National Garden Scheme - Polgwynne opening

Yesterday we made our first foray out to a NGS garden - Polgwynne in Feock. Owned and maintained by Amanda and Graham Piercy, it's a lovely garden in the process of being renovated. There were beautiful banks teeming with primroses, woodland areas, cutting beds, a pottager and fruit garden, as well as more formal lawns and borders, all overlooking the sea. I particularly liked the water garden and the rills and ponds that meandered over the lawns and around the beds.

The plants that stole the show have to be the primroses, busying themselves everywhere and flowering fit to bust. There were also gorgeous aoniums and house leeks, fantastic (and very varied) euphorbias, beautifully fuzzy myrtle and a very interesting water lily. The supporting cast of rhododendrons and azaleas, bluebells and periwinkles created a rich tapestry of colour and texture, despite the recent weather and belated spring. There was a spectacular, and obviously ancient wisteria which will be a show stopper in a couple of weeks and glorious angelica about to burst into bloom. 

And there were some mysteries, can anyone identify the beautiful yellow stars of the centre top pic?

A great afternoon gaining inspiration, (and the odd purchase in the plant sales greenhouse - obviously!) nosing about and drinking tea.

And the cake specialist says that was good too!

For more National Garden Scheme open gardens in the Truro area please click here:

NGS Open Gardens

Tulip confusion!

Last September I made my yearly trip to lovely Fentongollan Bulb Farm to get my spring bulbs. I particularly wanted some bulbs for the pots either side of my front door, which already contain standard bay trees. My bay trees are not very tall, and I was looking for something about 6 inches tall, to avoid things looking out of proportion. 

Now I do like a Tulip, and was very pleased to find Calgary, a classic white tulip that only grows to 8 inches - which would fit nicely, and could be underplanted with Pulchella Persian Pearl, a vibrant pinky red tulip that grows to 5 inches. According to the blurb the Persian Pearl would flower early in March/April and be followed by the Calgary in April/May.

That was the theory, this is what I've got!

The reality is that the Calgary are already in full flower but have only reached about 4 inches high, the Persian Pearl show no signs of flowering but the leaves are about 7 inches high! I know the weather has been cold/wet/horrid and that everything is late, but this seems totally mixed up. The Calgarys are early, and decidedly stunted!

Perhaps my pots have their own weird micro-climate or are in a parallel universe? 

I shall persevere - the flowers I have are lovely, if closer to the ground than expected, and who knows - maybe the Persian Pearls will show up soon!

Web link - Fentongollan Farm

Crisis in Horticulture

There was been much discussion last week about the state of Britain's horticultural industry. As part of National Gardening Week the RHS prepared a report for the Government on the massive skill gap that has opened up in this sector, and BBC Countryfile ran a story asking teenagers if they had considered a career in horticulture. Their response was predictable 'gardening is for old people', 'digging is not a career', 'don't know anything about it', 'that's just manual labour' etc. 

So I thought I would look up and see just what sort of jobs fall into the horticulture sector, because not everyone wants to be a gardener (strange I know, but we need to be inclusive!)

Here's what I found:

Landscape gardeners                 Tree surgeons/arborists              Vegetable growers

Potato farmers               Nursery growers                Groundsman/greenkeepers

Florists               Park rangers


Writers               Academics               Historians               Educators

Marketing, PR and Media               



Plant pathologists               Plant breeder/geneticists               Plant scientists

Environmental scientists                Soil scientists               Researchers               Chemists


....and that was on one website in about 5 minutes! 

There's a whole range of jobs out there, they are very varied and extremely important and rewarding. These jobs affect where we live, what we eat, and our impact on the world, and young people either don't want to do them or don't know about them - time to do something!
So I think we, as parents, aught to be introducing the idea of horticulture to our dear little ones. If we are talking about it then maybe the schools and careers offices will wake up. 

If you are thinking of retraining or are interested in diversifying into horticulture then have a look at:

www.growcareers.info


Right, rant over - normal service will resume shortly!

Pictures from Google Images

National Gardening Week Giveaways

This week is National Gardening Week and to celebrate this lovely company are giving away free gardening accessories every day! Keep an eye on them and see if there's anything you'd like. I fancy the seed organiser on offer today...

Garden Trading

The RHS also have a competition to win a wheelbarrow , all you have to do is share your gardening photos on their Facebook page- Why not give that a go too!

RHS Facebook Page

Good luck and good gardening everyone!

Kuwaiti patio planting

To follow on from yesterday's post, and round up the Kuwait gardening experience, I thought I'd share this image of patio pots spied on our trip. They're an eclectic mix! From the back -Marguerite Daisys, Busy Lizzies and Petunias, so far a pretty usual summer selection. But then we have Ornamental Cabbages and our old favourite the Poinsettia! Poinsettias are very popular in Kuwait and we saw them planted in gardens and in pots, growing to giant proportions. They obviously thrive in the heat and dusty dryness of Kuwait, and are left to grow naturally, not forced like the ones we have here around Christmas, and so they are far more appealing, healthy and natural looking. 
So I've discovered were we should send all the Poinsettias to be happy - the very best place for them - hurrah! 

Far and Wide

Apologies for the gap in posts - this was caused by a trip to Kuwait City to visit lovely family. My horticultural expectations of Kuwait weren't high - it's a dessert nation with temperatures rising to over 50 degrees in the summer, however the city was greener than I expected.

Predictably there were lots of palm trees, but I was struck by just how beautiful they were. Fantastic  sculptural shapes casting gorgeous (and much needed) shadows, creating an exotic and calming effect.

But there were also lots of other municipal shrubs and trees trimmed to within an inch of their lives. Topiary is big in Kuwait City, never let it be said that a tree should be left to be tree shaped. They were square, round, triangular, wavy, regularly trimmed and watered, and - due to the numbers of them -slightly mad! Every roundabout, roadside verge and central reservation has it's allocation of topiary, and as all the roads, even the inconsequential ones, are minimum 6 lane highways, that's a lot of topiary. I'm  glad I don't have to maintain it!

And finally the plant that impressed me most was this

I have no idea what it is, but I think it's the only thing that grows in the dessert, certainly it was the only thing we saw. This plant is tiny, this clump is quite large compared to some, about 1 inch across, however it is what camels live on. Now the camels we saw stood 6-7ft(ish) tall and are large animals, and roam in large herds all over the dessert. That this plant sustains them is amazing, if not incredible! So this plant gets my awe and respect, hardy, nutritious and tenacious.

New Inspiration

Came across this new on-line quarterly magazine, beautiful photography and lovely plants. Definitely worth a look!

http://www.gardenlifelove.com