It’s All Monty’s Fault

 Disclaimer: before I upset my daughter and son-in-law, the Monty to whom I am referring is NOT their Monty, who is an adorable and enormous fluffy sausage of a cat. Definitely NOT his fault at all. He is faultless. Well, in this instance he is. He has been known to have his moments, but in this case, he is as angelic as a cat can be - big shiny halo, glittery wings and all.

Onwards…

…it is Day Three in the Big Spring Sunshine House which means I have been gardening for three days. (And don’t my muscles know it.) Anyway, the thing is , if I have taken a slightly laissez faire attitude to my gardening , it is all the fault of this Monty…

There he is - the intellectual gardening woman’s crumpet. Since seeing him in his show on Sunday, where the mantra seemed to be that, if you are a British gardener, then you are officially eccentric and, therefore, have full permission to do gardening however you like and sod the rules, I have been thinking, yes, right - stop all this planning which is probably preventing me from doing full on gardening because I am overly conscious of doing it ‘properly’ and don’t want to make mistakes, and just get on with, well, the gardening. 

Therefore, I have paid two visits to my favourite independent garden centre (called Oakgates, since you ask) and I have bought what I liked the look of, and not what might or might not suit the garden. It’s a sort of eclectic do or die approach, really. 

I mean, I know what I like. And I know what I don’t like. Why would I buy something I don’t like just because it will suit the conditions of the garden? Eh? EH??? Therefore, in no particular order of preference, I bought and have fully committed to various areas of the garden: 

…bleeding hearts (don’t ask me for the Latin names. I cannot be arsed). 

Pulmonaria. I bought three different varieties - this one - Blue Ensign - a variegated one called Trevi Fountains, and a pink one called ‘Shrimps On The Barbie’ which entertained me no end. I remember my Gran having lots of pulmonaria in her garden and I love that I like what she liked. 

Various colours of bellis which is part of the daisy family and I love daisies. Very cheerful. I’ve confined them to pots for now but will release them into the borders when they’ve finished flowering. I suspect they might be rampant. There is also a primula in with them, just to keep an eye on any daisy malarkey. I bought a few primulas and have planted all bar one because I don’t know what colour it will be and that WILL make a difference about where it goes. 

Some hellebores. One purple. No idea what colours the others will be. It will be a SURPRISE!! I found a load of rubble underground when I was making holes for these, and therefore I shall now always associate hellebores with hard manual labour. 

A single clump of fritillaries. I am returning to Oakgates to buy some more for the orchard based on an article in this month’s Gardener’s World magazine. 

A baby rosemary. I bought two actually. One for a pot and one to place next to my current rosemary which has reached the grand height of six feet tall and is looking a bit woody. These are called ‘Mrs Jessopp’s Upright’ which makes me wonder if Mrs Jessopp is often prone. Anyway, I’m glad she’s up and about now. 

Are you bored yet? There’s more…

Ranunculus. I bought four. Would that be ranunculi? Or ranunculum? Very pretty. No scent, though, which seems a bit sad. 

Campanula. Promises big things on the flowering front. 

Some more primula. Just to add a bit of Spring colour to the lupin bed. The lupins, which I grew from seed last year, are doing very well indeed. Green and buoyant and ready to go. 

And finally, a baby camellia  who goes by the name of ‘Dr Ralph Watkins.’ This is he…it…

I’ve put him in a large pot because I’ve heard they get sniffy about being moved. Could grow between five and six feet tall. Pink flowers. Nice. 

Monty also said that all gardens should have a big feature in them. He said that big things make gardens look bigger. Therefore, today I ordered a big thing for the garden. Well, not hugely big, but bigger than a wheelbarrow, which is pretty big on my scale of Big Things. I suspect Monty might look at it and think, ‘Is that IT?’ He would, of course, be too polite to say it out loud.