Blowing hot and cold.........

We could have had Chelsea Flower Show a couple of weeks ago - the season is so precocious. This week I paid a visit to the cold store. After the heat of the Easter weekend the glasshouse where the show plants take shelter was looking seriously depleted as the flowering stock took refuge in the fridge. Thw warm weekend meant that Ricky spent mostt of it on the nursery - watering three 3 times a day and keeping careful watch over the Chelsea flock.

Rhododendrons in tight bud in the early hours of morning can be well in flower by midday. We can't get any more - so these must be held back for the show. The cold store is a large warehouse fridge - with hard, rather dreary lighting that helps the plants to keep their colour. Cherries in there since early February still think its winter, but will bloom within hours when brought out into the warm. Most plants like the azaleas and rhododendrons are put in when the flowers are opening. This seems to be the best stage for storage as Ricky has learnt over his many years doing the job.

The big challenge now is to find enough space for all the plants we need to hold back. Even a hundred roses are in the cold store - that's the first time I can remember doing that. Usually we are trying to coax them to produce buds in as much heat as possible.

The heat and reulting heavy growth means that some acers are losing colour. We need enough good foliage colour to hold the exhibit together. Also purple and yellow leaves soon lose colour in the Pavilion so it is important to start with as much colour as possible.

Ricky moves some of the Acers into a sheltered spot outside on Tuesday and we also decide to move out some of the herbaceous - things like Erysimums, thymes, santolinas and golden feverfew are also better out in the open at this stage - or so we think. Then of course on Wednesday night the temperatures drop big time - frost on the grass and on the car on Thursday morning is not a welcome sight - however we seemed to get away with it.

Royal Wedding day today and they promised rain. So far its dry, bright, cool and with that light drying wind that never did any garden any favours. What will the next two weeks bring? Who knows. For all those plants in cold storage it shouldn't make too much difference. Their challenge will come when they re-emerge into the outside world!