Musings – Page 5 – Helen Yemm

Happy Snappers

I have had two or three in my time, and they hate doing it in the middle of the day. Garden photographers always prefer to hot-foot it to my door before dawn – or when sun, slanting over a sea of catmint and alliums, is definitely over the yard arm. The most dedicated was perhaps Jonathan Buckley. When he lived in Dulwich, forContinue reading “Happy Snappers”

Libertia – finally…

I don’t have a very elegant camera, so I am finding it really hard to get a picture (as promised) that does this wonderful plant justice. However, you can see the dark buds and stems here – quite unlike L. grandiflora: (Click on it for a bigger picture…)

Wadhurst Open Gardens

My village, Wadhurst in East Sussex, has just had its charity Open Gardens weekend and – probably to quote a hundred local newspaper reports on similar events this month, ‘the rain held off’ – just. The lack of precipitation was indeed a mercy afer last year’s wash out – but for those of us who bravely opened ourContinue reading “Wadhurst Open Gardens”

Chelsea Flower Show – a SPANA in the works

I have always moaned about Chelsea for all the usual reasons – the crowds and the scrum; the inevitable domination of the whole event by the show gardens and the fact that they often deceive, horticulturally; and all the drossy, tasteless things on sale (not in the main thoroughfare where the big players have their stalls,Continue reading “Chelsea Flower Show – a SPANA in the works”

Starlets

It is 7 a.m. and I was woken about two hours ago by a raucous cacophony – umpteen parent starlings sitting in the oak tree outside my bedroom, calling out to their fledgelings. We have quite a sizeable colony around here – presumably they like the accommodating construction of the eves of Edwardian houses orContinue reading “Starlets”

Cut it out!

The thing I love about my gardens in May is the almost overwhelming green-ness and lushness of everything. In stuffed gardens like mine, though, it can become almost too much. So while I do go around and mete out the rather daftly named ‘Chelsea chop’ on one or two herbaceous victims, thereby stalling their growth in mid-surge,Continue reading “Cut it out!”

A teaching post

Last week saw me swanning up the M1 with my roof down (glorious weather shone upon us for a whole week) to stay overnight at Coton Manor and teach the following day at the admirable Gardening School there. This is something I have been doing more or less regularly twice a year for the pastContinue reading “A teaching post”

As long as it’s green…

I have been having a go at my dandelions. My lawn is dreadful – basically a bit of weedy, mossy (mostly) green stuff that was in a terrible state when I took it over two years ago because of neglect, shade, too many tree roots, compacted clay soil… all the usual problems. Just by mowingContinue reading “As long as it’s green…”

Helen Dillon’s Libertia

Without a shadow of doubt, the most beguiling plant in my garden in May is Libertia ixioides. The version I have grown for several years, in both my new and my old garden, came from the Great Dixter nursery. The original – which I decided to leave behind when I moved here – was describedContinue reading “Helen Dillon’s Libertia”

No show this week

I had the rather surreal experience of opening up The Telegraph this morning (Saturday) and not finding myself there – for the first time ever in 6 (or is it 7?) years. There have been some weeks when I have had a half-sized column, when the Suits decide to ‘shrink’ the Gardening Supplement into theContinue reading “No show this week”