Pish to thee Monty

-
Dear Monty,



Again I say pish.

I was scorned for planting bedding begonias (2 quid a tray from Homebargins) in some of my pots and borders. I admit to panic buying them shortly before opening for the NGS in June.

I had little colour in the garden, which under normal circumstances wouldn't bother me that much but I felt obliged to offer just a little.
Some - who shall be nameless - mocked my efforts. Deservedly so - it was a rushed and mad idea which really wasn't me , or so I thought.

But pish ! I now like them because they are picking up the red of the new flame -tipped growth of the Norway maple, and just look right ! There I said it.







I know you have been down right rude about begonias Monty - and it seems this may be one of the rare occasions when the co - maker of The Veddw agrees with you.

In life it seems so much easier to accept the infinite variety of taste.




I like saying pish.

Paul

Comments

  1. JohnK8 August 2016 at 20:49

    Definitely pish! I have begonias in planters and dotted around the borders. Five hanging baskets of "monochrome" semperflorens, one pink with green foliage, one green with bronze and so on. And I have a couple of hundred mass-planted in a bed in the middle of one of the front lawns. That bed has been begoniaized every year for over 20 years and I love it. Though I don't buy from Homebargains, I grow my own. Couldn't afford that quantity of grown plants! So definitely pish! Lots of begonias (but no wavey hedges).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anne Wareham9 August 2016 at 10:23

    I like 'pish' too. Not sure about begonias. Pics too distantly discreet for us to really tell, though I can se a red blob twice in one.....

    Context is all.Xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Charles Hawes12 August 2016 at 10:05

    Haha! So when you said "pish" to me on our walk this week, now I know what you are referring to! And since then I have waded deeper into to the mire unawares that you had made this post. Well I am not convinced, and Monty and I think that this post hasn't made your case.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pity the cabbage white

-
Image
Dear Monty, Having seen you protect your newly planted cabbages from cabbage white butterflies - it made me realise that I haven't seen many this year. Despite warmth yesterday - a brief interlude with blue sky and a light wind there was a dearth of butterflies in the coal tip garden. There were honey bees, bumble bees, wasps, hover flies, a gangly legged wasp, one hedge brown, one speckled wood and a common blue - that is all. Oh and a frog sheltering in the shady hosta and a silent peregrine falcon swooping overhead. What has happened to all the insects ? What has happened to all the aphids this year ? Is it just me that is missing them ? I have seen no ladybirds or ladybird larvae - because there have been so few aphids - was it the birds that have snaffled them ? I worry about the lack of insect numbers. We walked through a wild meadow full of meadow cranesbill and meadowsweet with the purple haze of knapweed in the grasses and yet there were one or two meadow br...
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