowing with her handywork. Pray for protection from damping off!

Sian