Karen Gimson

Niwaki winner… prize draw

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Thank you to everyone who read my Niwaki garden tools review. I got a message from WordPress saying my ‘stats were booming!’ Whatever that means! I am very grateful for all your support.

The winner for the prize draw for the Niwaki garden snips is Gardening Alice.

Keep an eye out for more reviews and prize draws. There’s plenty more to come…. Thank you again. And thanks to Niwaki for providing the garden snips.

You can read the review here: https://bramblegarden.com/2020/07/10/niwaki-tools-review-and-some-garden-snips-to-give-away-gardening/

Niwaki : https://www.niwaki.com/

Niwaki Jake : https://www.niwaki.com/jakehobson/

Gardening Alice https://gardeningalice.wordpress.com/

I am @kgimson on twitter and karengimson1 on instagram. And karen gimson on Pinterest.

Do come over and say hello. There’s a thriving and supportive gardening network on social media. I don’t know what I would have done without my twitter friends these past five months. They have distracted me from worrying and helped me focus on gardening-related matters. It’s been like team work.

Six on Saturday. A walk around my garden 11 July 20209

/ karen / 23 Comments

Phacelia is a bee magnet. I’m growing it around the edges of the vegetable plot. It’s an annual, but self-seeds readily. It can also be grown as a green manure crop, but for this use, it has to be turned into the soil before it flowers. I’ve been re-reading Jean Vernon’s Secret Lives of Garden Bees. Writing about Phacelia, she says: ” Look closely at foraging bees and you’ll notice the blue pollen balls that they collect from these flowers. ”

Geranium pratense. Meadow cranesbill. A native wild flower found along the grass verges here. Seed has blown into the garden and it grows along the hedgerows and amongst ornamentals. It’s very welcome.

Occasionally it throws up a white variant, and also flowers in delicate shades of lilac. I love the green ‘veins’ on the flowers. It reminds me of the markings on a butterfly wing.

Over on the veg plot, I found these flowers this week. They are potato flowers from the Shetland Black tubers growing in compost sacks. Aren’t they beautiful. You can tell the potatoes are part of the deadly nightshade family. I’ve never grown black potatoes before, so I’m eagerly awaiting the harvest.

Dianthus cathusianorum. In the gravel edges on the front drive, these bright pink flowers wave about on 50cm stems. They must love the free-draining conditions. We have to remember to drive around them. The scent is wonderful. Spicy. Heady. Memorable.

And finally, sweet peas. These are from a range called ‘Ripple Mixed.’ I’ve grown Wiltshire Ripple for many years, but the mixed pink and purple- striped flowers are fast becoming new favourites. Highly scented. Nice long stems. Long lasting in a vase. Recommended.

That’s my six for today. What’s looking good in your garden this weekend?

Why not go over to the propagator’s blog and see what everyone is selecting for their six today. It’s fascinating to see what everyone is growing, all around the world.

Links: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/category/six-on-saturday/

Phacelia :https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/item_977A_phacelia_tanacetifolia

Geranium: https://www.naturescape.co.uk/product/meadow-cranesbill-plugs/

Shetland Black potatoes :https://marshallsgarden.com/products/shetland-black-seed-potatoes-10506756

Dianthus: https://www.claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk/products/dianthus-carthusianorum-ruperts-pink

Sweet peas: https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Tall_3/Sweet-Pea-Ripple-Mixed-Seeds.html#.XwowbBB4WfA

https://bramblegarden.com/2020/04/02/the-secret-lives-of-garden-bees-book-review/http://addictedtobees.com/. Jean Vernon

Don’t forget to read the next blog down, all about Niwaki garden tools. There’s some Niwaki garden snips to win.

Niwaki tools review – and some garden snips to give away

/ karen / 55 Comments

I don’t use chemicals in my garden. Some weeds are allowed to thrive, if they are useful to insects and pollinators. Dandelions are particularly good for bees, especially in early spring when pollen is scarce. There are some types of solitary bee that only feed on dandelions. I wouldn’t want to deprive them of their vital sustenance. But, I don’t want a lawn predominantly covered in dandelions. It’s all about striking a balance, so I start to thin them out in mid-summer. Niwaki sent a Hori Hori knife for a trial and It’s perfect for deep-rooted weeds such as dandelions. I was using a trowel before, which often didn’t get to the bottom of the tap root, and was hard work over a large area. The Hori Hori is sharp enough to easily slice through grass, and strong enough to gently lever weeds out of the soft wet ground. I notice, on the website, it says the knife is: “Mighty, but not invincible. It’s best not to stick it in heavy clay and yank back hard.”

