Oo argh... and a bit of Cheddar...

Well folks, we are blogging from the leafy lanes of Somerset this week, as the sun shines and the temperatures soar we've left Duck pools for a few days to let her do her thing.
Today we ended up at Cheddar, a beautiful little village where an enchanting little stream flows down from the Gorge, where one can sit and watch the baby trout, and where cheese has dominated, yet has been the making of the village.
We pic-nicked there before heading back, stopping at the local farm shop to pick up the first English-grown strawberries of this year! We did also stop of at Sanders Garden World- a huge garden centre just out of Burnham-on-sea which was tempting fate as, surprise, surprise, i did end up making a purchase however, i do hasten to add i managed to limit myself to only three plants: Cerastium, corsican mint and a delightful plant in the busy lizzy family (Impatiens) called Impatien velvetea 'Secret Love'. I already have some idea of where each one will go, the cerastium will warrant a sunny spot with good drainage so should thrive in the rockery. The corsican mint can be planted on th edge of the pool to gradually mask the sides and the impatiens can go in the jungle garden in a fairly shady position. There's three jobs for my return!
Without a doubt, all you avid gardeners will be watching Chelsea flower show this week as are we. Already we have seen some lovely show gardens (i especially took a liking to Joe Swifts first ever chelsea garden) however each and every year i fail to see any point in the gardens of Diarmud Gavin. Perhaps its just acquired taste that i dont have but they just seem so way out! Last year we had a garden where you were raised god-knows how many feet of the ground by crane wire and this year he's gone and designed a glorified multi-storey block of flats, each storey with its own unique asset such as shower, cafe or car! Despite this, its lovely to see abit of sunshine for Chelsea and we wish all those exhibiting the best of luck as they find out today what medals have been awarded!
I did intend to post some photos but the server is very slow down here so i'll hang on to them and post them when we're back at HQ.

A few snapshots of the month of May...

The month of May always holds so much promise. It offers a taste of things to come yet it still hangs on to things that were. For instance, in the rockery here at Duck pools, we still have narcissus in flower and the Iberis sempervirens which started flowering back in March, just as spring was thinking of rearing its beautiful head, is still with us and boasting its brilliant white frothiness.
As we approach the middle of May i thought it would be nice to take a few snaps of various plants and features which are looking especially good at the moment...

Lady in the Japanese Garden, welcoming people to the garden

The sleeping lady in the green man garden

One of our collection auriculas

Solomons seal which we have in the japanese garden and in the green man garden. Looks wonderful at the moment. No saw fly yet!

An old favourite of many; Euphorbia polychroma

We have possibly 50 or more alliums waiting to burst their buds at the moment. Another fortnight and they should all be at their best.

Euphorbia grifithii 'Fireglow'

Smilacena racemosa growing on the edge of the stumpery. This has an intoxicating scent.

The mouse plant growing in the stumpery. A wonderful curiosity.

Centaura montana. This is the first one of the year- the bees will be happy.

Thalictrum 'Black Stockings' With a name like that who can resist!

Narissu 'Sundisc' in the rockery.

The alpine geraniums in the rockery have just started flowering.



The painted fern growing in the rockery. I would like to add this to the stumpery

Nemo, rather fittingly situated next to our pond.

This beautiful baby-pink rhododendron belongs in the japanese garden.

As regular readers may realise; there are no photos of the Jewel garden purely because it does not come into its own well into summer. At this time of the year the Jewel garden is building up steam with perennials such as penstemons, verbena, monarda and heleniums surging throughg the ground and building up momentum. These are to be joined by half hardy annuals such as cosmos, rudbeckias and zinnias. And then it shall all come to a magnificent crescendo when bulbs such as gladioli, dahlia, lillies and crocosmia join the floral chorus. So you will have to wait for photos of that...

Lords and ladies...

A clipped and shampooed Cookie

We took Cookie for another walk tonight. We took a route which took us through grassland and nice houin estates until we reached a large lake where a menagerie of ducks and geese reside, a really lovely place. Cookie had been taken for a shampoo and trim today and she did look lovely. I especially liked her bushy eyebrows!

Lakeside

On the way back i just happened to catch a glimpse of something in the hedgerow which, at this time, shootsup in abundance. The plant is Lords and Ladies (Arum) and throws up pale green/white spathes which, in autumn, are followed by bright brilliant red berries that the birds find irresistable.

We have a similar plant in the garden (Arum italicum) whose foliage is a lovely glossy dark green with white marbling. It grows best in moist shade but we have it growing in dry shade beneath a dense thicket of bamboo which just goes to show it can cope with any extreme.

