Tuesday 21 May 2019

That time of year again

Yes, Chelsea is with us and I am glued to the screen at eight o'clock all week as I am every year.   What beauty there is there and how clever these garden designers are.   I know we can't begin to design them for our own gardens - I don't think they are intended for that - but we can admire the planting schemes, look for new plants and new colour schemes and just enjoy the general gardening chat.   I love it.

A lot of book work to do this afternoon, which I find very tiring but is necessary at the moment.   For relief after the tuna salad I made for myself I have just been out into the garden and put in a dozen mixed antirrhinums in my long border.   It is a new border made for me when my gardener built a new fence and I spent a hundred pounds on new plants to put in.   Now that the tulips have finished (they have been lovely) and I have taken them up it is hard to see where my hundred pounds worth of plants have gone - there is so much spare soil.   So, best to get the  spaces filled in quickly while Chelsea is on the television and before my interest wanes as Summer progresses.   Now I just want my gardener to come tomorrow and water them all well.

I am pleased to hear that our old friend's cat had not been run over as first thought but had actually gone under a bush in the garden to die - as so many cats do (our farm cats did it all the time, they never wished to be disturbed).   She was an old cat and has given our friend many years of pleasure.

15 comments:

JayCee said...

Goodness, I haven't seen antirrhinums for such a long time. I rememebr as a child we used to love pushing our finger and thumb into them and making little mouths of them!

Tom Stephenson said...

Cats are so dignified in their preferred choice of death. I hope I get that choice. Under a bush would suit me fine.

I have worked for several Chelsea Flower Show gold medalists, and they are all pains in the arse.

Heather said...

I love antirrhinums and called them snapdragons as a child. I would creep along the border looking for newly fallen ones to play with and like JayCee in her comment, make their mouths open and close.
I'm enjoying Chelsea too and look forward to seeing the Artisan Gardens. I have seen a glimpse of the Yorkshire one - it is amazing.
Poor Puss, at least he died in his own time and chosen place.

Charles said...

Snap dragons are their proper name. What good news about the cat. Mind you I could still do with some rain.

Joanne Noragon said...

It was a grandchild who showed me how snapdragon mouths open and close. Who would have thought.

Cro Magnon said...

My late mother was a great gardener, and would often go to Chelsea. I always enjoy watching it on TV, but rarely take much note of what I see.

Derek Faulkner said...

I'm surprised that you've already taken your tulips up, mine are still in green leaf and therefore still storing food for next year. Most will probably stay in the ground anyway but then I don't suffer from squirrels and mice. As for planting things now, my clay soil is like concrete from lack of rain. As for Chelsea, I thought Joe and Monty hit the nail on the head when debating what those fancy efforts along the Main drag are and deciding that they're not gardens as such. I prefer the tented areas and all the new varieties of plants.

Librarian said...

I am not a gardener myself (never having had my own garden may have something to do with it), but I love gardens and parks. I just wish people would not go for the sterile variety so much, it takes away food and shelter that our insects, birds and other animals really need to survive.
Will you let us see your border when it is all planted?

Sue in Suffolk said...

We used to call them nip-noses! (that's the antirrhinums I mean)
I like watching Chelsea too, on in the afternoons as well

the veg artist said...

Watching Chelsea is making me feel very 'on trend' this year. We've allowed foxgloves to grow along some edges of the veg beds, and they are huge, varied in colour and quite magnificent. Chelsea seems to be full of them. Pure chance!

thelma said...

I think foxgloves have a classic appeal, also bought some antirrinhums, white though, along with Sweet Williams I think they are my favourite summer flowers. As for Chelsea, such a lot of hard work to create those gardens, the Yorkshire canal garden is very good.

Derek Faulkner said...

The point made last night was that they aren't gardens, they're showpieces and in my opinion, simply there to act as good PR for their sponsors with unlimited money to spend.

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Ruth said...

It's too bad you must dig up your bulbs because of the critters eating them. It made me think of my mother who dug up all her tulips and daffodils every year, replanting them the end of October or beginning in November. I couldn't understand why she felt compelled to do that, until I remembered that she'd always had dahlias and canna lilies where she'd lived before. As they had to be dug up, she must have thought all bulbs would have to be. She would sit for hours when they'd dried, rubbing them with her thumbs until they were white and clean. She couldn't abide dirt, not even on her bulbs, God bless her. She was blessed with good legs and knees, though, which I'm not. I'm an armchair gardener/dreamer now. She could crawl around on her knees, weeding and planting, until she was nearly 90, seven years before she died.
I'm so happy to know that you can still get around your garden, doing as much as you can yourself, and that you've got a reliable gardener for all the rest. Looking forward to seeing your plantings, and hoping you receive enough rain for them. And sunshine!!

The Furry Gnome said...

Gllad to see Chelsea is on this week. We too are enjoying it every evening. Our visit ten years ago makes it so much more meaningful; I can relate to the picture of Monty and Joe at the end of Main Street.