Flowers, fragrance and filming...........

The wisteria is in full flower on the front of Ampfield House - Hillier Head Office. The front door is open and that deliciously sweet fragrance drifts in on the warm spring air - that's what I call real feel good air conditioning. A great start to the week - had the team here from The Scotts Miracle Gro Company - Paul, John, David and Sarah. Gill organised the day and we started filming clips for www.lovethegarden.com where Chelsea visitors will reveal what makes them Feel Good About Gardening. I kicked off the filming introducing the theme for the show - - horrified to see the picture Pip took of me - doesn't look as if I feel good about anything - I was just concentrating - honestly Pip talked about how she liked to use the garden as a place to relax after work and the importance of plants like Exochorda 'Niagra' to those with small gardens. Since the magazine went out to members this week sales of 'Niagra' have soared. The frothy white flowers are irresistibly appealing when the world seems to be full of glorious spring blossom. Down on the nursery we were lucky to catch up with Ricky for a Plantsman's insight into Chelsea and how preparations are going. the plants look terrific but they are certainly thirsty. The only plants refusing to play the game this year are the foxgloves. These look like cabbages - ridiculously healthy with lots of foliage but few signs of flowers. I am a bit disappointed in these as its the first time I've really planned to use them in a specific location. Oh well - that's just part of the joy of gardening. The azaleas and rhododendrons are showing colour - it seems even before your very eyes. As the weather is set warm more and more will move into the coldstore as each day passes. I'm never very keen on plants spending too long in the fridge. Although they gain a little eternal youth while they are in there they age pretty quickly when they come out. It's a bit like the tale told in that novel I spoke about last time!.

The Spark Ignites..............

It's funny how things turn out. However unprepared I feel for Chelsea, and however vague some of my plans, suddenly something happens and inspiration arrives. This year it happened only yesterday. I had heard that my good friend Jim Keeling was up to something exciting with clay and gold leaf - and yesterday Sue at Whichford pottery e mailed me an image. It wasn't what I was expecting, but wow! - what a stunner.

It was described as a gilded Cypress - but it certainly not some fluffy conifer but a truly, stunning Van Gogh creation in 3D gold. Had I not been told it was a cypress what would I have seen? Energy, emotion, an Olympic flame, a flame of eternal life. My mind immediately wandered to the wonderful H. Ryder Haggard story 'She'. Some may remember the scene where She has bathes in the flames, deep in the mountains, and gained eternal youth. Now wouldn't that be a press story at the foot of the monument in the heart of the Hillier Chelsea exhibit?

Whatever a visitor sees, and wherever his or her mind wanders, this is going to be a focal point to surpass them all, and it fit beautifully with the whole Feel Good About Gardening theme. I could never have designed it as part of the garden - it just arrived and I know it will work. For me that's magic because that's often how real gardens evolve. You plant something with little thought as to location and what's around it and it just works. Another time to you make a very considered decision and have a clear idea of what it will look like and the reality is nothing like the vision. That's the magic of a garden!

Limbering up for Chelsea

The sun has been shining all day, and those Chelsea plants are moving quickly. The Rhododendron 'Horizon Monarch' we looked at the other day are now showing lots of colour and the leaf canopy on the acers is thickening by the hour. I caught up with Ricky this morning - he seems on good form but is a bit concerned about the length of time that some plants will spend in the coldstore.

We also caught up with a few of the Chelsea staging team to take a few shot of us limbering up for Chelsea. Now's the time to get both the plants and the team in shape to ensure peak performance at the show! I have great confidence in both!

Managed to find time to capture a few images for my first lecture in the My Garden School Course - Shrubs - the foundation of good planting. (visit http://my-garden-school.com/shrubs )In this spring weather those spring flowering shrubs are really excelling themselves: ribes, spiraea, magnolia even potentillas and lilacs are blooming already. I hope this does not mean we'll have an earlier gap in the season this year.

Meant to get the nuts and bolts of the two ponds, steam and exercise trail nailed today but it hasn't happened yet. That warm sunshine is just too distracting - will have to get down to boring construction details next week otherwise I really am cutting it fine.

