March Update

MARCH

Camellias, Penhaligon’s and a visit to Beth Chatto.

With slightly warmer days than expected, March brought more flowers than anticipated, making this month a real treat for creativity. I’ve never had the luxury of growing camellias, their slow growth rate and shady and sheltered requirements being a deterrent for planting them, so to find an established one in the new garden in Twickenham is incredibly joyful. It’s been flowering steadily for a month, and I couldn’t resist cutting a few stems to create with.

Getting to work with colours so vibrant this early in the year was an unexpected pleasure , with the flowering current Ribes sanguineum ‘King Edward VII’ bringing some height and two prized epimedium flowers for detail. I didn’t plant any tulips last autumn, the combination of moving house and touring feeling like it would be a bit risky and wasteful (definitely one of my prouder moments of self control), but I’ve found myself missing their blousy beauty. Luckily, I’m surrounded by wonderfully talented growers, so a big thank you to Jade and Russell at Hook Heath Flower Farm for these orange stunners.

Ribes sanguineum ‘King Edward VII,’ Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’, Tellima grandiflora ‘Forest Frost’,  Epimedium x warleyense ‘Orange Quuen’, Camellia, Tulipa ‘Orange Princess’

March meant the first event of the year and it truly was a dream job. An intimate dinner for 30 guests at the Sir John Soane museum, as part of Penhaligon’s Global Education Conference. Seasonal and fragrant was the brief, so brass vases filled with narcissi paired with bowl of ribes, fritillaria and dutch iris ran the length of the table. Two larger arrangements for the bar with twisty willow, blossom, and cascading clematis armandii added simple but graceful beauty. An ornate venue filled with character, it was a treat to create in such a space.

from left to right:  bowl arrangment, naricissi in brass vases

At the field, I’ve started underplanting the roses with spring and early summer flowering perennials - varieties of pimpinella, geranium, nepeta, dicentra, polemonium and astrantia so far, with more plants from beds in other areas of the field to be brought over. I’ve planted in groups of 3 quite close together and mulched with a composted wood chip to help minimise weeds and give them the best start possible. Whilst it will take a couple of years to hit it’s stride, I’m hopeful the abundant romance of the modern cottage garden will be invoked this year, as the plants were a decent size when planted so hopefully will flower this year. The heuchera, geum and tellima that are now 2 years old have bulked out tremendously and will be split in the autumn. I think that’s been one of my proudest growing moments so far - having plants thrive and be healthy enough that they can be divided and multiplied for free. It’s incredibly thrilling and really makes you feel you’re doing something right.

Will and I had a rare weekend off together, so headed to Beth Chatto’s garden in Essex for the day. Always a place of inspiration with the most excellent nursery and varieties available, I managed to practice immense self restraint and not buy anything new until I’ve got what’s already waiting in pots at the field in to the ground. Still, a boy can dream! The pioneer of ‘right plant, right place’, the nursery  also follows these principles and is simply laid out - with Shade, Dry, and Damp all having their own separate area before you come to the large ‘General’ area. My wishlist of dry plants feels ever-growing, but until I can justify making a dry bed I’m holding off purchasing, as with the clay soil at the land it would feel like a bit of a waste of money to try. If all goes well this season, hopefully 2027 might be the year! Let’s see!

left: the Dry Garden, right: Arum italcum subsp. italicum ‘Marmoratum’

April is now upon us, and the planting, seed sowing and mulching continues in earnest.

Thanks for reading.