Greetings Teza – I hope that this finds you well and enjoying life and your garden. On this side of the pond June has seen our first real touch of warm summer weather – as the month draws to a close it has turned very hot and humid.However after the wash outs of the last two summers we are not complaining. I am getting to the allotment before 8.00am so that I can get in a couple of hours of work before it becomes too much for me to cope with. At the moment the afternoons are set aside for watching the tennis from Wimbledon which is one of my favourite spectator sports.

We have had a fairly quiet month here after rushing about here and there in May. We had a few days away visiting my parents who live in the hotter and dryer south east of the country. They are now both in their eighties and fortunately are still enjoying their garden although sadly they find some tasks difficult now. I enjoyed a stint of deadheading and weeding in my mother’s alpine bed. Their garden was looking colourful but I forgot to take any photos. As usual I came back with some cuttings and divisions. On my visit prior to the last one I returned with a little bit of one of Mum’s African violets which has just started flowering this weekend. It is a dainty little thing and I am hoping that I will not kill it. Unfortunately I have not inherited my mother’s success with houseplants. Hers flourish whilst mine sulk and are not long for this world.

Before we left it was a scramble to get the last of my seedlings up to the allotment and planted. Now after much tying in stems, watering, weeding and talking to plants there is not much spare room. I grow in raised beds which were crafted lovingly by himself. A couple of them are given over to permanent planting – one of herbs and the other of a mixture of grasses, perennials and annual flowers. Elsewhere I grow what takes my whim. At the moment I have garlic,red onions,shallots,various lettuces,purple podded peas and ordinary garden green peas,climbing and dwarf French beans,chard, beetroot, carrots,sweet corn,courgettes, pumpkins,vegetable spaghetti and patty pan squashes,strawberries,raspberries and gooseberries. I am also growing tomatoes,sweet peppers and cucumbers in the greenhouse. Last but not least there is an indoor vine which produces some edible purple grapes though not in great quantities. As you said in your last letter it is “wonderful to be able to pick it, bring it home, wash it, prepare it and enjoy it all in one day!” I hope that you get the chance to have a go at growing edible crops at some time in the future.It is hard work but most rewarding !

Closer to home I enjoyed a trip to Liverpool and a wander round the newly landscaped Chavasse Park. Liverpool is only a twenty minute train journey from here so I do quite a bit of shopping there. With benches and planting like this to enjoy I will nip into the park regularly from now on to revitalise myself.

I have taken a note of the book you mentioned in your last letter ‘Christopher Brickell’s Garden Plants’ and will keep an eye open for it. Truth be told I do not do a lot of serious reading in the summer months but save it for the long winter nights. I have however recently got ‘Shade’ by Keith Wiley out from the public library after reading the review on your blog. I am certainly enjoying the read. We have been lucky enough to visit the Garden House twice but I have yet to visit Wildside. Perhaps fingers crossed next time we are down that end of the country

I enjoyed reading about your plant inventory system – it sounds most impressive and has encourages me to improve my recording. You asked ‘Do you suffer from the same dilemma of ‘losing’ or ‘mis-identifying’ plants that grow in your gardens? I do not usually have ‘mis-identifying problems’ but do suffer from some losses. This last cold winter put pay to a lovely Japanese painted fern and an astelia. I can blame myself for the latter as I should have taken it into the greenhouse or even the house. It was a very fine leaved one which I have not seen for sale anywhere since. I also have suffered one or two losses of plants in my cold frame which would have been better off being in the ground. My fault for being too greedy !

The last Sunday in June saw us visit the Arley Hall Garden Festival which involves a twenty minute drive or so. This event is now in its fifteenth year and we have seen it grow from a very small affair into what is now a two day festival with nearly forty nurseries in attendance as well as other stalls. We were pleased be greeted by a familiar looking creature close to the entrance – one of Liverpool’s famous superlambanas who you can see at the top of my letter. Isn’t she beautiful ? I would have liked to have taken her home with me. Her name is Flora which is most apt we thought. The garden is famous for its double herbaceous borders – they are the first such borders to have been planted in England. The alcove at the end was completed about 1790. The borders were looking absolutely fabulous but unfortunately there were too may folk for me to get a full view from top to bottom. So here are one or two snippets to give you an idea :

Of course there were the inevitable plant purchases which I will blog about soon

They did include some hardy geraniums.

Well I must sign off now. Tis time for me to do a brief impression of being a domestic goddess before I succumb to watching Wimbledon with a bowl of strawberries to nibble on. Best wishes and happy gardening
~ Anna.

3 Responses to “Garden Friends: Letters Across the Miles Vol. 3”

1. Teza on July 1st, 2009 1:06 pm

   Anna:
   Another wonderful instalment. I so love the park, and to think, forty plant vendors in one place, willing to take hard earned money in exchange for wonderful plant specimens. Sometimes I am glad there is an ocean between us! I would be on the Dole otherwise! Thanks so much, this feature is a wonderful monthly addition!

2. patrick_bewley on July 4th, 2009 12:52 pm

   Teza,
   I just discovered your site, and you are an inspiration. I moved from zone 9 to zone 6, and I am trying to figure it out, and there you are. Zone 5 and creating and enjoying a really amazing garden. I love your posts.
   The garden I left behind was like, well, abandoning my children. So I was startled to hear anyone talk in a way that i felt. Good to know that others feel the same way. I could not take any plants with me as my company moved me across the country and put everything in storage for three months while I found a new home. So I start anew, in a zone that I am trying to understand.
   Patrick

3. Anna on July 5th, 2009 6:41 am

   Hi Teza – I must admit that I restricted myself to spending a certain amount and no more when we went to the garden fair

   Patrick, it must have been heartbreaking to leave your garden behind you and not to have been able to take any cuttings or divisions Good luck with your new garden !

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