When I’ve removed the dandelions, plantains and thistles, I pop a Seedball into the hole that’s left. Seedballs are wildflower seeds encased in clay. They can simply be scattered around the garden. They come in selections named bee, butterfly, poppy, urban, bat, bird and beetle. Hopefully, in time, I’ll end up with a flowering lawn, full of cowslips, self heal, wild marjoram and primroses. I’m aiming for a tapestry carpet effect.

The Hori Hori has a strong canvas holster which I think could be attached to a belt. The hand-forged carbon steel blade runs right through the handle, for strength. Tough and strong, it seems built to last. The handle is FSC beech wood and the blade is 7″ 17cm long.

As well as digging up weeds in the lawn, my knife is great for removing weeds from between paving slabs. I also spent a happy hour digging up ‘free’ plants which had self-seeded in the gravel. I found bellis daisies, perennial geraniums, sedums, erigeron daisies and several seedling trees- silver birch, maple and mountain ash. Much easier to lever them out with a sharp blade than using a trowel.

Bellis daisies seed readily around and make lovely bedding plants for borders and plant pots. Free plants are always welcome here.

Here’s a seedling mountain ash rescued from the gravel path. Beautiful spring flowers for bees, and autumn berries for birds. Great for any wildlife garden.

Erigeron karvinskianus also seeds readily between paving and in gravel. Another ‘free plant,’ dug up and transplanted into a 9cm pot.

My Hori Hori has quickly become a tool I reach for whatever task I’m doing, planting, weeding, slashing bramble roots. It’s comfortable to use and makes life much easier. And that’s what gardening is all about for me, managing the weeds, not totally obliterating them, just tipping the balance, and keeping me in charge, rather than always rushing around desperately trying to keep up.

I’ve asked the team at Niwaki to offer a reader prize. They have currently sold out of Hori Hori knives, probably due to the upsurge of interest in gardening over the covid period. So they are offering some forged garden snips instead. Keep an eye on the blog, and when they send me another item to try, the Hori Hori will probably be back in stock for a prize at a later date.

Meanwhile, to enter for the garden snips, just leave a comment in the box below and Niwaki will randomly select a name. Usual rules apply. Niwaki’s decision is final and there’s no cash alternative.

A winner will be announced on Monday. Please check back. Thank you.

Do you have any favourite garden tools. Nearly all of mine belonged to my grandfather Ted Foulds. And some belonged to his father, so they date back to the 1930s. They have certainly stood the test of time, and I wouldn’t be without them.

Links : Niwaki https://www.niwaki.com/store/hori-hori/

Seedball : https://seedball.co.uk/product/bee-matchbox/

I write for Garden News Magazine: https://www.gardennewsmagazine.co.uk/minimag

Six on Saturday- Peachy Shades- Saturday July 4th 2020.

/ karen / 31 Comments

We are not going to the Caribbean this year. Or any year, I should imagine. I’m frankly not planning to go further than the the next county. However, I can bring a bit of sunshine into the garden with my planting. This nasturtium is a seedling from a range called Caribbean Crush. It’s predominately pink, apricot and peachy shades. A lovely change from the bright orange and yellows. This plant is an overwintered seedling, so it is flowering early. It hid away in a raised bed of brassicas in the unheated poly tunnel. It’s been wonderful to have one or two flowers all winter. Leaves and flowers add a peppery taste to salads. And a few stems in a jam jar make a pretty posy for the kitchen table. If I save seeds from this plant, the offspring will be variable. But, I want to keep this particular unusual pale peach colour. So I’ll take shoot cuttings and put them into jars of water to root. Shot glasses are the ideal size. I take cuttings about 9cm (3.5″) long from the tips of healthy plants. I’ll carefully cut off all but four small leaves so the cutting doesn’t loose too much moisture. The glasses are placed under the staging in the greenhouse, out of direct sun, but in a warm and sheltered place. A north-facing window indoors would also be fine. Cuttings will root within two to three weeks and then I’ll put each cutting in a 9cm pot in gritty compost. I use peat-free compost with a handful of grit to improve drainage. When roots emerge from the bottom of the pot, I’ll plant them outdoors – and some will be put into a large terracotta pot to be kept frost- free over the winter. Water cuttings can also be taken for salvias, mint, and all types of impatiens. A good way to preserve special varieties and an insurance policy against winter losses.

