Rhythm and routine

The rhythm of the seasons changes again as we head from Summer into Autumn.  The nights are drawing in and there is a cooler breeze in the air.  It is all part of a the routine in the garden.

This is the time we cut back our lavender, most of which are intermedia varieties such as Grosso and Sussex.  They throw out longer stems with their pointed flower heads and come into flower later than our Angustifolia varieties.  But they extend the season and the drama of their massed array of flowers is a striking feature of the garden for an extended period in Summer.

Bees and Butterflies love our lavender and the garden is full of insects going about their busy business throughout Summer.  But now is the time to cut the lavender back hard and shape each plant creating an array of grey cobbles.

They will now put on around 3cm of growth before Winter comes and this insulation will help overwinter the plants.  But key to lavender growing is sharp drainage and that is what we have here with our chalky, thin, fast draining soil.

It is all part of the natural rhythm of the garden and the routine of the chores is as reassuring as the moving hand of a clock.  Seasons come and seasons go and the garden moves with them.

In the moment

It is now, right here, right now that the garden looks at its most lovely.  It looks beautiful at many times throughout the year and the changing seasons are to be savoured.  But at this particular moment in time, the garden looks a thing of great beauty. 

The length of the days, the brighter light, the young fresh greenness of late Spring. All come together for a moment in time I have longed for. 

Of course, it will not last.  Things will move on, the season will change, plants will fade. But this is a delicious, truly captivating moment to gently savour, treasure and breath in.

Brand new days

His name is Sidney and he is our new assistant head gardener.  No previous knowledge or experience of horticulture, not quite sure of the difference between a path and a border.  But he shows promise.  Keen to be outdoors, keen to learn.  Enjoys a good chew on a piece of turf and occassionally runs around uncontrolably like a mad thing.  But like Spring, he brings life, vigour and vitality to the garden and our lives.

We enjoy him enjoying and exploring the garden immensely.  Born on Boxing Day, this is Sidney's first Spring, the first time he has sniffed a tulip or encountered a watering can.  Everything is fresh and new, a thrilling experience and potential adventure. 

This will become his garden as much as ours and we treasure his first steps in taking his particular ownership of the space.  I have said before that gardens are more than plants, shrubs and trees.  They create magical memories and moments.  In years to come we will look back on these formative weeks and months and remember fondly the sparkle in Sidney's eye and the spring in his step.  The thrill that each new day in the garden brings.  What more can you ask for than a little friend enjoying being beside you in your garden and making you happy.  

Light and shade

It's here!  Spring, clocks tick forward an hour, longer days, shorter nights, more time to garden.  It is a time of light and shade.  Love it.

I have to say, the garden has weathered the Winter well.  Lost some lavender which we have replaced, lost even more Tulips which the mice have dug up and made off with to store them we know not where.  But overall, looking good.

We have hired a new assistant head gardener, our new puppy going by the name of Sidney.  He is the fifth Shar Pei to come and share our lives.  No concept as yet of what is a path and what is a border but he is just 13 weeks and has much to learn.  But this will be his space as much as ours and there is an exciting new world to explore.

Today has been productive.  Out early to jet hose the Orchard Room's cedar shingle roof.  Messy job with spray everywhere but the result is that this oak framed structure in our small orchard is looking fresh and new.  Job done.  Vanessa has been putting blood, fish and bone down in borders that are beginning to swell.  The level of growth from this point forward will be dramatic and borders will change almost by the hour.  Buds are opening, leaves appearing, be it that they are tiny.

To me, this is when the year starts its procession into a world of beauty and a landscape that stretches out into a productive Summer.

Valentines Day Massacre

The predominent Clematis we grow in this garden is a viticella 'Purpurea Pleana Elegans'.  It is an old variety going back to Tudor times but it works well climbing and entwining up and throughout our rusted arches and arbours which we have all around the garden.  The puffed out rosettes of petals have a soft rusty pink colour and are a profussion of flower in the second half of the Summer.

But today, Valentines Day, is the day I cut them all down to around 6 inches from the ground.  Over the course of the next 5 months they will regrow and create arches of form and colour.  This may look harsh but the plants thrive and look spectacular in Summer.

Otherwise the garden is beginning to awake from Winter slumber and buds and the leaves of Narcissus and Tulips are now arrowing out of the ground.  Hope, at this dull, dreary time of year, that Spring will come.

Memories

Gardens are not just about plants.  They are about memories, places to go to dream.  The creation of the garden here at Ordnance House began in late 2011 but each stage of its creation was a mile marker in my life which will remain with me forever.  A garden without the people who created it, those who come into it to visit and to relax, children at play in it, wildlife that come into it and beloved pets that roam within it, is simply not a garden.

