The life and loves of a time-poor plantsman
The days ahead promise more warm dry weather, but we’ve enjoyed some much needed rain today. The last time we encountered ‘the wet stuff’ we were up in Northumberland enjoying the beautiful gardens at Wallington Hall. In spite of the weather, this beautiful border of yellow, mauve and blue flowers was still eager to please.
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Northumberland is a wonderful, wild, unspoilt county in the north of England, once the frontier between rampaging Celts and civilised Romans. The region is noted for its landscape of high moorland and forests, and is mostly protected as a National Park. Northumberland is also the most sparsely populated county in England, with only 62 people […]
Read MoreCascading from the ornate iron supports of the Edwardian conservatory at Wallington Hall, this superb fuchsia is named ‘Rose of Castile’. Bred in Kent in 1869 it makes a large and long-lived shrub. A 60 year old specimen grows outside the Electric Shop on Alcatraz island. ‘Rose of Castile’ establishes itself quickly and can be […]
Read MoreOne of my favourite sculptural plants, Veratrum album, is also a pretty nasty poison, with a long history of accidental and deliberate death. Alexander the Great is thought to have inadvertently poisoned himself by imbibing false helleborine, in the belief that it might cure diarrhoea. Americans indians used the plant as part of the ritual […]
Read MorePoppies are resourceful little plants, seeding themselves everywhere and living their short, glorious lives in the fast lane. Putting little effort into producing foliage, the crepe-paper flowers are designed to beguile the bees. Showier than our native field poppy, the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is generally taller and available in a greater array of […]
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To my great shame I have never visited Northumberland before, although I once pretend to for a school project on organic farming. Sorry Mrs Truelove, I told a lie! What a pity that I didn’t discover this sprawling, green and little-populated county back in my teens, although somehow I doubt it would have had the […]
Read MoreIn honour of Him Indoors’ birthday we’ve had a lovely long weekend in northern England. We managed to squeeze in five completely different gardens – Durham University Botanic Garden, Wallington and Herterton in Northumberland, The Valley Gardens in Harrogate and finally RHS Harlow Carr. More on these coming very soon. All shared one thing in […]
Read MoreThis is Neptune, standing proud above the entrance to the walled gardens at Wallington, Northumberland. He has many fine attributes, including his trident and crown. However it would be churlish to ignore his superbly pert bottom. One can’t help but wonder where he’s planning to hide that key!
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