Travels

I have been out and about since my last blog. A great day at the Harrogate Flower Show then a couple of days touring the Yorkshire Dales. You will be able to see the fruits of my travels shortly with features on the RHS Garden at Harlow Carr, Constable Burton and Millgate House, Richmond. (pictured)

Unfortunately, the weather could have been kinder to us, while the West coast basked in sunshine during those few days the East Coast side of the country had rain, never mind, no matter what the weather, a good garden will always have attraction to a visitor.

Now it is Hampton Court time and so we are preparing for our trip down to London for one of my favourite events of the gardening year. I know Chelsea is the creme de la creme but Hampton has a lovely festival feel to it and the backdrop is just superb with the Palace and long water adding a very special atmosphere.

Having had a glorious spring with the clematis this year - think this might be something related to the food I have been giving them as usually my clematis are stringy affairs - the wind came along and did a lot of damage. We had three weeks of drought in the Lakes and then it rained and blew a gale with a vengence.

The dry spell has had me thinking about water a little more and so we have invested in an additional water trough. The clematis are just recovering but as I write the wind has risen up yet again so I am unsure what tomorrow will bring.

Someone described a garden to me the other day as being 'Jurassic' - they were not being complimentary! I have noticed this word being used a lot lately with relation to things which are old or old fashioned - Jurassic jets being an example - well I wouldn't quite describe any garden as Jurassic, for one thing, a garden is special because of its history, development and its place in time. Sometimes I feel Jurassic myself but I wouldn't feel happy if someone called me that.

Some gardens benefit from moving on in time and developing, nothing should stand still, and I always think the really successful gardeners are those like the late Christopher Lloyd who could utilise the best of a garden and its history while at the same time making progress and moving with the times so that the garden truly reflects its history.

At Kiftsgate for example, they have successfully blended in modern design with the older more established historic garden, and to me that is what gardening is about. Nothing need become Jurassic or set in aspic, but we don't want to lose the historic elements of a garden, rather they should continue to set the backbone. In Christopher Lloyd's case he ripped out his rose beds and planted a hot border - much alarm and scandal at the time but wow what a statement.

Chelsea was for me very 'green' this year, and I mean colour not necessarily environmentally - so I wonder what the predominent theme will be at Hampton. You get a lot of variety at Hampton which is one of the things I really like about it. If you haven't been following Claudia de Yong's diary of her water-garden build, check into the website and see what she gets up to everyday.

Until next time, cheers.

post-chelsea

Cleve's West's BUPA garden (Gold) winner of BBC/RHS People's Choice

Now it is all over there is time to perhaps reflect on Chelsea 2008. A very 'green' Chelsea - with many of the major show gardens having green as the dominant colour - I was therefore not surprised when the BBC RHS People's Choice winners were announced. The shortlist for the large Show garden comprised of Cleve West's fab BUPA garden, Geoff Whiten's lovely garden - Realf Life by Brett (couldn't understand why this only got a Bronze), the Marshalls Garden and the George Harrison garden.

These four gardens deserved to be in the People's Choice line-up and they all had colour! It is very nice having a beautiful neat and artistic garden but if one feels that you dare not sit in it or walk in it for fear of damaging something - in other words it might not be a place where we really feel comfortable and want to sit in - then what is the point! Some of the gardens reminded me of a rather house-proud person who frowns when you crumple the cushions on the sofa. They shout - do not touch.

Green gardens can be restful I agree but for me a garden is full of colour, it might have its cool places and green shades, but for a garden to be comfortable, I want to be able to walk through it, find a little niche to sit in and just be able to admire!

So the people spoke and I think they gave a big thumbs up for colour. The choice of the Shetland Croft as the BBC RHS People's Small Garden was also right on the mark, again a delightful garden, one you can warm to and feel enjoyment from.

We are delighted for Cleve who produced a simply superb garden with an important message. I also liked Andy Sturgeon's garden for Cancer Research as well, he used plenty of green but he also had various levels and little dells which invited you to go down and have a look - that is the difference.