Here’s a link for Tropaeolum majus Caribbean Crush : https://www.plantsofdistinction.co.uk/edible-flowers/edible-flowers/nasturtium-caribbean-crush-1947a

Looking around, here’s some more plants in lovely shades of peach and apricot. Enjoy this week’s tour of the garden.

Pot marigold, Calendula Sunset Buff seedling. Petals look like they have been cut with pinking shears. There’s lovely stripy markings on the back of the petals too.

https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Calendula-Seed/CALENDULA-Sunset-Buff.html#.XwDgKBB4WfA

Unknown dahlia – purchased from East Ruston Old Vicarage. A lovely memory of a Norfolk holiday. Maybe someone reading this will know what it is called.

Update: Chloris from The Blooming Garden (see comments) confirms the dahlia is Wine Eyed Jill. I shall duly label it, and take cuttings next spring to increase my stock. It is such a gorgeous colour. Thank you Chloris.

https://www.peternyssen.com/dahlia-wine-eyed-jill.html

http://www.e-ruston-oldvicaragegardens.co.uk/pages/view/564/home.htm

Seedlings from Pollie’s Daylillies. Pollie Maasz has been growing daylilies at her nursery in the New Forest, Hampshire, for almost 20 years. She has 1500 cultivars and breeds new hybrids specialising in unusual and spider forms.

The spider daylilies have a more open flower with petals that twist and turn. Very pretty, I think. They are my favourites.

You can buy new un-named seedlings which produce some exciting and unusual flowers. It’s like a lucky dip! And as a bonus, you can name them yourself.

https://www.polliesdaylilies.co.uk/

I’ve forgotten the name of this rose. My new year’s resolution is to improve the labelling system in the garden. I’m terrible for planting something and forgetting to label it properly. Very frustrating when friends come to visit and want to know what something is called. Perhaps someone reading this will know the name.

It’s either from David Austin or Peter Beales Roses.

https://www.classicroses.co.uk/

But I do know this rose. It’s new. For Your Eyes Only. Repeat flowers all summer. Disease resistant and good for pollinators. Lovely in a bouquet. Lasts well as a cut flower.

https://www.classicroses.co.uk/for-your-eyes-only-bush-rose.html

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed my peach selection this week. What’s looking colourful in your garden this week? Have you got a favourite plant or favourite colour at the moment. Leave a comment at the bottom of the page and let me know.

Six on Saturday: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2020/07/04/six-on-saturday-04-07-2020/

I am @kgimson on twitter and karengimson1 on instagram, should you feel like reading more……. Thank you for reading this blog and getting in touch. All the best. Karen

Online Hand Tie Posy Course with Georgie Newbery

/ karen / 24 Comments

Flowers for my Mum.

Finally, after four months, I can take flowers to my Mum. It’s been the hardest part of Covid, being separated from our families. It’s the first time in my life, I haven’t had her by my side. She’s usually there in everything I do, supporting me, encouraging me, passing on her knowledge. My setbacks and sorrows are hers. My successes and triumphs are hers. We are linked by invisible ties. If I stumble she is there to catch me. We are a team.

And we share a love of flowers. Mum has always helped me in the garden, bringing seedlings, divisions and cuttings from her plot. I grow them on, and take them back to her in simple bunches of flowers each week. It’s something I have really missed these past few months.

Luckily restrictions are easing and we can meet up again in the garden. And my little bunches of flowers are going with me.

And to add to my joy, I was invited to take part in a zoom lesson by flower farmer Georgie Newbery -just in time to make my first flower posy for mum.

