Should I Be Concerned?

The garden was refreshed by early morning rain.

This failed to dampen the ardour of the passion flowers eyeing the red hot honeysuckle,

and gave sweet peas a welcome drink.

The rich red climbing rose Aloha,and the pale pastel bush Margaret Merrill are both in full bloom.

A comment on Houzz GardenWeb forum, posted in July 2007 states that  ‘the Margaret Merrill rose was named [in 1977] after a fictitious character in British advertising, but Harkness had to track down various Margaret Merrills for permission to complete naming the rose’. Margaret Merrill was the nom de plume of a beauty advisor who helped Oil of Ulay (now Olay) sell its beauty products. If you wanted cosmetic advice you wrote to this woman.

This afternoon Jackie drove us to Chandlers Ford for her physiotherapy. I settled down to an hour with Primo Levi’s ‘The Periodic Table’, but I didn’t get very far in my hoped-for completion of this, my current book. Jackie soon emerged with a happy face. She had been told she was doing brilliantly and didn’t need to go again.

On our return we stopped for a visit to Patrick’s Patch in Beaulieu.

This is the community garden’s peak time. Marigolds, dahlias, gladioli, sunflowers and lavender are just a few of the flowers we observed as we wandered along the paths, where various imaginative scarecrows were drafted into service.

The Annual Border, with its Painted Lady runner beans, was particularly stunning and, as Jackie discovered, sweet pea scented. We didn’t see a weed anywhere.

Produce like apples and courgettes looked ripe and plump.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s delicious chilli con carne, egg fried rice, and green beans, followed by chocolate eclairs. I finished the bordeaux, whilst Jackie drank Hoegaarden, this last of which, whilst I completed my post, she took up to the rose garden for what has become a nightly drink with Alan Titchmarsh. Like many women of a certain age she is in love with the man. Should I be concerned?

56 comments

  1. Be concerned, be very concerned… No, no, sorry, wrong idiom!.. It’s.. Be frightened, be very frightened! And it has nothing to do with roses or Alan Titchmarsh! So you’re quite safe then! Phew! 🙂
    I know, I can talk rubbish sometimes! 🙂
    Your flowers are beautiful, Derrick!

  2. I wouldn’t be too worried about the Alan Titmouse-or-whatever connection. Wikipedia says he’s the son of a textile mill worker and a plumber. How bottom of the pile is that? 🙂

  3. Sorry, Bruce….like most creatures of the male persuasion you haven’t the foggiest notion how very attractive a plumber might be to a woman…..

    1. LOL – now that’s thrown a spanner into the works. All will be well, so long as Jackie doesn’t get the plumber to fix the spouting on her new shed…

  4. A rose by any other name would not smell as sweet. My Alan Titchmarsh is very relaxed, and lies at my feet looking gorgeous and smelling heavenly, what more could a lady ‘of a certain age’ want?

  5. I love everything on this page. I’m bookmarking it. Glad to hear your Head Gardner is in top form!
    Sorry to say, I think there may be cause for concern:)

  6. Now I don’t know what age you have to be to be considered the right age for Alan Titchmarsh but I have to say there is something very soothing about his voice when he waxes lyrical about the garden and his plans for transformation. I’d let him tell me all about that Margaret Merrill rose no bother and if he knew a thing or two about plumbing I’d call that a score. Heck, I might be the right age for Titch!

  7. Oh my, the Aloha and the Margaret Merrill, well [deep sigh]. I think you need not fear, but because the plumber has been maligned, I will tell this long story. At least 20 years ago I read an interview with Colleen McCullough (she of The Thorn Birds and other blockbusters), who was living on an island in the south Pacific, married to a carpenter/builder. The interviewer made much of Ms McCullogh’s PhD and wondered repeatedly what she was doing with the carpenter. Finally, in relatively good natured exasperation, Ms. McC said, “Say a typhoon comes and blows off the roof of your house. Do you want someone who can talk about it or do you want someone who can fix it?” It still makes me chuckle.

  8. Ignoring everything else, it’s great news that Jackie doesn’t need any more physio. That has to be a tribute to her hard work and determination; she deserves her rose.

  9. You always have an interesting + beautiful post. But I’ve got to say – your followers’ comments are a hoot to read as well!! A rose by any name?

  10. These photos are gorgeous. Love the Aloha against the wood, and those passion flowers are so amazing. I must have them in my own garden one day. As common as they are to find, the flowers of the sweet peas always touch my heart. I might fall in love…

  11. Beautiful roses. I am surprised to see Passion flowers growing so well in your climate. We used to have them in south India and Ceylon. Very pretty.

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