Hopefully the garden centres will have a bumper weekend - certainly the nursery has been operating beyond maximum capacity this week - working well into the night, and sometimes into the early hours of morning. Garden Centres everywhere are welcoming a sales boost after the dark days of winter and everyone is determined to make hay while the sun shines.

Things are Moving .......................

The spring flowers are certainly bursting forth in the garden, and magnolias seem to have escaped frost damage so far this spring - despite a sub zero start to Monday morning.

My first tulips are out - I particularly like this vibrant Synaeda King, its glowing orange pointed blooms are glorious with rich blue hyacinths and that sparkly green and yellow Narcissus 'Rip van Winkle' . Despite the activity in the garden I've been struggling to get excited about Chelsea. So today I took a trip down to the nursery to take a look at some of the show plants.

Things are moving even faster than they are outdoors. Roses are showing buds, and even some of the rhododendrons which arrived at Brentry today ready for close scrutiny and cold storage if necessary are showing signs of colour. Horizon Monarch is always one of the first but one I really like to have for Chelsea with its soft clotted cream blooms and excellent olive-green foliage.

Some of the perennials, such as the aquilegias, Cynara cardunculus and Angelica gigas are incredibly well advanced, whereas the foxgloves are still leafy rosettes with little sign of spike. Cordylines, astelias and acers all look great and I am particularly pleased to see Acer palmatum 'Shaina' in leaf. This is a compact, upright form with slender lobes to the deep red leaves. I think this is going to be really popular for pots and containers.

Just from a quick look at the plants today I picked up a few ideas for colour combinations. I really liked the Cordyline 'Sundowner' with Astelia 'Westland' - That pink and pewter theme could be combined with the darker Acer 'Shaina' and the silver leaves af the cardoon - spike, sculptural, soft yet bold - Maybe, just maybe I'm starting to feel good about Chelsea. Watch this space - but in the meantime check out My Garden School. This is an exciting new on-line learning project - take a look at my Love your Lawn course......... http://www.my-garden-school.com/course/love-your-lawn/

A great night at Chigwell Nurseries last night. At Hillier we are delighted to supply Chigwell (http://www.chigwellnursery.co.uk/) with shrubs and perennials – this nursery/garden centre is a traditional plant based business with a fantastic selection of hardy plants from small alpines and herbs, to giant specimens for instant impact. Veg and grow your own is well represented – even with the addition of chickens and bees in the near future.
Over 100 people came along to my talk about hardy plants to help kick off the gardening season. After a hard early winter I’m pleased to say that gardeners are looking forward to Spring and are raring to get going in the garden.
Jill, Pauline and the team had done a fantastic job setting up with super displays of lovely Hillier plants. They used similar colour themes to those I used at our Open Days for wholesale customers earlier this year; these tie in with the Chelsea theme: ‘Feel Good About Gardening’.
The majority’s favourite was a lovely silver and mauve blend of astelia, heuchera, hellebore, syringa and eucalyptus. Astelia ‘Westland’ looked particularly good with Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’ – I teamed those with some trendy silver-grey shiny pots.
From the green and white theme Ribes ‘Elkington’s White’ was particularly popular. I am really pleased that this plant has been embraced by gardeners. It’s a good performer, easy to grow and a great mixed with easy, tolerant shrubs like choisya, variegated euonymus and Viburnum davidii. Plants that flower early on their bare stems are always a joy and a sign that winter is over and warmer, sunny days are on their way.
Last night was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to talk to people about Meadow anywhere – our wildflower, meadow grass mix in association with Habitataid. A £1 donation from the sale of each pack is split between Butterfly Conservation and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. Lots of customers bought it, many with the intention of growing it in patio planters – and that’s the whole idea – you can have a meadow anywhere!
It was a great evening –I hope the customers enjoyed it as much as I did. That’s the great thing about gardening – we all get just as much out of talking about it as e do doing it. I came home with a lovely big tree heather which will have pride of place in my garden. Thanks to all at Chigwell – hope to visit again soon. Now I better get on with some more Chelsea planning....................