Andy Sturgeon's garden for Cancer Research (Gold)

I think that the public also want to see gardens to which they can relate - over the past few years some of the gardens at Chelsea have been more artistic statements than gardens in my opinion. This opens the door for the whole argument about art versus gardening - is gardening an art form or not? I don't intend to get into that argument, suffice-it-to-say I like colour, I like variety and I like a garden to look like a garden - it might be simple, it might be colourful, it might be green, but it needs to be a space where you can feel comfortable in, want to spend time in and relax in.

Cleve West certainly achieved that with his garden for BUPA and how wonderful that it is going to be re-sited at a home in London after the show. In fact, this year, several of the show gardens will be re-sited and that has to be good news.

I also thought that David Domoney really broke through some barriers with his Underwater & Tropical plants feature int he Grand Marquee. He was awarded a Silver-Gilt and justly so for a very innovative idea.


David Domoney's Underwater and tropical plants.

The big day

Monday 19th

Well we are finally here for the big day. We get in early, the morning is still and the light just perfect. It is at this time of day that you really appreciate Lady Arabella Lennox-Boyd's fantastic garden (above). The stillness of the water is awesome and I could stand and look at it for hours except that I have over 40 odd gardens to get around not to mention all the fantastic stuff in the Great Pavilion.

People are putting the finishing touches to everything now and the nervous tension is rising a bit. Some of the designers look as though they are about to be taken to the guillotine others are neurotic in case someone with shoes walks on their carefully cleaned paving!

As the morning wears on the celebs start turning up - I found Chris Tarrant hiding behind a bush, or so it seemed, but he has in fact come to open the Savills garden - not minus shoes - well nobody told him to take them off!

I wonder whether the hairdryer wheeze came off in the Great Pavilion and if the Irises opened. I then run into Matt James, the City Gardener, and there is a bit of banter.

Imelda Staunton and her husband Jim Carter pose for the Reckless personality page - lovely couple - and then we collide with the Skandia Team GBR who are out in force to launch the Hillier Stand. We always get fantastic chocolate on the Hillier stand, Mr McIndoe and his team know how to woo the journalists!

After a confrontation with a couple of Wombles, well I knew one was Uncle Bulgaria but the other's name escaped me and I didn't know it was Wellington - I come across the George Harrison tribute garden. Like this very much but can't say the same for the Italian jobby round the corner, all columns and hard landscaping.

Michael Portillo walks past and then I spy Mrs Bucket, sorry Boquet or should I say Patricia Routledge, a gracious lady with a lovely smile. After a bit of banter with the girls from the Liverpool City stan, who seem to have brought along a 200 year old bloke called Roscoe, we set off to discover some of the smaller gardens.

The smaller gardens include a seaside theme and a delightful croft from the Highlands. There are some excellent gardens here. (See pics below).

The standard is very high this year and it is difficult to be able to pick who will be the overall winner. Certainly in the larger gardens my money is on either Tom Stuart-Smith or Arabella Lennox-Boyd but Cleve West's garden is just something else, a warm delightful and inviting space that says, sit in me!

The highlight of the afternoon seems to be the visit of Ringo, who arrives driven by Damon Hill in a little psychedelic mini, every photographer that lives and breaths descends on the garden. Emma always uses elbows to good effect and she gets off some good shots. I am fortunately in the right place at the right time and get my own pic of Ringo. If this had been 40 years ago I probably would have died to have been so near, but your bus pass tends to change your outlook somewhat and I am completely calm.


We are all shown the door at around 3pm for the visit of the Royal Family but by then the feet are saying, save me, and the stomach is saying feed me. The visual senses have been edified, the memories will linger for another year and the hard work writing up the copy just begins.

Chelsea Build-up

Shetland Croft House garden

Sunday 3.00pm

Nerves are always fraught as the last minute build-up begins on the Sunday before Monday judging at Chelsea. The weather is good, the sun shining and there is a light breeze keeping everything and everyone calm.