I sat in my summerhouse with my i-pad on my knee- and just for an hour, forgot all about the desperate worries of the last few months. I’m sure I’m not alone in having fears for frail elderly relatives – and for youngsters. My youngest daughter is a newly qualified nurse, and my eldest works at a children’s hospice. No one is safe. The danger has been on my mind day and night. It’s been unrelenting worry. And yet, I’ve got through, concentrating on all the good people are doing- the inventiveness, finding ways to cope, the kindness.

Georgie is one such kind soul. I’m grateful for the invitation to join her first zoom session. She is launching online courses this summer, and asked me to be on a trial panel for the first lesson. I can’t tell you how excited I was to have something to put on my calendar, something to look forward to. It meant a lot.

Georgie, who runs Common Farm in Somerset, started the course by talking about the flowers chosen for the day’s arrangement. There’s the most sumptuous coral – pink Boscobel rose partnered with pink penstemon and a pretty mixed ‘ripple’ sweet pea. Purple fennel was added for scent. I could almost smell them from here! A dark chocolate-coloured Physocarpus Diabolo provided complementary foliage.

Georgie gave tips on harvesting flowers. They are cut early in the morning and plunged straight into cold fresh water while still out in the field. Leaves are stripped as flowers are picked. That’s a tip I’ll use to save time in future. And there’s a bucket of fresh water alongside which Georgie uses to plunge her hands and arms into. Sap from plants such as Alchemilla mollis and Ammi majus can cause an allergic reaction. Washing them straight away helps prevent painful sores.

There’s a special way to hold the flowers between thumb and finger, and something called a ‘florists twist’ which essentially means adding stems at 45 degrees and making a quarter turn with each additional new stem. The result is a posy that has flowers all the way round. And with a bit of practice your creation will stand up on its own, with all the flowers spiralling out like a beautiful layered ball gown. Georgie describes it as being a bit like “Painting with flowers.”

And here’s what I made with my own cut flowers after one session with Georgie on zoom:

The posy was swiftly popped into a glass vase of water. But I was so pleased to see my creation passed the ‘stand-up-alone’ test. The first time I’ve managed to do this.

In my posy, I have Cosmos Apricot Lemonade, a new variety I’m trying this year. The colour is a delicate pale lemon, with purple shades on the back of the petals. A perfect partner to Verbena Bonariensis.

I’m using pot marigold Calendula Snow Princess, a new variety launched three years ago. It has delicate pale overlapping petals that look as if they have been cut with pinking shears. I love the tiny stars in the centre of the flower. Beautiful in bud and at all stages of flowering.

I’m growing calendula down the centre of my sweet pea ‘A-frame.’ This creates weed-suppressing ground cover, and encourages the flower stems to grow tall, making them more suitable for floristry. I’m also growing butterfly gladioli down the middle. I tried this last year and it worked well. It saves time as there’s no need to mess about with canes and bits of string. The frame keeps them upright. They all seem to work well with sweet peas. Cosmos grows at the front of the border, tied in to the hazel frame to stop them flopping over the path.

It’s a jumble of flowers and vegetables. Not posh, or tidy, but I love meandering around the little paths, weaving in and out of the herbs, flowers billowing out of the borders.

One bed is full of wild flowers. You don’t have to have a meadow to enjoy them. My bed is 3.5m long by 1.3m wide. There’s pink campion, oxeye daisies and quaking grass.

Oxeye daisies make a lovely addition to any flower arrangements. They are good for bees and butterflies too. I like to attract pollinators to the plot.

There’s blue Campanula poscharskyana, Phlox Blue Paradise, Nigella love-in-a-mist, and yellow Verbascum in my posy.

Tomorrow, I’m attempting a much larger posy with 30 stems. Georgie advises to take flowers straight from the bucket, and not set them out on a table in a row -which is how I’ve been doing it until now. I’ve always wondered why my flowers look flat on one side. It takes some practice, but the results are amazing.

My hour or so was packed with information on growing the best cut flower varieties, how to condition stems, what materials to use, how to create everything from kitchen table flowers, to ‘all of the garden’ huge bouquets. There’s a chance to ask questions, and Georgie provides a fact sheet to accompany courses.

Georgie has new online courses on 10th and 17th July. Here’s the link to the website for more information: https://www.commonfarmflowers.com/workshops.html.