Feel Good About Gardening

Well I would do if I could get out there and do it. Sunday - the last in February, dawned bright and springlike. The snowdrops are already fading and tulips are growing apace. Yesterday I managed to dig out a few clumps of bearded irises from a border that is now too shady for them. They are still sitting on the soil, waiting for a weed free patch in a sunnier spot. Never being one to finish one job before I start the next I dug the bindweed out of part of the veg. patch, with all good intentions of getting an early start with my spuds this afternoon - but rain stopped play - so here I am embarking on this year's Chelsea blog.

Plans for this year's exhibit have been creeping along in the background. We are ahead with the magazine, and behind with detailed plans for the exhibit. Rick and I picked out a few trees in January, and I have produced some semblance of a plant list. I know he will have everything in hand anyway. I paid a visit to organicstone a couple of weeks ago. Vicky, Gina, Sue and Brian were as enthusiastic as ever and gave me confidence in my outline plan - An encouraging day and my first ever experience of Nandos. Is it me or is it just chicken and chips? - I loved it anyway.

Timber buildings and decking all but sorted - just need to finalise exercise equipment - Did I mention that one aspect was all about using the garden as a Green Gym? No - well I think I'll come on to that later.

Meadow anywhere promises to be big news. In conjunction with Habitataid I intend to put a pocket handkerchief meadow into gardens across the country - you too can have a butterfly or a bumblebee in your back yard!

Anyway its stopped raining so I'm afraid its back to those potatoes. Sitting in front of a computer is not going to make me Feel Good About Gardening. Just imagine that healthy exercise wading through the mud, bending over and planting spuds. Must remember to do a few stretches afterwards - or maybe a large glass of red will be more effective!

Back to Basics

I’ve been having a bit of a blog-break but normal service has now been resumed. I might not have been blogging – but I’ve certainly been talking plants and gardens. A few weeks ago I was at Wisley as part of their Tree and Shrub day to rekindle interest in woody plants. I’m all for that and not sure why we’ve let gardeners, especially new ones, forget about the importance of trees and shrubs which are, after all, the backbone of any garden.

It all stems from the way plants are sold today. They have to look good in a pot at the time of sale – hence the popularity of squat, compact varieties that are easy to move around, and don’t take up too much space on a lorry. Those of us in retail seem to believe that everyone buys on impulse, and few have any idea of what they are going to buy when they arrive at a garden centre or nursery. We sometimes forget about the incredible accessibility of information through newspapers, magazines, television and most of all through the internet.

The other influencing factor is the constant demand for new plants. New Plants are news – the media love them – they are stories! Those good old faithful garden basics tend to be ignored. So new gardens are stocked with pots of colour, and anything new; not necessarily always good.

I’ve been flying the flag for those good old hard working shrubs that have held gardens together for the last couple of generations. I want new gardeners to embrace these good doers and achieve success – this will encourage them to stay in love with gardening rather than having a go, failing and taking up decoupage or knitting instead.

I was delighted how well my lecture was received at Wisley and have been encouraged by the response from other groups. I reinforced the message at our autumn open day – my change to encourage our wholesale customers to stock and recommend good basic shrubs. What I have learned is that most of these old familiar favourites are new and exciting to many gardeners and we should never take them for granted.

Take Cornus alba ‘Sibirica Variegata’ for example. This is truly a plant for all seasons: It has deep red stems in winter, pretty cream and green, pink tinged variegated foliage in spring and summer. The leaves turn strawberry-rose in autumn and white berries appear in clusters. It grows on any soil, it never gets bigger than 1 metre tall, and is disease free. How many of the plants in your garden work that hard to earn their keep and are sociable enough to mix in with your treasured roses.

Is this a one off? No of course not there are lots of the: Berberis ‘Rose Glow’, Euonymus ‘Emerald Gaiety’, Viburnum davidii, Choisya ternata – I could go on and on! Whether we are growing them or selling them what we must make sure is that these good, solid subjects are available for gardeners when they want to buy them!