Heavy rain fell throughout the day, unrelenting when we drove to Elizabeth’s home and back
through mid-afternoon headlights-gloom.
Although the celebration meal is planned for Saturday, as it is my sister’s 70th Birthday today,
we sloshed through the sodden lanes. The last two of the pictures in this gallery were produced by Jackie, who also photographed
sheep behind a dripping fence,
and a swathe of snowdrops.
Our intention had been to surprise Elizabeth, but, despite her car being in her drive she was not at home. Obviously someone had taken her out, so we left her Gertrude Jekyll potted rose and card in her conservatory.
These are pictures from our own garden taken in September 2022.
This evening we all dined on baked gammon, piquant macaroni cheese, and tender green beans, with which Jackie drank more of the rosé and I drank more of the shiraz.
This was an attempt to tidy up the series. For the first 3 episodes of the tale I had incorporated sections like this first one into my daily diary posts. I wanted to take them out and keep them apart from what I had been doing this century. Now I’ve got myself into a muddle because I don’t know how to get the revised ones in the right order and retain the earlier complete posts under another category. I guess I’ll figure it out. I hope that at least is clear.
This evening we all enjoyed further helpings of yesterday’s Chinese takeaway with which Jackie drank Tsing Tao beer and I drank more of the Shiraz.
My Under Gardener tasks this cooler, more cloudy, morning consisted of a little clearing to compost and a lot of rose decapitation.
Among the regular bloomers like the White Winchester Cathedral,
the prolific bright yellow Absolutely Fabulous, and the fulsome Lady Emma Hamilton a number of repeat performers are taking the stage.
Just Joey has risen from
the red carpet that continues to attract bustling bees.
The peachy velvet Schoolgirl graces the arbour
beneath which Gertrude Jekyll stretches from sleep, while
budding Deep Secret is currently keeping us in the dark.
This afternoon we drove to the less touristy east of the forest.
We had been promised a 30% chance of rain today. The nearest we got to that was a distant fall when driving along St Leonards Road.
The skies on the opposite side, across The Solent over the Isle of Wight, had no rain to drop.
The roof of the ancient St Leonard’s granary, which, as explained in https://derrickjknight.com/2016/08/04/salt-marshes/ once served Beaulieu Abbey, glows a rich rusty orange;
a pigeon surveys the scene from a ruined arch bearing similarly hued highlights.
Our mighty oaks do suffer in the heavy winds. Here, one huge limb has recently been wrenched off. The stump in the fourth picture has been a more distant casualty.
Further along a covey of juvenile pheasants were possibly discussing the approaching 1st of October when their shooting season starts.
This evening we dined on a rack of pork ribs in a rich barbecue sauce, mini spring rolls, Jackie’s tasty egg fried rice, and tender green beans, with which the Culinary Queen drank Hoegaarden and I drank Trapiche Pure unoaked Argentinian Malbec 2019 – a birthday present from Helen and Bill.
It was not until 26th June 2014 that we decided to make a before and after record of the work done on the garden begun on 1st April. We regret not having thought of this from the very beginning.
This was when we decided to turn the remnants of a kitchen garden into a Rose Garden.
Wire contraptions had to be removed from the eastern fence. This process, with additional photographs, was featured in the post of 5th July.
Concrete slabs, buried bricks,
assorted paving,
and even a discarded bath were all unearthed during the next three months.
By the time Aaron joined in the project in February 2015, I had cleared the plot ready for him to level it by the 8th.
He then set about laying down brick paving to our design.
By 8th October The Head Gardener had selected and planted the roses and furniture had been installed.
The above photographs all appear in previous posts and are contained in the garden record albums.
Today I produced a batch of prints from May to September this year to bring the album up to date. Here are a few of those:
Jackie uses this one from 31st May as her screen saver.
Here are a couple of smaller scenes showing the additional planting of lavender and heucheras;
and individual roses such as Lady Emma Hamilton;
Gertrude Jekyll;
and Special Anniversary from July. This last one is a happy coincidence because today is the second anniversary of our second wedding.
The Crown Inn at Everton has changed hands since we were last there. That is where we chose to have our anniversary dinner. The ambience and the menus are different; the service and food were good. Jackie enjoyed the house burger with fries and salad, as did I a perfectly cooked rib eye steak with similar accompaniments. Mrs Knight drank Moretti and I drank Riscos Chilean Malbec 2018.
She spent the morning conversing with him whilst tidying the Oval Bed.
After taking the above photographs I wandered round the garden.
Hydrangeas need a lot of water, but the Head Gardener is keeping them going.
Day lilies continue to thrive,
as do many lilies proper,
and, of course, roses like Gertrude Jekyll and Special Anniversary.
This sidalcea leads nicely to the red hydrangea beyond.
