Wednesday 8 June 2011

Well its been a  while since my last rant and I wondered if maybe that was it for my blogging career, but apparently not!!
Several exciting things have happened recently but first a quick word about what is, to me, the gardening highlight of the year, Chelsea Flower Show. I'm not going to bore you with what I like or what I didn't but the question everyone seemed to be asking was whether or not Chelsea is still relevant today? Well, in many ways of course it isn't. Very few ordinary folk have the kind of budget required to make a Chelsea show garden, or the available labour to get it made from start to end in 3 weeks, but surely that's not the point! It's a SHOW! It's there to show off the wonderful horticultural talent there is in this green and pleasant land, this nation of gardeners and relevance isn't an issue. But it is relevant to the band of garden designers, landscapers and nursery folk who turn up every year at huge expense to show off to the world what they do, to mix with each other and discover new and exciting things that are going on within the industry. And every year it puts this country at the forefront of the horicultural world. It may not be relevant but its horticultural pomp and circumstance, which is what this country is really good at, so I say hooray for Chelsea! I can't wait for next year.

And so to The Physic Garden!! We've sold some plants, we've sown more plants, we (hopefully) are going to be involved in a great growing project with the lovely Emma Bond of Bath Garden Design and Bath Gardening School fame, oh and we've sold some plants!!
I would like to say a word or two about The Bad Tempered Gardener by Anne Wareham. I have met Anne through Twitter, a wonderful social medium where I have met some great folk to whom I can talk about gardening, plants, red shoes or gin,and where she gave me the opportunity to write a couple of pieces for www.thinkingardens.co.uk which has been great. I am not going to review the book as its been done over and over by far more notable writers than me. However, what I would say is get a copy and read it, don't feel you have to agree with it all, but give it a go.It made me howl with laughter in parts and get a bit cross in others, but its a great read and it makes you think and that, dear reader, is a good thing!!
And finally a picture of Blackcurrant Sage which I found was flowering in my garden ce matin-wonderful!!