VARIEGATION AND STUFF

First a picture up the garden from the terrace. It is becoming clear that having the main structural line - e.g. the hoggin path - leading one's eye to the veg and fruit beds is not right.

Either the eye must be diverted, the kitchen garden hidden behind a hedge or fence or a better focal point installed.

The problem is we cannot afford a Henry Moore bronze.

Two lunches out in succession - yesterday with family and old friends by Coniston Water and today with NC on Strawberry Bank.

Now strawberries are not something we have - ?

After the second lunch went to Halecat - wonderful now - and bought an arctotis, some sweet peas in much better nick than mine, an achillea and some white valerian to compliment the red and pink we have. However, I will plant the white away from the others to avoid too much cross pollination.

Have done this down by the wendy house.

Also buried some sprouting kitchen potatoes in the side of the manure heap.

Then moved the comfrey near the house down near the ponds where it can grow happily and I can harvest for compost etc.

This brings me to variegation - the comfrey as shown here is not as invasive and vigorous, and better to look at.

I was talking above about focal points and here is the current one growing

near the end of the path through the lawns - variegated horseradish - and the leaves seem to have much less green in them than last year.

So to thoughts of the Chelsea flower show.

More and more it reminds me of the ridiculous fashions one sees in London Fashion week. Interesting as creations but no one will be wearing them - well, some oddballs might. And so too with gardens many of which have little connection to most of us as practical in our gardens - with the plants in the tents this is different.

I sit here at the computer and look at the late afternoon light filtering through the trees in the wood, through the campion, foxgloves and pignut, and think, 'Eat your heart out Chelsea.'