An abiding memory of this garden is of our dog Jambo.  He sadly passed away just after Christmas.  He was a good age and we knew that at some point he would leave us.  But he suddenly became ill and we have lost him.  He was gloriously named Jambo Bwana as each of his litter were given African names.  But he has been a constant, always there at each stage of the garden's creation and as much part of it as any flower, plant or shrub.  He had little interest in gardening and mainly used the garden to stroll around and relax in.  As we gardened he snoozed.  But as well as being my assistant head gardener, he was also our head of meeting and greeting.  He loved people and found humans endlessly fascinating.  When groups visited the garden he was positively affronted if he was not allowed to mix and mingle with them.

His memory casts a shadow over the garden I look out upon now, even larger than the towering beech trees that stand like giants in the corners of our plot.  But at some point, soon I hope, a new, young, four legged friend will come into this garden.  He will explore it, be in awe of it, grow and become slowly more confident and then take his own ownership of it.  He too will create memories in that way that all our dogs before him have created, beautiful, wonderful and fulfilling memories which have enriched our lives.  For those of you who have loved and lost a pet, you will all understand.  The contract you sign when you have an animal come and live with you is to love them, care for them, look after them but ultimately to lose them. But for us these memories are entwined like ivy in and out of the times we spent creating this garden.

Goodbye my assistant head gardener.  Thanks for the wonderful, beautiful and everlasting memories.

Shift in seasons

The seasons are shifting again.  Summer is now but a fleeting memory.  This is the end of one gardening year, the beginning of another.  It is a time for clearing beds, planting bulbs and making the most of benign weather to get outdoors.  The days are shortening, leaves turning, days cooling.  It is part of shifting seasons and the cycle of the garden.

Our Summer pots are cleared and put away and new pots have been planted up with spring bulbs and Winter bedding.

But the big task is to replenish our vast stock of Alliums.  They are a signature of all our gardens and create the most astonishing late Spring displays.  Mt. Everest with its large white pom-pom head.  Purple Sensation, rich deep and as the name suggests purple.  Nigrum, smaller, later and white with flecks of purple.  All will be planted in the next couple of weeks to add to the large drifts we have running like veins through our beds and borders.  In the main central bed around which the garden rotates like a giant wheel of colour and form, these Alliums create an effect like a large raspberry ripple under the hawthorns that are formed above them into a floating cloud of foliage.  It is the garden's centrepiece and main focal point from our living room.

Vanessa and I approach the planting of the hundreds of bulbs in the garden at this time of year with great teamwork.  I lead with the bulb planter creating the holes while Vanessa follows popping the bulbs into each hole and covering them over.  It sounds like a big job but in reality there is a process, an efficiency and rhythm to it that makes the planting less of an effort than you might think.  It is the promise of what will surge out of the ground next Spring that makes it worthwhile.

Fragrant haircuts

September is the month we cut back our lavender.  We have much of it so this is not a task to complete in a day but over successive weekends.

Cut it all back now and the lavender will put on around 3cm of growth in the next few months and this helps the plant over-winter.  Here at Ordnance House, the soil is very free draining and this also helps of course.

Cutting back lavender is something I am often asked about and my advice is always the same.  Cut it back hard and shape it like a tight box ball.  This creates a cobbled effect in our lavender bed which I think looks quite lovely, especially on a frosty morning.   This method also trains the plant to remain a manageable size and prevents it becoming leggy.

But this process is also a milestone on the garden's journey into autumn.  The nights are now drawing in but the temperatures are still warm and occassionally hot while the light of autumn is golden, subtle and quite glorious.  We must make the most of these decreasing returns.  We must harvest the memory of a golden year in the garden and begin the planning for a new year to come.  This is a time to step back, take stock of the parts of the garden that work well and scheme what will be done to improve others.  It is all part of the journey and the great joy of gardening is that it is a journey that never really ends.  Enjoy the ride!

Wild imaginings

Our aim is to introduce more wild flower planting into the garden.  The two areas where we can best begin this process are the orchard and a large grassy area we call the mound. The mound is part of the original natural slope of the garden at our south west boundary.  On top of it sits two majestic Beech trees of some age. 

The area offers a view of the garden and its layout better than any other vantage point.  But it also provides views way beyond into the leafy landscape to the east.  It is a lovely spot to come, sit on the rustic bench and just take in the garden with a cup of tea or glass of wine.  The area is one of the few in the garden which we have left uncultivated.  It is just a grassy mound with a path leading up to it. 

