Art Or Nature?

The planting season is motoring on and we have just about finished laying out the cut flower border, as you can see from the forest of canes. So far we have sunflowers, pyrethrum, helychrisums, chrysanthemums and dahlias, it will be a riot of colour come the later seasons with plenty of blooms with which to adorn all our homes. I'm all for flowers in the house but must confess to a liking for the more wild examples, I can admire the beauty in these well bred creatures but find them slightly stuffy and old fashioned. My admiration goes to Nature who can place her finest blooms in such casual beauty it takes my breath away, as in this grouping of foxgloves below. However I'm not really being fair so I will photograph this border again to show you later in the season. By mid morning we had turned our attention to the iris border, we must divide and re-plant them again this year to keep them looking magnificent, so yesterday we had to mark all the blooms for identification when the colours have faded. Traditionally this job is always done when the weather is wet and this occasion was no exception.

It is surprising how much water an iris bloom will hold, and how much dye they drip down onto your hands when you handle them like this. The end result looks like some kind of crazy homage to the Tour de Yorkshire!

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvellous"
Aristotle

May Magic

May is without doubt my favourite month. The whole garden at Norton Conyers is sparkling in the sunshine, and even my own modest plot is picturesque. All the greens are fresh with promise, and all the flower buds strive for their moment in the warmth, before the weariness and fatigue of the later months bleed the life force slowly away again. The iris walk is once again resplendent with colour and well worth seeing, but other smaller blooms make their presence felt in other ways. Convallaria majalis lily of the valley is tucked away in quiet corners of the garden, its graceful bells were said to fall from Eve's tears as she left the garden of Eden. In the language of flowers it signifies the return of happiness and if you fill a small vase with a modest posy the rapturous fragrance will quickly fill your room. I hope you all enjoy the prettiest month of the year.

"The worlds favourite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May"
Edwin Way Teale

A Bargain Waiting To Be Had

Norton Conyers was being very photogenic yesterday as we started work in the new vegetable plot. The space is filling up rapidly now we've added all the brassicas and leeks, only enough room to squeeze in some celeriac and courgettes I think. Everywhere I looked I wanted to snap photos of the lush green growth made even fresher with the backdrop of stormy skies. Weather wise our luck held in the morning as we started to plant out this years salvia collection, a task made easier with the rich damp earth, but after lunch heavy showers made things more arduous and certainly disgruntled Shandy who took shelter beneath a shrub with a look of complete disgust on her face!

We spent the rest of the day clearing the greenhouse of the dahlias which will be planted out next, we are taking a risk that there will be no more frosts now, but the plants must harden off first and the change of temperature will check their growth and stop them becoming leggy. The Zantedeshia aethiopica were next to be put in their customary place by the orangery wall, we now have so many that Giles has decided to offer some for sale, a whole tub bursting with potential blooms for just £12.00. That is a complete steal of a price, you would pay at least triple that in a posh Harrogate florist, so come and grab a bargain whilst you can!

"Life is the greatest bargain, we get it for nothing"
Yiddish proverb

May Musings

Well the blackbird chicks have fledged, although not without a certain degree of drama. As soon as Shandy became aware of their movements, she was eager to encourage them to leave the nest so long as they ended up in her mouth! Luckily for the first one it fluttered over the new fence and was safely out of her reach, the other somehow ended up in the peach house where it became increasingly frantic and started flying into the glass. Giles finally caught it gently in the fishing net and relocated it into the currant bushes, far away from Shandy's tender ministrations. Phew, raising babies of any sort is tiring work! May is such a lovely month with all the baby birds and the rebirth of so many plants, chief amongst these now are the lilacs with their powerful scent and a colour that looks perfect against the bruised and moody skies we are having at the moment. I have always understood that it is unlucky to bring the blooms inside as they used to adorn houses after a death, the strong scent masking the odour of the deceased, but as modern practises of laying out have altered I see no reason not to indulge and pick a large bunch for your enjoyment.Also looking fantastic at the moment is Solanum crispum the potato vine, that I think will be my favourite for this week, see below,

"Just now the lilac is in bloom,
all before my little room;
and in my flower beds I think,
Smile the carnation and the pink"
Rupert Brooke

Persistence

Are you sure I didn't leave one in here?

Well Shandy is nothing if not persistent, her quest for a rabbit ended in success yesterday, but not with any help from me. We were all involved in the chase, the rabbit was tired and confused with Shandy hot on it's heels, we were all wielding sticks for use as clubs when the unthinkable happened. The poor bedraggled creature stopped dead at my feet and for a split second we looked into each others eyes, Now these creatures are enemy number one around here but when it came to actually bashing one on the head I just couldn't do it, it's one thing letting nature take its course and Shandy is very quick when she kills them but I would have caused it more pain and prolonged suffering so I let it go! That is one bunny that lives to fight another day due to my soft attitude, but all ended well when Shandy caught a different one in the very hole you see above. She was convinced that there was another one hiding in this tap hole until we took the lid off and showed her it was impossible, a good photo opportunity though!

Left is a picture of my favourite plant at the moment, it is a very early flowering honeysuckle that has the most glorious perfume. Lonicera caprifolium, the second part of the name means climbs like a goat, very apt as you can tell.

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not, nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not, unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not, the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."
Calvin Coolidge