What’s the Problem with Railings?
What is the problem with railings, my good friends?? Please tell me.
Making Veddw Book?
“We’re wondering about doing a book, about Veddw, which will (if we can persuade a publisher) include some of the history of making it. We’re wondering if that would be interesting?”
Hellebores this time!
“Well, not everyone was giving the talk their full attention…”
Just plant pictures, January
Hellebores. Those are the stars of the show at this time of year for me, all of them, seedlings, well bred ones, all of them. Especially in pots indoors – no bending!
Catching up – or chopping down.
“Useful for breaking up those clods of earth that do not break down in the frost as promised by lying garden writers. Or bashing the soil off the rootball of something you’ve dug up and want to dispose of. That sort of thing…”
Playing with Plants
“We went off to the local Builder’s Merchant and ordered some scaffolding boards, and the internet provided us with some threaded rods and nuts.”
Reflections
“I love it when it’s faded a little and I add a refresher dose. Gradually a darker inky black spreads across the pool, reviving and restoring the drama all over again.
Thoughts on Opening a Garden and being Criticised.
We closed the garden this week, with great relief. It's knackering opening it, but necessary since it helps pay for its development and maintenance. Sadly, someone had not enjoyed their visit - see above. This is on Google - if you google 'Veddw' that is what you will...
View from a Window
I gave myself a project of taking a picture every month from the same window. I thought it would be interesting for me to see the changes over a year all at once. Thought some of you might be interested too.. It's a bit like that thing they used to have in the papers...
#mygardenrightnow
Great idea! Lots of gardeners posting pictures of their gardens (right now) and themselves (or bits of themselves) in them. Irresistible, even though the real photographer here told me the light is all wrong. So here goes: ...
New Conservatory
In January some men arrived and in less than a day demolished our conservatory and put it in a skip. It had been rotting and leaking, so it wasn't totally dreadful to see it go, but the result looked like this. And the next few months were all build. When...
Bird Bath the Fourth
Trouble! You'd expect it really - that if you have builders in creating chaos and disorder that you also develop major plumbing problems (nothing like discovering a pool of water in the bathroom in the middle of the night..), electrical problems, knee problems - and...
Autumn splendour
We rather meanly only open in the summer. But I obsessively take photographs of the garden all year round. I wrote about it in the Telegraph. You will look in vain for plant names - unless you send me them, in which case I will add them. So I thought I might as well...
Sitting
We just had a short break at Dartington Hall. We had a great time, and not just because we went to see our good friends at Hill House Nursery (where amongst other good things, Charles had what he describes as the 'best Victoria Sponge I have ever had'). Neither was it...
Bindweed, yes or no?
I went to a lot of trouble earlier this year, sticking canes in for bindweed to grow up. I had an evil plan involving plastic bags and POISON! Then somehow there was a lot to do. Or it was raining. Or it looked like a lot of effort.... The bindweed stayed. And grew....
Do we expect too much from open gardens?
This piece was recently published in Gardener's World Magazine. Love to know what you think about that question... If you wonder why we're not doing our bit for the NGS here's the answer: Shocked, but not surprised.
Voted one of the UK’s Top 100 Gardens by Garden News
Recent Posts From: thinkinGardens
Are Gardens just for Gardeners?
Do you visit art galleries and museums? Do you enjoy theatre and concerts? Hauser and Wirth – art gallery and Oudolf Gardens As a garden writer and garden maker I deeply regret that my audience for both appear to be almost exclusively gardeners. It is as if the works of painters and sculptors were only […]
Should thinkingardens migrate to Substack?
I think it’s possible that such platforms are the future. At least for as long as blogs were, once.
Otherworldly Gardens by Mary Keen
“The question to ask is, ‘what is here that is true, that is underneath the superficial things? What is here that matters?”
Autobiography of a Garden by Patterson Webster: a review
Autobiography of a Garden is about the garden making, Pat’s life, the history of the land, the ideas, the art, the plants and the devouring deer.
Garden regionally, get inspired globally by Marianne Willburn
But to dream, and perhaps more importantly, to innovate, we should inspire ourselves globally:
Chelsea or Chaumont? by Catharine Howard
“Have issue. You were so adamant that you wouldn’t go to Chelsea again. Discuss, please”.
Gifting the Ephemeral
. And now, knowing we won’t live forever, we’re thinking about what will happen to the house and garden when we die.
Hadspen aka The Newt in Somerset, by Anne Wareham
The garden is actually interestingly old fashioned. It’s not just the bedding but the relentless inclusion of every garden cliché, however brilliantly executed.
This site built by