Our hope is to introduce native wild flowers and we have been taking advice from Plantlife, a conservation charity, as to what planting will work best and what we need to do to prepare the area.  That important first step is to sow Yellow-rattle (Rhinanthus minor) which is a semi parasitic plant that will weaken the grass and allow wild flowers to establish. 

I have cut back the grass and sown the Yellow-rattle seed which should germinate over Winter and into Spring.  But as with all projects of this kind, you need time and patience.  In time we hope that this area of grass will become populated with a wide variety of beautiful wild flowers which in turn will attract many forms of insects offering them a natural habitat and haven to thrive.

But for now, all we can do is imagine.

 

Access all areas

Gardens are private, often intimate spaces, full of personal experiences and each carry the DNA of the people who created them.  Trace elements of your personality are always present in your garden for they inevitably express the things you like and enjoy.  Each of us is different so it follows that each garden we create will also be different and this is something I feel we should celebrate.

To open your garden gate and share this personal space with visitors is, to an extent, to allow people a glimpse into your private life and to some this can be daunting.  It was for Vanessa and I when we first opened in support of the National Garden Scheme (NGS) back in 2008 at Linden Barn.  But you soon begin to understand that the people who come and visit are embracing the love of plants and gardens in their diverse range of forms.  Everyone takes something from all gardens they visit whether the garden is large and grand or small and intimate.  Some of the most inspiring gardens I have seen are small and compact but beautifully formed.

Yesterday we held our annual NGS opening.  We have many gardening and horticultural groups who visit us but yesterday was the day when all are welcome without appointment.  The weather was kind and generous and we were supported by Diana and Dawn - who provide wonderful tea and cakes - along with Angela and Andy from Butterfly Cottage Garden Plants who grow the most wonderful and lovely plants that you can imagine at their nursery in Cheriton.  Much money was raised and a good time was had by all.  To all who came and donated generously to such a good cause - thank you.

We enjoy sharing the garden and our experiences in creating it.  We also love discussing our shared passion for gardening while it is also lovely to see children, yet to develop any real horticultural interest, playing and exploring the space we have created.  

But we never forget our special four legged friends who are always welcome in this garden.  All our dogs, past and present, are as much owners of our garden as we are.  The trees they have knapped under, the games we have shared.  The moments a trug has been looted of some muddy or slimey contents or a border crossed as a short cut are memories that all the gardens we have created conjure up.  All are fond memories.

Which is the whole point really.  Gardens are about experiences, memories, thoughts and inspirations.  These exist in our minds but the physical reality is the plants and the space that has been created.  Add in some plants you can take home and plant in your own garden plus a healthy slice of cake and a cup of tea and you have pretty much the perfect day! 

 

Remembrance

We say much with flowers.  Throughout history, all over the world, we have celebrated life or remembered special moments by leaving, giving or planting flowers.

My Mother passed away recently at the grand old age of 94.  She showed little real interest in gardens as such but had the uncanny ability of being able to take cuttings and grow seeds.  She had the gift that whatever she sowed grew wonderfully well. 

Her garden was also full of Bluebells and I have dug up many to replant in my own garden.  They are something that I will always remember her by for she passed away when her Bluebells were breaking into a profusion of flower.   

There is something very symbolic about plants that reach deep into our soul.  That make us use them to remember and bring back memories of those we love or have lost.  My Bluebells will always remind me of my Mother.  

Natural havens

I would like to see more native wild plants introduced to the garden here at Ordnance House and have been talking to Plantlife.  They are an organisation that describes itself as speaking up for our wild flowers, plants and fungi.  Their aim is to raise the profile of these wonderful native assets, celebrate their beauty and protect their future.  The patron of Plantlife is HRH The Prince of Wales.

As a small boy, I grew up in a small North Hampshire village surrounded by meadows, lush hedgerows, gentle meandering chalk streams and crystal clear watercress beds.  Those times moulded the way of see the world and what I feel passionately about today.  Those long ago days are the reason I garden.

But as the population of this small island grows and neighbourhoods expand and encroach into the countryside, as road networks swell to cope with the increase in traffic, the need to preserve, protect and manage the delicate eco systems of our natural habitats becomes hugely important.  But each of us who are lucky enough to have our own gardens can help too.  So, Vanessa and I plan to begin a process of introducing more wild plants into the garden.

Having met with Dr. Trevor Dines of Plantlife, who visited us in early February, it seems that we are already growing 31 different native species with 54 separate varieties in our garden.  This means that 16% of our plants are of native origin.  The list includes Yarrow, Sneezewort, Columbine, Quaking-grass, Clustered Bellflower, Foxgloves, Bloody Crane's-bill, Lyme Grass, Great Burnet, Meadow Clary and Scabiosa.

