Italy beckons...

Ciao! Off to Italy on Saturday for 11 days, staying in a villa on Lake Como. I'm taking the laptop and hopefully I'll be able to post from there - if the Galloping Gardener can do it then so can I - we'll  see! If I have any technical difficulties I'll have to do a huge post when I get back. Hoping to visit lots of gardens around the Italian Lakes, where I should find lots of tulips, camelias and perhaps the odd azalea and rhododendron. One thing is for sure, I'll be attempting to eat my own body weight in pasta and gelato. Buono!

Vann-tastic!

Today I paid my first vist to Vann Water Gardens in Surrey. It will not be my last! What an amazing place - rambling Tudor house surrounded by immaculate Spring planting, then on to water gardens where meandering streamside banks are carpeted with daffodils, anenomes and the most exquisite snake's head fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris). Gertrude Jekyll was the mastermind behind this beautiful garden. She certainly knew what she was doing - this has to be one of the finest Spring Gardens in Britain. Do visit their website: Vann Garden to find out about other openings later in the year - I might just see you there! And I make no apologies for the amount of photos I've posted below - I was snapping left, right and centre!

Garden Update

I haven't posted for a while, due to being manically busy at school, organising concerts, attending parents evenings, dressing up as a bunny to host a fashion show, the usual stuff! Term ends on Friday so the end is in sight...Have spent a wonderful day today gardening in the glorious sunshine. Below are a few snaps I took this afternoon, showing some of the things happening in the garden.

Spring Splendour

After a lovely weekend in Winchester celebrating Mum and Dad's Golden Wedding, we made a couple of stops on the way home to enjoy some Spring colour. First was The Hillier Garden in Hampshire, where hellebores were at their best, camellias were peaking and some rhododendrons were coming into flower.

Then it was on to West Dean Gardens in West Sussex, where the Spring Garden is now at its best. Beautiful! Oh, and by the way, West Dean won today's scone competition!

Now you see it...

Now you don't!

This poor old shrub had a date with an electric saw at the weekend. It's cruel, I know, but it has enjoyed a good life. It was there when I moved here three years ago, and I don't even know what it was. It was deciduous, and was plastered with little white flowers around May. Last year I took out a huge dead Hebe that was next to it. Of course this meant one side of the above mystery shrub was left looking sorry for itself, and I'm afraid I just couldn't bear to look at it any longer. Now that it's gone, the Buxus next to it is showing its ugly side too - I could go on wrecking the whole mixed hedge like a set of dominoes! But the Buxus will recover, so I think that's it now. Oh, but I did take out another dead Hebe - swiftly to be replaced by a Ceanothus which should fill the gap - I have nice neighbours but I do like to feel enclosed!

Carpets of Snow

I enjoyed a visit to Pembury House in Clayton, Sussex today, open for the NGS. The gardens are known for their winter interest, but it is clear from the emerging shoots that they must be pretty splendid all year round. The garden is around two acres, mostly open with trees and large swathes of planting, and lovely views across Sussex. My favourite part of the garden was closer to the house, where a series of intimate areas have been created, also planted with lots of snowdrops and hellebores. Also took the opportunity to pop into Rushfields Plant Centre at Poynings, just north of Brighton, to check out the plants...and the cheese scones...yum!

Last of the Leeks!

I'm not a great vegetable gardener, but I do like to get some leek seeds started about now. How wonderful that the seeds I planted 12 months ago are still giving me a harvest. Today I arrived home from work with a little daylight to spare, so I popped up to the veg coffin (only after building the raised bed did I realise it looked just like a coffin!) to pull up some tasty leeks.

 Once cleaned and chopped I put them in a pan with some garam masala. Next I added some veg stock, sweet potatoes and lentils.

After 20 minutes it all got whizzed with my magic wand (hand blender), seasoned, then.....mmmm, ready to eat!

And just a curiosity for you to end with - about a month ago I pulled some leeks, and rather lazily chucked the roots into a pot with just soil in it. Bizarrely, they have rooted and are now trying to grow into new plants!