Cuttings and Little Larford

Vitamin C for rooting cuttings

This morning i was busy in the pottingshed taking cuttings off various herbaceous perennials ready for one of our plant sales. These included Persicaria 'Red Dragon', monarda, geum rivale  and erysimums like the one above. However, instead of using rooting powder as i normally would i have tried something a little different. We went to a talk/demonstration at our local gardening club last month given by Brian White, a very good pelargonium nurseryman, and he swore by vitamin C for taking cuttings. His argument for vitamin c was that he reckons the cuttings root twice as quickly as those treated with rooting powder. So to that end, i have taken half our cuttings without vitamin c and half with to see if there is any considerable difference between rooting times. We will have to keep you posted on this one...
This afternoon, i took a phone call from a friend of ours we call John the baptist. Being at such a loose end because he couldn't get on his allotment he suggested we go and see another very good friend of ours and a jolly good grower who lives out in the country amongst five acres of woodland along the banks of the river Severn. Some of you may well recognise his cottage from various gardening magazines or you may have even visited this place yourself:

Little Larford Cottage

Looking up the drive to the thatch

This charming little thatch cottage is called 'Little Larford' famed for its 'Tuliptime' where thousands of visitors would flock on their open days as the garden became home to over 10,000 tulips, planted amongst sweeping herbaceous borders. And this all belongs to Derek Walker, a very good friend of ours for a nuber of years. He is an ex nurseryman who has been involved in the trade all his life before selling out to the Wyevale chain. Derek is on o those guys who you very rarely meet these days; he is a true gentleman. Unfortunately Derek and his wife Lyn no longer open their garden to the public but you can still see photos of his garden published throughout various gardening magazines and on the internet. It alwaya a pleasure to go over and visit Derek and you rarely come away empty handed. In fact, today John the Baptist came away with a compost bag full of tulips for naturalising in his allotment!

Derek buy at work

A walk in the park

Adam and Cookie

Lately, we've been going out on a night for a walk, usually about 5 or 6 miles. But, we haven't been alone- we have been taking Cookie- an ayredale who belongs to a relative who is no longer able to walk her such a distance. Asi'm sure you'll agree she is a beautiful dog and very full of life! Tonight we have done what we call our 'park walk'. Its a lovely walk which starts off through several housing estates and past several allotment sites which is always interesting to see what other people have been up to! A steep sloping grass bank then leads down to a large expanse of grassland bordered by a natural stream where cowslips, ramsons, fritillaries and celandines flourish.Moving on, we cross a sweet little bridge and onto the park itself, leading past yet another allotment site before returning back to Duck Pools. The smell of the ramsons (wild garlic) is overpowering on a damp day especially at this time of the year as it comes into flower:

Wild Garlic (Ramsons)

Passed a front garden on the way back and saw this beautiful wallflower which appeared to have self sown amongst the emerging sword-like leaves of crocosmia. What a colour! One thing we didn't grow here this year is wallflowers and we have missed them. We have Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' in the jewel border and a dazzling little alpine erysimum in the rockery which, at this time of the year, is smothered in golden yellow flowers which are a magnet for the bees.

Wallflower

We have got some Erysimum 'Rysi Gold' cuttings on the go at the moment which will fit in well either in the Green man garden or the jewel border with their golden orange flowers which, like most perennial wallflowers, have a delicious yet subtle fragrance which becomes most noticable on a warm, damp evening. Gorgeous!

Well, having managed a blog about showing flowers and vegetables for twelve months i am now concentrating my attentionson this new blog which will cover all aspects of gardening here at Duck Pools. Along the way you will meet some of our best friends,some old and some new, the various animals we share of lives with and the tens of thousands of plants that we grow here sat Duck Pools. Some of the posts will come from the vegetable garden where we grow all our herbs, fruit and vegetables and cutflowers for the vase. Other posts will come from our various outings to other peoples gardens and NGS gardens. The remaining posts will be focused on our gardening here at Duck Pools covering every aspect of gardening from the new jungle garden we are creating and the Japanese garden which is under construction. Along with the new stumpery, there is the shady border and the jewel border where the colour pallette is very select to the green man garden where as much colour as posible is used and round every corner and in every nook and cranny there is a hidden surprise and a face staring back at you! We will cover all aspects from propagation and the mammoth task of sowing seed and pricking out tray after tray of bedding to the invigorating moment when, armed with a wad of brown paper bags, i descend upon the borders to save my own seed from our own stock plants. There are shrubs, perennials, alpines, exotics, ponds, climbers and much much more to talk about.   The exciting thing about this garden is that it is always evolving and changing. Whatever the orientation of each post, i sincerely hope you enjoy reading each and every one of them... Adam