As with all new projects, it will take time to expand and increase the number and variety of native species.  We do not expect results overnight.  But it will be an interesting project and a new venture worth exploring.  Every little helps I feel, especially when it comes to supporting the native flora and fauna of this beautiful land. A land which we often take for granted and abuse all to often.

Emergence

We have arrived at the end of February and the bonds and shackles of Winter have loosened.  Each day is lengthening as we move away from a long period of wind and rain.  But the garden has survived remarkably intact and undamaged.

There is a soft mildness on the cheek now on sunnier days and the feel is now that Spring is slowly taking its fresh and gentle grip.  Things are emerging.

Signs of growth are everywhere in the garden.  Buds are swelling and leaves appearing.  When we come to look back on the pictures of this time later in the year it will look cold and stark.  But for us right here and now, these small signs of growth are small treasures.

All gardeners have plans and schemes at this time of year.  They are the gardeners' new year resolution 8 weeks late.  Ours will be to add more native wild flowers and create specific habitats.  Become even more productive in the veg patch and grow a wider variety.  Sow, cultivate and grow-on more from seeds.  Improve the lawns and grass areas. 

It is nice to plan and look ahead to Spring and Summer and how they each unwrap themselves.  Hugely anticipated presents indeed.

Welcome back Jack

A decent frost this Winter has been as rare as hens' teeth!  From last November well into this January we have had wind and rain sweep, almost daily, across the garden.  So the recent cold snap with below zero temperatures has been a change for the better.  Welcome back Jack Frost!

The garden needs the scouring effect of frost to rid it of mould and blight.  But on a clear, glistening morning the garden does look lovely and bejewelled.  The monochromatic feel of the garden on such mornings is hugely atmospheric and creates a beautiful composition.

We have been busy dividing and moving plants to ensure that the beds and borders do not become crowded with more dominant plants.  The Achilleas are just such an example and Achillea 'Mondpagode' and Achillea 'Cerise Queen' both appear to have spread and become congested in some areas of the main herbaceous bed.  But this is good news for we can divide and create new plants at no cost, replanting them in parts of the garden that can accommodate these lovely plants.  That's what I call a good return on an investment.

Adding value

I always tend to be drawn to plants, shrubs and trees that add value. Plants that flower longer, have extended seasonal interest and which come and come again.  At this dreary, dull, dank and gloomy time of year there is no better example of adding value than a Viburnum.  We grow Viburnum Tinus around the garden as a backdrop to beds and borders, but we also grow it as standards.  These lolly pops, dotted around the garden, are now bedecked with abundant clusters of deep pink buds opening to small starry white flowers.  They are lovely and penetrate the dark days of winter.

My favourite is 'Eve Price' whose flowers are followed by perfectly formed small dark blue berries.  But the great value is that Viburnum Tinus looks good all year round as the leathery dark green leaves create a perfect hedge or standard which in turn provide punctuation marks and eye catchers around the garden throughout the year. 

We have grown them in our old garden on heavy clay and north facing and now here at Ordnance House, chalky and sharp draining with a south facing aspect.  They are terrific value and completely adaptable. 

I have also been using the flowers to add interest to our Christmas wreaths as their delicacy sparkles alongside the berries of holly and other evergreens.  There you go, the perfect gift for Christmas.  A plant that is long lived, does well on all soils and all conditions.  That's what I call adding value.  Go buy one as a gift for someone this Christmas or why not treat yourself?
  

Every cloud

They say that every cloud has a silver lining.  Well, it is hard to imagine that the leaden grey skies and sullen clouds of the past weeks have any kind of silver lining.  It has been dank, dark, wet and windy and getting out into the garden of late has been difficult.  But if there is a bright side then our sharp draining soil has helped provide small windows of opportunity to be able to enjoy the garden and work in it.  When these windows open, we are able to cut back and clear the beds and borders allowing in light and air flow which provides good ventilation.

All the hedges have now been cut and shaped and look sharp and neat.  There is a feeling of order and good housekeeping.  All the bulbs are in the ground or potted up.  Everything is put to bed to sleep ready to awake again in Spring. But even with such slumber I can see the buds appearing and the shoots showing.  Sure signs of a new year with the promise that brings. 

Amazingly out Nepeta (Walker's Low) still looks lovely, forming the edge of our central path that disects the garden.  The ornamental pears (Chanticleer) still look great with their green leaves clinging on and extending the season.  They seem almost evergreen and are amongst my favourite trees.

