The weather this weekend has been more than changeable. One moment brilliant sunshine, *as you can see, the next gray and hail stones. The constant theme has been a cold and biting wind. In some ways this didn’t matter yesterday as I spent the day at the Hardy Plant Society AGM held at Pershore College. The local group I belong to was hosting the event so I spent some time handing out badges which I enjoy as you get to meet people and its a good way to break the ice.
There were a number of nurseries selling plants including Julian Sutton of Desirable Plants. He is an Epimedium nut, which I also seem to be becoming, and had some wonderful specimens for sale including Epimedium Egret (above) which I just had to buy. Two other epimediums went in my bag along with Soldanella and an Amenone lipsiensis. Julian gave the morning’s talk entitled The Botanical Garden which I really enjoyed as he talked about how particular plants fascinated him and why. He argued that the Botanical Gardener takes more of an interest in the plants they grow than how tall they are or what color the flower etc, which mirrors how I feel about plants. The AGM followed lunch with talk about how the Society can increase membership etc – seems to be a theme amongst the various groups I involved with. The afternoon talk was by the head gardener at Aberglasney in which he highlighted changes he intends to make to the garden. Apparently there is a new woodland garden which looked fab in the photographs so I think I might make a visit later in the year to see how much it has changed since I last visited.
Due to the intermittent rain my plans for today were limited but I did succeed in planting the Edgeworthia chrysantha in the patio border and also dividing the snowdrops and spreading them down towards the greenhouse. I think I can now leave this border be for a while.
The Cottage Border is filling out but I want to add a bay standard half way down and also another Delphinium which are loitering on the patio waiting for a home. Then I think it is a case of filling in with hardy annuals later in the year and maybe some more geraniums and primulas.
I managed to plant another hellebore and fern at the far end but by this time the ground was too damp to do much else with so I spent another hour or so repotting various primulas and other alpines which I hope to show if they decide to flower at the right time.
So it has been a nice and gentle weekend. I have done a lot of planning, reading and thinking and I think ideas for the Big Border are beginning to come together in my head at last so hopefully next weekend the weather might be kind enough to let me start putting them into action.
*The top photo is the view from my living room window which was well received earlier this week on Facebook. I thought I would include this view on a regular basis but it goes without saying that there will often be reflections on the glass from the sun.