Letters to garden makers

Dear reader, I know I have dealt with this subject before, but then we have to deal with it every year, it is reality for everything that exists in the universe. The garden in context - behind that cypress The garden is in its decaying cycle, a vital part of being. I feel challenged because like many of us, I don't want to let it happen, and spend lots of time trying to prevent it ! This year though the garden has tipped deeper into the decay cycle, a bit like my ageing body. The challenge comes because as garden makers we are meant to keep up appearances, to be tidy, to be pretty in decay.  The 'arbour' is held up by clematis montana alone ! The shed is collapsing. Owl's perch has rotted. And I like a fool thought, yes let's open again for the NGS next year. Then I thought, no I can't, this space is just too untidy, too scruffy, too decayed. But I step back and think what does it matter ? This is my reality, it exists and I see beauty in it. I simply don't ...

Dear reader, I've been immersed in gardens this last couple of weekends. Immersed in thought, reflection, a kind of listening to the deeper things. I sits here and thinks Last weekend I was at Aberglasney Gardens in Carmarthenshire taking advantage of an opportunity to show some artwork mixed in with the Welsh Orchid Society's Annual Orchid Festival. It was a chance to briefly experience the gardens before the visitors arrived, which is a privilege and a treat, and it also gives a kind of breathing space to hear what the garden is trying to say. Art by me Orchids Beautiful botanical art by  pollyoleary.co.uk I walked around the inside of the walls of the walled garden designed by Penelope Hobhouse, where she has incorporated a walkway which separates you from the central axis and allows you to traverse the perimeter where you can stop and view the central space from different viewpoints. It is contemplative and mirrors the parapet walkway of the cloister garden which was create...

 Dear reader, Anne Wareham's squirrel proof feeder (yes it is squirrel proof) I'm small and so is the garden that to an extent is making, or suggesting itself. It has grown so much, the hedges have now formed walls, which is something I had hoped to achieve, not realising how much work it takes to stop them growing into a forest. Walls Anne Wareham and Charles Hawes s' garden The Veddw www.veddw.com  was the inspiration behind enclosing this space, and creating a cloistered feel. The question is does it do that, or does it feel too hemmed in because it is so small ? Am I trying to be too grand in a small space? The grandest thing for me is that many of the plants in this space have arrived of their own accord over the last 20 years including veronicastrum - has Piet Oudolf sneaked in and planted them I wonder? Veronicastrum, a guest that arrived and is now flourishing Earlier in June I had a foxglove that was the palest pink, almost white, then there are the orchids that ha...