David Austin Boscobel Rose: https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/boscobel

Calendula Snow Princess : https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Calendula-Seed/Calendula-Snow-Princess-Seeds.html#.Xvz8kxB4WfA

Phlox Blue Paradise: https://www.claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk/products/phlox-paniculata-blue-paradise

How are you finding ways to cope with Covid and social distancing? I’d love to know if gardening has been a saving for you, as it has for me. I don’t know what I would have done without my garden to keep me busy. Thanks for reading my blog.

Six on Saturday – my garden in June 2020

/ karen / 36 Comments

Peace and calm.

The scent! Roses from the garden, and elderflower. I’ve been making elderflower cordial. A taste of summer, for when days get shorter.

Constance Spry. Planted when our youngest daughter Rachel was born. It weathers any storm. Reliable and hardy.

Rosa Claire, planted when our eldest daughter – also called Clare, without the i though- was born. Just beautiful. So many twists and turns and folds in the petals. Just like the patterns of life. Nothing in nature is ever a straight line. And there’s no direct journey to where you are heading.

Rosa Many Happy Returns. A lovely, long- lasting memory of happy events.

New rose. Kew Gardens. Sent to us by the team at David Austin to celebrate our wedding anniversary. A kind gesture after I posted this photo on twitter. I was amazed to see it viewed 74,000 times. We had so many lovely comments.

On our wedding day, I distinctly remember saying life might not always be a bed of roses. But we’d be ok if we worked together and helped each other.

Thank you for all your wonderful messages on here and on twitter. It literally made my day.

Links: SOS: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/category/six-on-saturday/

Kew Gardens rose : https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/kew-gardens

Rosa Claire https://www.rosesuk.com/roses/claire-rose

Hydrangeas Book Winner…..

/ karen / 2 Comments

Would SHIRLEY please get in touch. You left a comment on the blog for Naomi Slade’s new book Hydrangeas and you have won a copy. Many thanks for taking part in the prize draw. The publishers selected your name in a random draw. All the best, Karen at k.gimson@btinternet.com

Review here: https://bramblegarden.com/2020/06/05/hydrangeas-book-review-and-1-copy-to-give-away/

Winners of recent prize draws: https://bramblegarden.com/2020/06/12/winners-thank-you-for-entering-the-prize-draws-on-this-blog-here-are-the-recent-winners-names/

Thank you for reading and for leaving your comments. It’s much appreciated.

A Walk Around My Garden- Sunday 14 June 2020

/ karen / 22 Comments

Sweet peas, sweet williams and roses are in full flight. I’m amazed anything survived the recent torrential hail and high winds. Some of the tree leaves have holes where the hail went straight through them. But flowers were unperturbed.

Rose Cerise Bouquet climbs to the top of a mature beech tree. It thrashed about in the storm, sending a cascade of red petal confetti across the lawn. It’s such a floriferous rose, there’s hundreds more flowers ready and waiting to open. It will bloom, on and off, until November.

I also feared for the climbing New Dawn rose. The willow tree supporting it was almost stripped of its leaves. Most ended up in the pond. There was no water to be seen. Just rose petals and shredded leaves. However, remaining rose buds opened, and the tree has put out tiny new baby leaves to replace those whisked away in the storm. I’m sure nature is sending us a message. Through troubled times, there’s always destruction, fear and grief followed by renewal. We have struggled through Corona virus times. But we will recover.

Pinks and carnations are in full flower now. I’ve planted old-fashioned types, Mrs Sinkins white and Doris Pink. I’ve also invested in some modern ‘Devon’ hybrids, Devon Cream, Devon Wizard. Cranmere Pool, Letitia Wyatt. The names sound as delicious as the wonderful scent. A good one to look out for is ‘Memories,’ an improvement on the heritage variety Mrs Sinkins with good weather tolerance and it is also repeat flowering.

I wouldn’t be without sweet williams. I’m sowing next year’s flowers now. A pinch of seed in a 3″ pot, or a sprinkle in a half seed tray. Leave at the base of a sheltered house wall and they’ll germinate in a few weeks. I’ll prick them out into a full seed tray and then plant them into their final positions for them to settle and produce roots and leaves this year. Being biennials, they will grow now, and flower next year. A whole bed of flowers for just a few pounds. I’ll grow the highly scented auricular-eye type, and one called Sooty, which is almost black.

