 I'm so thrilled by the tulips this year. This one is called Apricot Impression. It's a Darwin hybrid and the colours are just amazing. It's a deeper colour on the inside and has a pinkish purplish bloom on the outside..   Trouble is when I bring them into the warmth of the house they open up fully within hours! Shop bought ones don't seem to do this. I wonder why? This is Flaming Purissima (some are more flaming than others. See also 3 Apr and 30 Mar).
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I'm indebted to Marie at www.66squarefeet.blogspot.com for this series of questions - I hope you are enjoying them.. What is your favourite garden chore/tool/gadget? 
Here are my favourite tools, all cleaned up for the occasion. The claw is the tool I use most - it's just the right size for my hand. The 'swoe' or winged weeder is a neat little long handled hoe, lightweight and good for getting between plants, and the garden line - I just like it.
I think pruning is my favourite garden chore. I like to prune both for the health of the plant and for aesthetic effect. I hate to see a plant butchered looking. What is your least favourite garden chore? It has to be clearing moss from the topsoil (it occurs to me if I used the swoe more during the winter there might be less of it!), followed closely by clearing up after myself - though I do remind myself to stop while I still have the energy left to put everything away. Using the wheelbarrow for all the tools etc makes it easier. .....do you have favourites/least favourites? 
'The force
that through the green fuse
drives
the flower.'
Dylan Thomas
PS It's snowing here today!  ..and there is no one more expert or helpful than Beth Chatto. I mentioned her in yesterday's post, and browsing her website www.bethchatto.co.uk came across the information that she has become the first Honorary Patron of Great Dixter. I can't imagine anyone better. She and Christopher Lloyd of Great Dixter were great friends, and both loved to share their knowledge and their gardens. When I first visited Beth Chatto's garden I was almost overwhelmed by its beauty. Here were no formal vistas/ parterres/allusions to classical gardens/ornaments/fountains/signposts/tearooms/grandiose effects/gift shops - nothing but marvellous plants beautifully grown and wonderfully put together with knowledge and love and artistry. I wrote a letter to say how much I loved it. It wasn't the kind of letter that required a reply, so I was very touched to receive a lovely hand written letter back from Mrs Chatto. I'm hoping to visit again this autumn.... More questions from Marie at http://66squarefeet.blogspot.com It's nice to hear that some of you are also enjoying her blog as much as I do....
Do you grow food, flowers,native or ornamental? I'm really a flower gardener at heart and have a deep love of our wild and native flowers. But we have some salad crops and herbs and this year are trying some blackcurrants, redcurrants and raspberries as well as the alpine strawberries I always grow. Most inspiring garden designer/thinker/personality? So difficult to choose, but probably Beth Chatto. For her encyclopaedic knowledge, integrity, artistry and utter devotion to plants. www.bethchatto.co.uk And all her books are wonderful! What plants do you dislike? That black ugly thing so gangly - aeonium. Double-double versions of simple things like primroses and daisies. And I can't summon up any enthusiasm for cactus.... And you? |
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