Catching Up

What a blissful feeling to wake up and suddenly realise I've got no more revision to cram in or exams to take. Unfortunately the one long overdue thing I had to do was clean the house, things like dusting have had to take a back seat lately and the piles of dog hairs in the corners were getting large enough to knit a jumper with! By the time things were back to normal (just about passable) it was mid-afternoon so I spent the rest of it meandering around the garden. I collected together the remaining plants I'd grown from seed and popped them into various pots having vacated some rather tatty violas and finally binning the chewed remains of the lillies, I wont bother growing them again thanks to scarlet lilly beetle. All in all despite the weird weather everything seems to be maturing nicely, thank goodness I've now got time to tend it all properly.

The only room in the house where I don't resent doing the housework!

"Those that make the best use of their time have none to spare" Thomas Fuller

Schools Out!

Have I done enough to pass? There's always hope I guess.

Monday and Tuesday were amongst the most difficult days of my life, eight exams to take all written in the RHS's unique parlance, it was a bit of a lottery sometimes things fell right and sometimes they didn't. Highlights (or should that be lowlights) were, 1. the plant nutrition paper that awarded ten whole marks for the description of a wormery with another two points given for naming the type of worm required to run one (where I pulled that piece of information from I'll never know), 2. In protected environments, a detailed table to fill in of a description of various rooms in the house and the effect of keeping house plants in them,does anyone you know keep potted plants in the bedroom? There were many other examples of tricky wording to be negotiated but who cares? It's all over, no more studying until I begin again in September!

"Learn something new every day under the sun. You will never get old if you do" Lois Bey

Damage Limitation

A short post today folks as the next few hours are all I've got to cram a little more knowledge into my skull! Horrid weather again for gardening at Norton on Saturday, all of us were disappointed to see the wind damage when the garden was looking so spectacular last week. We spent much of the day tidying up and re-tying plants that had come adrift from their supports. Nevertheless some specimens are looking astonishingly beautiful, like this Eryingium alpinum, it will soon turn a shocking electric blue, ruffs and all and look even more exciting.
That's all until Wednesday, wish me luck with the exams!

"Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it"
Winston Churchill

Orchard Or Wild Flowers?

It was nice to be back at Spofforth again yesterday, it's been nearly a month since I was last there, what with half term, emergency hospital trips with the boy, and Di's annual painting holiday keeping us apart. I was astonished at how much everything has grown, especially the orchard which resembles a wild-flower meadow. Di is loath to cut it because of the flowers much to Brian's disgust! I suggested that they just cut a path into the orchard and around the trees, leaving everything else to finish flowering before taking the scythe to it. Meadows are very eco-friendly and de-rigueur at the moment and I think the idea appealed to the botanist in Di, but I've a feeling Brian's tidy mind will win the day, I'll keep you posted!

"Landscapes have a language of their own, expressing the soul of things, lofty or humble, which constitutes them, from the mighty peaks to the smallest of the tiny flowers hidden in the meadows grass" Alexandria David-Neel

yesterdays renovation project

Di intends to mingle flowers and cabbages here!

Countdown

The final countdown has begun, this time next week the exams will be over and I will be free for the summer, it makes me feel like a schoolgirl again! Yet more last gasp revision yesterday which probably didn't do us much good, we were horrified to discover that of all the people who took the February paper on plant nutrition a staggering 43% failed! That's a pretty high percentage, I'm beginning to wish I'd never mentioned taking this course on P&C! Oh well if I don't pass all it proves is that I'm not very good at taking exams, the knowledge is still in my head it just takes longer to find it than when I was 16!

"Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught" Oscar Wilde

"Information is not knowledge" Albert Einstein

The famous Harlow Carr primula hybrids look stunning now

Nettles

We grow Olympic nettles up at Norton Conyers, I've known this for some time having encountered some in the woods that could sting you through your trousers! Yesterday it was time to engage them in battle across the raspberry wires, they and lots of other weeds that have been allowed to grow to gigantic proportions, it's no wonder that no-one wanted to pick the fruit last year. There were only Giles and Alyson tending the garden in 2011 and they simply didn't have the time to tackle the problem, now there is more manpower so we intend to sort it out. We made a start first thing before the mowing duties took over and I was soon regretting not having invested in some gauntlets, it doesn't surprise me to find out that nettle stings contain histamine and formic acid, because it certainly feels like it, a potent cocktail. They also have the nasty habit of continuing to irritate hours after the initial sting. We managed to clear the first row, only another four to go!


"Teachers who inspire know that teaching is like cultivating a garden, those who would have nothing to do with thorns must never attempt to gather flowers"

The round garden, thankfully nettle free!

Battle Of The Bindweed

It was just Alyson and me on a very damp Norton morning yesterday, Giles and the dogs being away on family business, it's astonishing how the weather is always appalling when they are away! I definitely made the right choice of attire though having togged up in full waterproofs, fifteen minutes into removing bindweed in the peony border and we were soaked through. It's a strangely satisfying if monotonous task finding out where each tortuous coil of foliage begins near the the roots and then wrenching it free of its victim. The treatment is mainly cosmetic as it wont take long to grow back, but for the NGS opening today everything must be as good as possible. Fingers crossed the weather is supposed to be better today and if we get a glimmer of sunshine the peonies are poised to burst forth into glorious colour, who would have thought they could be in bloom in June, nearly a whole month later than last year!
To all of you planning to visit the garden we hope you enjoy it and take home with you some of its special magic.

PS Happy fathers day dad xx

"A father is a fellow who has replaced the currency in his wallet with snapshots of his kids" Anon

Still beautiful when rain washed