I’m just planting the last of the sweet pea seedlings. The October-sown plants are in full production. But I’ll want a supply right through until first frosts. This is the secret of growing. Always keep sowing a few more and a few more. Make sure you have a back-up supply incase anything goes wrong. I’ve just had a neighbour at the front gate. Do I have any climbing beans, by any chance, he asks? Luckily, there’s some in the propagator – a back-up in case mine get nibbled. He can have these to replace the ones taken by rabbits. We chat about the weather, slugs, snails and mice. And covid. What are we to do, he asks? I shrug my shoulders. Keep going, is the only answer I have. Don’t give up. Celebrate the successes and don’t be beaten by the failures. Help one another where we can, and try to enjoy the simple things. Look closely at all the beauty in the world. That’s all I can say.

I usually take part in the Six on Saturday meme…but this week I’m a day late. https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/13/six-on-saturday-13-06-2020/

Whitman Pinks:https://www.whetmanpinks.com/garden-pinks-en/page-3/

Peter Beale Roses https://www.classicroses.co.uk/

Mr Fothergills sweet Williams https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sweet-William-Seeds/

What’s looking good in your garden this weekend? Thanks, as ever, for reading. Your comments are always welcome.

Winners! Thank you for entering the prize draws on this blog. Here are the recent winners’ names:

/ karen / 3 Comments

Hydrangeas by Naomi Slade.

Hydrangeas by Naomi Slade was won by Shirley . If she would kindly e mail me, I’ll ask the publishers to forward a copy of this gorgeous new book. k.gimson@btinternet.com.

Review : https://bramblegarden.com/2020/06/05/hydrangeas-book-review-and-1-copy-to-give-away/

Blagdon Pond-in-a-box : won by Jacksb50. Who was also sent some Blagdon pond clean pods to try out.

Review: https://bramblegarden.com/2020/05/07/blagdon-pond-in-a-box-review-and-prize-draw/

Corokia -My Adventrue by Mona Abboud. Won by Suella, who also won a bundle of new products including : Activearth sample.

https://bramblegarden.com/2020/03/29/corokia-my-adventure-my-bbc-garden-hour-book-of-the-week-book-review/

https://bramblegarden.com/?s=Activearth

Hozelock Pure Bokashi composter was won by Lucy Corrander.

Review: https://bramblegarden.com/2020/03/21/hozelock-pure-bokashi-composter-on-trial-and-one-to-give-away-saturday-21-march-2020/

Hozelock Tuffhoze was won by Mary Thomas.

Review: https://bramblegarden.com/2019/12/05/hozelock-tuffhoze-on-test-at-bramble-garden/

Wildlife World Wildlife Observation Camera was won by Sean.

Review: https://bramblegarden.com/2020/03/17/wildlife-watching-camera-on-trial-and-prize-draw-for-readers/

Diary of A Modern Country Gardener by Tamsin Westhorpe, won by Cathy Lyon -Green

Review: https://bramblegarden.com/2020/02/22/diary-of-a-modern-country-gardener/

I’m very grateful to all the gardening suppliers and companies offering prizes for readers. I love trying new ideas. I’ll try anything, providing it is suitable for organic gardening and doesn’t harm any living creature. I never accept payment for trying the samples. I prefer to be free to give my honest opinion.

Thank you also for reading and for leaving comments. Look out for more gardening books on the horizon, a Hozelock liquid feed kit, some Japanese Niwaki garden secateurs and some new organic pest and weed control products. It’s interesting to see what’s available for gardeners in modern times. My grandfather would have been amazed by the wide choice of products. He would have loved trialling them as much as I do. Things certainly have changed since he gardened in the 1940s and 1950s. Many products make life a lot easier, all round.

