Where the weeds grow

-
Dear Monty,

As you know I opened the garden under the National Gardens Scheme  www.ngs.org.uk last weekend.



It was a positive experience on the whole, apart from one visitor who suggested that if I was to open next year I should do some weeding.





Perfection is not resident here in this house, garden or soul.

Weeds are now a part of my vision of the imperfect perfection.

I do not strive.

The light made me change direction - sudden light which lit up blues and greens, yellows and purples. There were bees and birds - a chorus of approval. What was before me in this garden was imperfect beauty. 'Weeds' made up the tapestry of colour and fed the bees with nectar.

The thing is, all types of garden can be perfection in our own minds eye, but the bee is less discriminating and the butterfly needs its weeds.

I love gardens of all kinds.





Paul

Comments

  1. Diana Studer2 July 2016 at 20:43

    the weather was kind, and the people came. Tick and tick?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul Steer2 July 2016 at 20:55

      The weather was kind on Saturday and the people came - Sunday was soggy. The best thing about it was that most people understood what the garden was about - that was a great feeling. ☺

      Delete
  2. Anne Wareham3 July 2016 at 10:55

    We need weeds. We can design with weeds too! My next book after - provisional title =
    Gardening for Idlers

    An Improper Gardening Manual

    101 Cunning Stratagems
    for Gardening Avoidance and
    Sensible Advice on your Realistic
    Chances of Getting Away with it

    will be on Weeds. I think. If you all buy Idler... Xxxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul Steer3 July 2016 at 15:08

      I'd buy idler ! X

      Delete
    2. Charles Hawes5 July 2016 at 10:58

      I would just like to apologise for Anne's shameless self-promotion here. Did I tell you that her last book - "Outwitting Squirrels" has sold 11,000 copies? I thought your weeds were excellently placed.

      Delete
    3. Paul Steer7 July 2016 at 20:25

      Thank you Charles - it takes many years of experience to place weeds excellently - Anne is entitled to self promotion especially when she kindly avoided my spelling error in this post, she is not so forgiving with your excellent blog !

      Delete
    4. Paul Steer7 July 2016 at 20:27

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Weariness and the NGS

-
Image
Hello,  I have to admit to a kind of tiredness that comes from somewhere deep inside me. It's a kind of bone deep weariness with my own self, and with what human life has become. Now I'm not saying that I'm depressed, but I'm trying to face the reality of who I am and what the collective 'we' are currently moving through; 'cost of living crisis', wars, famines, dirty politics, corruption. But then those things are always with us, like the realities of illness, separation and loss, but alongside and underneath there remains the living spirit of things. Well here I stand, still alive, still breathing in and out, and yes the garden and this post industrial valley is still singing a lively song. Today its the cuckoo, thrush, raven, buzzard, sparrow, bullfinch and the chirrrup of the blue tit family busy feeding their brood in the nestbox, protesting at our presence sitting under the shade of the umbrella. I believe that singing helps ! I have a friend named
Read more

Letter to Monty Don 48

-
Image
Dear Monty, I know that despite these rambles being addressed to you, they never reach your eyes or heart, but this question is most certainly directed to you : Can nature be ugly ? I am pondering this question sitting in my cupboard of a 'studio' where I am putting the finishing touches to paintings of  British native orchids, pollinators and butterflies for an exhibition next weekend. Now I believe that you understand perfectly well the response you may get when you make statements on GW - including the one about spent buddleja flowers being 'ugly'. I too have always deadheaded my buddleja for the same reason, and as you said to promote new flower spikes. But this ugliness is an intrinsic part of nature - it sets seed to create the next generation, the flowers last but for a few days. Is this ugliness a kind of acknowledgement of the frailty of 'beauty' .... and the cutting off and tidying away a kind of denial ? ( Perhaps I think too much.) I
Read more

Monty, where does the road take us ?

-
Image
Monty, I see you have returned to France. Your film reminded me of my visits to Paris as an art student between 1981-83. It is a city that cannot fail to make an impression with its wide open streets, avenues of trees, the river and public gardens. I particularly remember Versailles with its long canal. At that time I was not aware of having a particular interest in gardens, but the gardens at Versailles were astonishing. I saw them in early morning light, when there were not that many people there. I also remember being intrigued by the garden at the Musee Rodin. Strangely for an art student, it was not the sculpture that caught my attention but the garden with pyramid shaped topiary. Perhaps what I was responding to was the sense of order, balance and harmony. It almost feels as though I was meant to visit, and that the encounters I had which were sensually intense, were pre-ordained. There is one incident, which has great significance only to me perhaps, but which was of
Read more