The Merry Month of May

O THE month of May , the alert month of May , So frolic , so merry , and so green , so green , so green!O , and then did I unto my dependable erotic love say , Sweet Peg , thou shalt be my Summer ’s Queen .

Thomas Dekker ( 1572 - 1632 )

May is my favorite month , and I always say that if a garden does n’t look merry in May , there ’s a problem . There should be the last tulips and the first roses , bid foliage and enlace tendrils , sweet birdsong , the intoxicating scent of elderflowers and unripe , greenish everywhere .

But May spell out hard work for gardeners . There ’s spring bedding to come out , summertime bedding to go in , climbers to civilize , plants to be watered ( especially this twelvemonth ) , pests take advantage of every opportunity and everything growing before one ’s eyes .

When I took this week off , I was determined that Chelsea would not take over , as it usually does . It was a good Chelsea Flower Show , but not a vintage one . The nurserymen in the Great Pavilion stand out , but the gardens were average by Chelsea standards . That ’s not to say they were not accomplished , but I do n’t think I ’ll think a undivided one of them come this time next year . One of the most endearing wasKazuyuki Ishihara’sGosho No Niwa : No Wall , No Warwhich is a garden I could have uplifted in its entireness and enjoyed forever . The Nipponese designer never stray far outside his comfort geographical zone , but does what he does with astonishing craftsmanship and preciseness .

aside fromGosho No Niwa , our best-loved garden in the whole show was Chris Beardshaw ’s garden for Morgan Stanley . It incorporate a lush woodland garden sail via a sinuous path , leading to and an field of jewel - coloured perennials . At the nerve of the garden a massive oak and limestone pavilion offered shelter and space for entertaining . There was meant to be a tentative subtext explore the presenter ’s long - term committment to young people ’s education , but all that really mattered was that the garden was both inspiring and accessible . Helen of Oz adore the lupine and swathes of mositure - loving candelabra primulas . Funny how we all long after the plants we ca n’t originate . ( More to follow on both of these gardens in due course . )

No time for sitting on the beach this week – this shot was take at 9am on Saturday

Wednesday was a rest day and an opportunity to write a couple of spot before the Department of State visit from Helen of Oz . Decoration of the library has arrive to and stop ( almost ) and the books are tardily proceed in . Design - conscious supporter have suggest organize them by color , but that would only intend I could never find the one I wanted , so I have put them on the shelf by subject . I find I have a pile of biographical books , most of which I have n’t study ; an teemingness of plant monograph and not enough books on trees , shrubs and vegetables . I ’ve discover a just few duplicate too . Thankfully there is enough distance for me to keep collect for several more years , and the shelf look better for not being compact to the gunnels .

The task of come the house back into order go now , a full thirteen month after the project began . Everywhere I look there ’s a pile of paperwork or a boxwood of ‘ useful ’ dust which necessitate deal with . I am committing to myself that the library should become a sanctuary away from all of that , so only ‘ cleansed ’ items may be take . The temptation of filling eight new cupboard with junk must be resisted .

I settle on a decorative outline of greyish - lilac with subdued gullible and saffron highlight . I am extending the palette out into the garden with olive , echiums , xanthous marguerites , mauve verbena , Bulbine frutescensand – I never call back I report this – clipped box balls . Box does not boast in my normal style of planting , but it looks right here – or at least it will when the interior designer clear all his rubbish out of the garden .

Kazuyuki Ishihara’sGosho No Niwawas one of this year’s best Artisan Gardens

Thursday took Helen of Oz and I to Sissinghurst via Madrona Nursery near Pluckley in Kent . Madrona is one of my favourite places to corrupt plants because of the eclectic compass . They have everything from shade lover to drought survivors , and the quality of the store is always first-class . The nursery ’s setting , among the woods and fields of the Kentish Weald , is also dreamy . I came forth withSalvia‘Love and Wishes’,Catalpa×erubescens‘Purpurea’,Agapanthus‘Back in Black ’ andPersicaria‘Purple Fantasy ’ .

Given the exalted weather , and it really was sublime , Sissinghurst was busy , but not unpleasantly so . The garden was brimming with irises and roses and looking very o.k. indeed . There are lots of change going on , include the opening up of the cut garden and replanting of the phlox garden ; an extension of the Nuttery which will take it correctly up to the paddock fencing ; and a sensational planting ofIris sibiricaat the end of the fosse take the air . The simplicity of this scheme is daze and refreshingly present-day .

Beyond the garden gates savage blossom are being encouraged to return to the hayfield in front of the house and next to the cafe . A steer term of enlistment around the South Cottage , where Vita and Harold slept , was a special treat , providing a fascinating insight into the couple and their extraordinary family relationship .

Chris Beardshaw’s garden for Morgan Stanley

Our net arrest before Helen of Oz had to come back to London was Walmer Castle near Deal . Once a home of the Queen Mother , Walmer Castle has wonderful garden which are rarely busy . We deal a stroll around with a charabanc party of Danes who were equally enamoured of the kitchen and swerve gardens .

The herbaceous borders , bounded by thick , undulating hedges , were already looking firm , in particular the yellow part in the middle . A preponderance of Mexican fleabane ( Erigeron karvinskianus ) in the walls smother the fosse develop me thinking about planting some in my own humble garden .

In just a few days it will be June and , before we know it , the tenacious day . With Helen of Oz on her mode back to Melbourne , it ’s been back to sorting out the garden , watering and getting the sign flat before my not so merry return to work and the imminent arrival of summertime .

Books old and new

Wishing you all a very merry May Bank Holiday Monday . TFG .

deliver

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