Walk Around My Garden – Saturday 6 June 2020 #SixOnSaturday

/ karen / 34 Comments

This week, it’s mostly all about roses. As you would expect, wild roses have my heart. The garden is surrounded on two sides by tall hedges. We’ve never pruned them in 30 years. It’s one of those jobs we’ve always put off as being too big to tackle. Secretly, I love the wildness. Who says hedges have to be manicured. Who cares what people think. I love the tangle of honeysuckle and wild dog roses cascading from the top of 30 foot hawthorn. It’s a sight that gladdens my heart. I don’t mind if people assume we are too lazy to keep the hedgerow trimmed. I’ll hold my head up high. I’ve always been rather stubborn, you see. It can be a good thing when life gets tough. I’m quietly determined. I don’t make a big noise, but it’s amazing what can be achieved with calm tenacity.

Just pause for a moment and gaze at this pink hawthorn. This opens white, and fades to a beautiful shell pink. The hedgerows around here are mostly snowy-white Crataegus monogyna. Every now and again, there’s a pretty pink variant. It stops you in your tracks. You can’t fail to just stand and stare, it’s so breathtakingly lovely.

Rosa Canina takes full advantage and climbs high into the branches of trees and along the hedgerow. It’s a good year for flowers. Plenty of pollen for bees, and there will be masses of bright red hips providing winter food for birds.

Climbing through a mature willow next to the pond, there’s pale pink New Dawn. Again, I never prune this rose, or spray it. It just rambles where it likes. I expect the wind blowing through the tree keeps the rose disease-free. Blackspot tends to thrive in gardens where roses are surrounded by still air. In this windswept garden, luckily we have no trouble from either pests or diseases. It’s even too windy for aphids to get too plentiful. Those that survive, get eaten by birds.

We have a very overgrown pergola. The phrase ‘overgrown’ seems rather prevalent this week, I’ve noticed. The pergola goes from the back of the house, right round to the front drive. For half of it’s length, there’s this glorious rose Constance Spry. For about three weeks it has enormous highly-scented flowers. It only flowers once, but what a display! I’ve planted clematis, jasmine and ivy to extend the season. It’s a Rose I would never be without.

Constance Spry makes a lovely cut flower. Here’s it’s partnered with Sweet William which is just starting to bloom. It’s time to sow some more Sweet William for next year. I’ll use a half seed tray, good seed compost, and I’ll sprinkle the seeds sparingly. The tray will go at the base of the house wall on the north side, and seeds will germinate in about two to three weeks. I’ll then prick the seed out and put them in their own 3″ pots to grow on, or I’ll plant some in a holding bed on the veg plot. In August, they can be dug up and put in their flowering positions or planted out from the 3″ pots.

Here’s Constance Spry in a cutting basket with highly-scented Mme. Isaac Pereire, a heritage bourbon rose which dates back to 1841. This repeat-flowers all summer and mingles beautifully with Clematis Purpurea Plena Elegans. Plena means double, and these flowers are like purple pom-poms from August/ September onwards.

Finally, here’s the old china silk rose, Mutabilis. Much loved by bees. And, as you can guess, also grows quite happily without much attention, if any, from me.

As usual, after we’ve looked in the garden, there’s always a walk along the ridgeway path at the back of the garden. Today, there’s a video of skylarks. Turn the sound up loud. The farmer has planted wide bands of wild flowers around all the field margins. There’s a whole field of sunflowers and millet for wildlife. This year we have many skylarks. A few years ago we had a very poor summer with only one skylark. There is nothing sadder than the sound of a lonely skylark.

We’ve had some spectacular sunsets this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed this Saturday’s walk around the garden. Are you growing any roses in your garden? What’s looking good where you are this week. Thanks again for joining me in my garden. All welcome, for virtual visits!

LINKS:

I like to follow the Six on Saturday meme and see what everyone is growing. #SOS

https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/06/six-on-saturday-06-06-2020/

Dog rose: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/dog-rose/

Common hawthorn: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/hawthorn/

Rosa New Dawn https://www.classicroses.co.uk/new-dawn-climbing-rose.html

Rose Constance Spry https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/constance-spry-climbing-rose

Rose Mme. Isaac Pereire. https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/mme-isaac-pereire

Sweet Williams. https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sweet-William-Seeds/

Rose Mutabilis https://www.trevorwhiteroses.co.uk/shop/china-roses/mutabilis/

Skylarks: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/skylark/

Clematis : https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/210954/Clematis-Purpurea-Plena-Elegans-(Vt-d)/Details