It is our first opportunity to view the show gardens - some of which look finished already and pretty cool - Cleve West's Bupa garden is looking sensational, Tom Stuart-Smith's garden for Laurent Perrier has trees to die for, Diarmuid Gavin has ome sort of metal flower thingies in his garden, Arabella Lennox-Boyd has perfectly captured the English Zen and Robert Myers has produced a simply superb garden for Cadogan Estates.

There is tough competition this year and certainly in both the large and small gardens the standard looks exceptionally high. One always expects this at Chelsea, because it is Chelsea, but I have a hunch that several designers have really excelled this year.

I look in wonder as an exhibitor in the Great Pavilion brings out a hair dryer to open up her Irises and we stand and watch the NAFAS girls getting their superb exhibit together (above).

This year there seems to be lots of silvers, greys and subtle colours, no 'in your face' harsh shades, just peaceful and relaxed colour moods.

We meet up with several old friends and check on their progress. The David Austin Rose stand is a riot of colour and wonderful aromas, the Hillier Garden once again has centre stage in the Grand Pavilion and is just stunning.

We find Phillippa Probert (featured in our run-up to Chelsea) putting the finishing touches to her garden 'Green Living' - this is her first Chelsea, so we wish her well - then we stop for a well earned sit down and a drink of coffee before launching off again to see what's going on in the courtyard gardens.

There are some exceptionally well thought through and designed gardens here and I really do feel that this year the standard is better than ever. The Shetland Croft House Garden for Motor Neurone Disease is a gem and the Dorset Cereals Edible Playground garden - seeks to encourage schools to develop small kitchen gardens for growing, learning and eating -is delightful. The Good Gifts Garden features a sandy beach and a pair of deckchairs and is complete with water feature which gushes periodically to simulate the sound of waves on a beach - these designers think about everything.

The forward-planning for tomorrow over we make our way out past Olivia Harrison's garden 'From Life to Life' - designed by Yvonne Innes for the Material World Charitable Foundation and Olivia Harrison.

The garden seeks to tell the life story of the late George Harrison - I loved this, well I would coming from Liverpool and being a child of the Beatles era - but there was so much I could identify with in a garden which has several strands to it. There are some vibrant colours here but also some subtle shades and perfectly balanced with the rest of the planting.


We wander back past the NAFAS stand where the ladies are still working hard. NAFAS (National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies) always have a superb exhibit and this year looks to be another exceptional one with their floral arrangement of Nature's Kaleidoscope.

We are sufficiently excited at tomorrow's prospects and can now only hope that the weather stays fair and dry.

Bedside reader

A really quirky and interesting book came across my doorstep recently. The Gardener's Bedside Reader is American in origin and has now been made available to UK readers. It really is a little gem and contains a collection of stories and essays, wonderful vintage advertisements and illustrations and a whole host of little anecdotes.

One of the chapters talks about the delights of weeding. In it Suzy Bales tells us about the joy she has when getting down on hands and knees to pull out weeds. Reading her chapter certainly changes one's perception of weeds, for she sees weeding as a pleasure giving her time to let her mind drift while at the same time getting close to her plants from ground level!

Well we may not all share Suzy's view of weeding but I can assure you that you will find plenty of interest in this little book. It sort of took me on a nostalgia trip and I really just enjoy flipping through the pages and looking at the pictures and illustrations, some of which I reproduce here so you can see what i mean.

I haven't been weeding but I know I must for it is now the time of year when they are starting to rear their little heads with gusto. I am also aware that it is time to stock in on slug pellets. For years I have used Bio Slug from Phostrogen with good results - Bio Slug won't hurt household pets or children and does not harm other wildlife - I have always found them effective, sometimes you buy cheaper pellets and all that happens is that you get a sludgy mess in your pots, so now I stick to Bio Slug.

The flower show season is coming up fast and I am now in the process of working out the summer routine. Just at the moment I can't wait for April because I know that lots will be happening in the garden. The rose trees are already starting on well so let's hope there are not too many late frosts to pull everything back.