But my tonic for these dark short days are gerdening magazines and books supplemented by the moving feast of colour from gardening programmes on television.  These vibrant jewels on dark Winter evenings are a real treasue for me.  They are the injection of horticulture that helps me survive the long Winter.

Time travel

The clocks have fallen back, the leaves are beginning to fall.  The nights are longer and the time we have to work in the garden has become short. 

We are busy planting bulbs - Tulip, Narcissus, Crocus, Anemone.  But at this time of year you really do have to visualise what these small bulbs will look like when in flower next spring.  We plant them in drifts weaving their way through beds, borders and established plants.  Not everything has died back or been cut to the ground so a picture is possible to develop in your mind.  But there is a feeling of transportation from now into next Spring when planting bulbs.

But the garden has certainly shifted.  The rain blasts the leaves, the wind strips them away.  Such is the change of seasons.  However, the garden still has colour and on a sunny day a most pleasant place to potter and enjoy.  That is the great thing about gardening.  It takes you outside when instincts seem to want you to stay indoors.

Weather patterns

The seasons are shifting and the autumnal weather patterns are setting in.  The nights are extending, the days shortening.  The garden moves with the seasonal change like a vessel upon a sea.

We are cutting back the last of the Lavender, the x intermedia varieties such as Grosso, Sussex and Edelweiss.  The Lavender angustifolias in beds and pots are done and form nice crisp balls now reacting to the clipping by a flush of small new grey leaves.

The next big job is the cut back and shaping of the hedges and shrubs making them clean and crisp for Winter.

But the abundant crop of fruit is a real bonus.  It is the best crop of fruit we have had here by far and a feast of apples, pears and plums.  We have gorged ourselves!

Living in the moment

The Lavender still looks lovely, the colour palette of later Summer mixes the vibrant and the subtle.  But times are chaning again in the garden and the days imperceptibly shortening.  It is time to live in the moment.  No planning for next year, no point looking back at earlier times.  It is a time to simply sit and watch, stroll and gaze at the garden.  Everything is as it is and should be accepted as such.  This is a time to sit back and relax.

Soon enough we will be cutting and shaping, pruning and clearing.  But I rather like the relaxed feel of the garden at this time of year and its sheer abundance of produce.  We have so many apples this year and for the first time pears too.  I am surprised by the amount of fruit we are now producing.

But we must do something about the soft fruit and create a proper fruit cage that is easy to get into and out of.  Our rather feeble frames and netting is ineffective and unattractive.  A job for the future I think.  But for now we will enjoy out long labours as Summer greacefully fades away.

Afloat on a sea of Lavender

We look out over a sea of Lavender.  Above it flutter moving clouds of butterflies while in and about it, busying themselves, is a humming, hurried workforce of bees of all sorts and kinds.  Our main Lavender bed washes right up against the house like a sea against a coastline.  This was entirely deliberate for we wanted to look out over a Lavender field from the very heart of the home and enjoy the vivid feast of colour and delicious scent.

To extend the season as long as possible, we grow both angustifolia and x intermedia varieties.  So we have Lavender in flower from the end of June to mid September.  The angustifolias tend to flower earlier and are going over around mid August which is when I cut them back.  The x intermedias flower later and are going over by mid-September when they too are cut back hard.  This allows the plants to put on around 3cm of growth before Winter which I suspect insulates them during the colder months.  But key to the survival and wellbeing of Lavender is the conditions which must be sharp draining, sunny and very dry.

Our list of Lavender plants is now a very long one. The list includes the predictable angustifolia Hidcot but includes more unusual varieties such as Beechwood Blue which I prefer.  We also grow Folgate, Felice, Bowles Early, Imperial Gem, Elizabeth, the pink Miss Katherine, the small white Nana Alba and many, many more.  The x intermedia range includes Grosso, Sussex and the white Edelweiss.

As well as growing Lavender in beds and along pathways we have many in pots dotted around the garden.  If you have problems growing Lavender due to the wrong aspect, soil or outlook then you can always plant up a pot and place it in a sunny spot on a terrace or patio.  It should do just fine but do remember to water it.  Lavender, even in pots, does need some water to survive.

In Winter I like looking out over a Lavender bed which is dotted by the cobbled effect of the Lavender plants which look like box balls once they have been cut back.  On a frosty morning the effect is lovely.  In late Spring and before the Lavender flowers, the bed looks like an array of grasses so fresh and green are the shoots.

The fact that Lavender attracts so many insects into the garden only adds to the benefit of growing it and helping to maintain the delicate balance of a healthy garden.  Such is the beauty and benefit of Lavender.