How lucky am I!

What a diverse and lucky life I lead. Just thought I'd fill you in on the last couple of weeks and what a mix of lovely people I have met through the wonderful world of plants.Thursday March 11th - Took a great friend - Christine Lavelle or Haggis as I call her to the lovely Beth Chatto's Garden, Elmstead Market, Essex. We were met by a warm mix of nursery staff and gardeners, who were all very chatty and friendly even down to the sweet lady in the cafe. Sadly caught a glimse of Beth when we were having lunch but she was gone by the time we finished.
Delighted however to say hello to her and Asa at Dan Hinkleys talk at Writtle Colllege on Friday 12th March - absolutley fantastic presentation. He had a split screen presentation of the globe spinning in one corner an image of the garden and video with birdsong - wow - Mackintosh is amazing - must try to up my game!!
His garden near Seattle looks superb - what a setting on the cliff overlooking Pudget Sound.
On Monday 15th I spent the day cutting ornamental grasses back in the garden - Gardeners Question Time on Radio 4  said not to cut Stipa tenuissima - they must be mad it loves a quick short back and sides!
On Tuesday I taught at my girls Primary School - we were removing a wildlife pond which takes up precious space and the headmistress feels would be better turned into a scented garden. The children loved heaving the mini bullrush up out of the muddy quagmire (or however you spell it!)
Wednesday 17th I drove upto Brandon to give a multi sensory talk to a group of adults with learning difficulties and some patients in the Nursing home. It was a humbling experience. I took Daphne bholua Jacquleine Postill and Lonicera fragrantissima for superb strong scent and Contorted Hazel for its wacky stems and catkins as a lovely sign of spring. I so enjoyed it and I think they did too!
Thursday 16th - went back to my old High School at Hadleigh to work with 3 sets of 30 children in year 7 (age 12) to fire up their interest not only in gardening but trying to get across how we can use our garden as a cross curricular space - so somewhere to perform drama, exhibit sculptures/try to recreate historical elements like turf tree seats etc. I have a pile of thier designs to put togetrher and come up with a garden for them. They loved using my measuring wheel and transfering our measurements onto the drawing board - it really brought maths to life - into the real world.Am heartened to hear that they are going to teach Agricultural Science - bring back Rural studies and link to healthy eating/living.
Gardening at Rushbrooke again on Friday. Then on Saturady lecturing to 100 members of the U3A (University of the Third Age) as part of their day long Garden Study Days where I was one of 4 speakers - it was a fascinating day listening to talks on Garden History and how climate change will effect our plant choice.
On Monday 22nd I ran a one day Plantaholic Course for 5 people based at Rushbrooke. This was a lovely day teaching 5 ladies how to construct a border and showing them around the garden.
More Primary shcool teaching on Tuesday at Great Whelnetham and Wednesday at Tudor Priamry School in Sudbury. We were busy seed sowing in their beautiful new raised beds which are a tribute to parent power and a couple of very proactive teachers - fantastic.
Two nights ago we went to a superb talk by the very lovley Tom Hart Dyke whose enthusiasum I love. I drovw down to Kent to hear a talk given by my other great plant hero - the god of gardening - Roy Lancaster (Beth being the Goddess!) gave at Lullingstone Castle and it was a delight to see the two great plant enthusiasts together - I was on a high for several days after that!!

The 'other girls' admiring my Parterre weeding!

So in the last couple of weeks I must have taught about 300 people and have had a real treat listening to other people and hearing their experiences - it's not a bad life!!

Flori's best flowers and vegetables

It is quite tricky to keep control with the garden my best big one is the Rose, I am Flori I am 6.
I do gardening at school with mummy.my best little plant is the daisy.

Tilly's vegetables

Hello I am Tilly (8) , I am very proud of my fine mum, Lucy she has helped me whith my gardening skills and I am now making\designing my own vegtable patch. I will be growing pumpkins,sunflowers to give it a bit of colour, aubegerine, swiss chard, broccoli and potatoes. my sister, Flori is keen to have a patch too. I will start growing my delicious vegetables when the stupid weather has got better!

What makes us plantaholics so enthusiastic?

I love wallowing in plants with fellow plantsman. People with a true passion for plants are a delight to listen to and can enthuse even farmers like my husband into the garden (most farmers just want to plough the whole lot up!) The Goddess of Gardening in my opinion is the great Beth Chatto whose garden I have been visiting since I was a child, being taken by my mother (who sowed the seeds this illness!) Many years ago we went to an exibition in Hadleigh where Cedric Morris's paintings were being shown and Beth gave a wonderful talk. He managed to blend the love of gardening with a passion for painting and of course inspired people like Beth. I think of Cedric when I look at our delicate little Narcissus 'Cedric Morris' which braves the weather at this time of the year, giving us hope that spring maybe in the air soon. I think that the love of all the arts is very much linked to gardening. Indeed in our garden here at Rushbrooke we have included art in many forms. Firstly using plants to soften the base of sculptures, picking up on their colourings or contrasting the texture of a rusty metal plough breast with not only whispy grasses but also prickly Sea Holly like Eryngium Miss Willmotts Ghost. We also used the art of willow weaving to create a willow urn and tunnel which adds height and acts as a division between a more formal area and a more curvacous relaxed one! The copper verdigre of Cary Norman's 'Pod' looks fantastic as a centre piece picking up the bluey green cabbage leaves. Whether it's reclaimed galvanised watering cans or gates from the council dump or original art, I love it. We hope not to have any mass produced obects in the garden or any features that I have seen elsewhere. Your garden should be as original as you are, which in my case is pink haired with lots of rings - so colourful maximalist planting with lots of decorative objects!!

The God of Gardening is in my opinion Roy Lancaster who I have heard lecture many times. He is absolutely bubbling with his keenness for the plants he's seen on his travels around the world. I remember one memorable afternoon at Lullingstone Castle where the lovely Tom Hart-Dyke took a group of us around his fascinating World Map Garden and then Roy gave an inspirational talk afterwards. You couldn''t get two more plant mad lovely people- I was in heaven.

I have had the joy of showing dear Beth around our garden in May 2008, which has made my life. She and her head gardener spent four hours here walking around the garden discussing every plant and enjoying a lovely lunch together. It gives me great pleasure to know that I am now on 'kissing terms' with my great hero. I must say that when the Hardy Plant Society came to see the garden last year I did scan the group for that familiar shock of white hair that is Roy Lancasters, but sadly he wasn't with them.. I wanted to impress him with my Plants of Asian Origin Border which were sourced through another great plantsman Rupert Eley of the Place for Plants nursery. The plants where slected from his book Travels in China - which one day I would like to go to but Dominic asked me to marry him, then having two lovely girls has put pay to my travelling plans for a while!!

Cary Norman's Pod in Dominic's Potager

This is meant to be my first short blog - whoops! Must get out and finish trimming the stone parterre - more of this anon.

Posted on 21st February 2010