Here comes the sun

The last week having been glorious with that wonderful early spring sunshine, the fingers are starting to itch to get out into the garden once again. February is a 'look-see' month, things are starting to stir in a very quiet way but if you look hard enough you can see a lot of evidence of the impending Springtime.

The Iris I planted in pots are now flowering well and many of you will be revelling in the snowdrops and Cyclamen, Hellebores and flowering shrubs such as Chimonanthus praecox and Viburnum as well as Mahonia and Skimmia.

Now is the time to prune clematis which flower between June and September. You can cut them right back now so that they make a good strong growth.

I have been busy reading lots of new gardening books this last few weeks, including Monty Don's wonderful 'Around the world in 80 gardens'. What a super book, a real garden travelogue with no need to leave the house! I'm also going through 'Gardeners' Question Time Plant Chooser', which is proving to be an excellent reference work with plenty of ideas for new planting.

Then there is Val Bourne's 'Natural Gardener', a chirpy little book which shows you how you can use organic principles to create a garden that is healthy with the balance to control pests and other hazards environmentally. Val Bourne has a very pleasant way of getting you excited about gardening and her books are an enjoyable and stimulating read, this one is no exception.

We review all these books on the website so be sure to keep a look-out for that. There are a lot of really excellent new titles coming out just now so don't miss any of our reviews.

If you have lost any pots to frost recently don't foget to empty them and transfer the inhabitants and then smash them for crock at the bottom of your other pots. I always do this, it is my bit for recycling and I am never short of broken shards when I come to plant up new pots or tubs.

I know not for why or reason, but I was reminded today of Bill and Ben, the flowerpot men, maybe because I was checking out on how many pots I had lost this winter - and that despite wrapping several of them in all forms of materials to protect them - but suddently those two cheeky chappies came to mind. I loved the programme as a child and maybe it was Weed that prompted me to become interested in gardening - who knows? Certainly, there is a drive to get kids interested in gardening now and especially in growing organically. Gardeners like Chris Beardshaw and organisations such as the RHS are all doing their bit to get our youngsters stimulated. This is important if we are to foster the right experiences in young people so that they too become interested in gardening when they grow up.

Many of us who love gardening will admit that they came to it early in life - in my case when I was about 7 or 8 - so it is important to get the kids interested. One problem is keeping them interested through their teens when it might not be seen as 'cool' to want to dig the soil - but at least if we get them hooked early on there is a chance that they may continue to want to garden throughout their life - even if they take time out while in their 'cool' teens.

It will soon be time to plan out our Flower Show Visits and the first of these will be Harrogate on 24th April. Keep up-to-date with all the show news by regularly visiting www.recklessgardener.co.uk

Happy gardening

Spring is coming - believe me

The tips of my daffodils and tulips are already popping up through the pot tops so I am encouraged to think that there is life after all this rain, wind and hail. This time last year all three of my Camellia trees were in full bloom, but not so this year. All have reasonable buds on them but not so prolific as last January and none are yet open. The cold snap before Christmas has no doubt halted their burst for life, so we shall see.

Just to buck you up for the coming seasons I have put a picture of my garden from last summer, at least looking at all those lovely flowering roses and flowers gives you a bit of heart to continue on through the bleakest moments of January and February.

I tend to neglect the garden during the most cold months, which is totally wrong, because if you have read Val Bourne's book 'The Winter Garden' you should be inspired enough to plant some shrubs and plants which are at their best during the dark, wet months. She will enthuse you with the witch hazel and dogwoods and a variety of late season grasses which will add sculptural granduer to your garden during winter.

However, for me, once February is over I start to get excited about the coming spring and summer and positvely will away the weeks until March peeps its head over the horizon and then - yes - a real feel that everything is coming to life begins.

January is still a time to take stock for the coming seasons. Get out of the way any jobs which involve construction or change and think about planting themes and colourful pots.

I am already developing the Reckless diary for the coming months and it is getting full of planned garden visits and features. So keep the faith, the rain and hail will soon pass and then we will be in the fast-lane to the first exciting and brilliant buds of spring.