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.
Non-Gardeners see the Beauty by Anne Wareham
Why do gardeners visit gardens?
Silent Spaces
For many years I've thought that gardens are wasted on gardeners. Not on all of us gardeners - but it is true that many gardeners visit gardens to look at plants (with a certain acquisitive eye...), have a chat with friends and family, nice day out.. and a piece of...
Superman at Veddw – cutting the Hornbeam Arch
There's got to be a better way. Permanent scaffolding inside the arch? Or would getting an extension for the tower be enough?? Jeff's comment? "A good work out and only one near death experience = result." Relief all round..
Being Difficult
We open normally every Sunday afternoon in June, July and August, and take visits in afternoons and evenings from parties of 10 or more from May to September, inclusive. So why, you may wonder, do we have a group visiting the garden today, in April? Well,...
Why our seats are pink
When I first had our seats made at Veddw I had to work out what colour to paint them. I tried lots of colours and found pink kind of worked - but I thought it was weird. Until I realised that the gravel, which is from a local quarry, is pink when wet. And when the...
What to do with a Squirrel (without getting prosecuted) by Anne Wareham
This piece was published in the Spectator on the 21st March 2015 as the Spectator has a paywall, I have reproduced it here in case anyone who doesn't subscribe to the Spectator might like to read it... What to do with a Squirrel (without getting prosecuted)...
Spades by Charles
A review of a Fiskars Spade by Charles Hawes One of the few “real” garden tasks that I undertake, is to occasionally divide my hostas. I say mine because although we have hostas in several places in the garden, the only ones I give any attention to are those in what...
Surprise!
Veddw has appeared on the shortlist of an award - for the Garden of the Year in the Countryfile magazine: You can vote here. Fat chance against Beth Chatto's - but great to be in there!
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.
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