Now that the Wedding Day is over, gladiolus and clematis veil its arch.
Dahlia’s time is now.
This everlasting sweet pea has a scent which justifies its name.
Plants accommodated in containers during the last few weeks have proliferated. The iron urn’s examples happily spill and spread, while
the wicker chair by the Westbrook Arbour is occupied to overflowing.
A clematis shawl has been cast over the arch spanning the Phantom Path between the Cryptomeria and Margery’s Beds.
In the latter, yellow Lisymachia Alexander stretches across the gravel;
and at its western end clematis and day lilies cavort with the red bottle brush plant.
Phlox blend nicely with other plants in the Palm Bed,
alongside the Gazebo Path leading to the stable door.
From Charlie Dimmock, Jackie has been inspired to create a “stumpery”. She will clean up the face of this heap of griselinia stumps and give it a fern makeover.
Just as the one o’clock news was about to expand upon Mr Trump’s latest exploits, Malachi phoned me from Fremantle seeking my help with a word search. We were unable to obtain full reciprocal vision on FaceTime, so we began a game of Lexulous instead. Because they are seven hours ahead of us, my grandson had to go to bed before we finished.
Later this afternoon we drove to New Milton to buy some shoes for Jackie, then back to Milford on Sea for a repeat prescription.
This evening we dined at Totton’s excellent The Family House Chinese restaurant, where we enjoyed our favourite set meal and Tsing Tao beer.
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The garden was looking very refreshed as I wandered around this morning. Most blooms bore baubles of raindrops.
Bees were making up for being confined in hives by the recent precipitation.
By lunchtime, I had finished reading
Hibbert’s well researched history is founded on the subject’s personal correspondence and contemporary observations. Like many great men, our national hero comes across has a man of two halves. Undoubtedly kind and generous to his men and to many others Nelson’s relationship with Lady Emma Hamilton was seen as folly by many, and, even as demonstrated by his own letters he must have treated his wife very badly. This Viking paperback of 1994 contains no identification of the painter of the cover portrait.
After lunch, Jackie and I visited the sites of the two scarecrows missing from our last visit. Prince Eric, now wearing a rain hood, perched on a hedge at Ramblers in Woodcock Lane. I am very pleased to be able to report that a rebuilt Frog Prince again sits outside 49 Ashley Lane. His creator informed me that his battered body had lain on the ground and his decapitated head had hung from a branch.
We continued on a drive through the forest. Near Ogdens, a herd of deer got wind of my approach, and, turning tail, slowly picking up speed, elegantly trotted across the undulating terrain to safety over the brow of a hill.
Clusters of pesky flies surrounded somnolent ponies gathered together at North Gorley.
Other ponies mingled with visitors to Ibsley ford, some of whom competed to establish who could create a bigger splash.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s splendid spicy pork paprika with savoury rice. The Culinary Queen drank Coonwarra Chardonay 2016; Elizabeth and I chose Villanyi Merlot 2015 and drank some of it.
Struggles with erratic internet connection means that this post has taken some considerable time today. But let’s not go into that. Suffice it to say that I didn’t lose my cool and kept going off to do something else, sometimes involving a little garden clearance.
No way, however, can I match Aaron who today dug out and removed a mature ficus, pruned and reshaped the winter flowering cherry, cut the grass, laid some stepping stone paths, and
nailed beams across old tree stumps to support rambling roses. He had already built the fence behind him some time ago.
Here is this morning’s view from the patio along the Dead End Path; the fresh bud low down to the left of the picture
is on the same bush as this rich peach one.
A large poppy will soon bloom behind the stone frog in this scene.
Purple campanulas in the triangular bed outside the wisteria arbour link the startling red Sweet Williams and the two clematises above.
Here is one of those.
Others can be found on one of the arches spanning the Brick Path,
in the New Bed, and in many other locations.
Penstemons and foxgloves also compare hues in the Palm Bed.
Flamboyant Gertrude Jekyll parades in the Rose Garden,
and this pale pink patio rose thrives in the Kitchen Bed alongside the Brick Path.
Jackie continues to make excellent progress with planting up tubs, urns, and hanging baskets such as
this stone urn filled with cosmos, geraniums and petunias flanked by filigreed ferns in the bed beneath;
cosmos and calibrachoas in a terra cotta pot;
calibrachoas and diascias in a hanging basket;
petunias and geraniums in a faux terra cotta container;
petunias and marigolds in the leaden hat;
diascias and petunias in the iron urn;
and marigolds and black eyed Susans perched on a Victorian chimney pot. The black eyed Susans should, in time, climb to the top of their obelisk.
Aaron’s truck contains the tools of his trade and garden refuse he takes away when he has created it. This shot was taken before he loaded up the ficus root and branches.
Country roads often contain road kill, or small animals and birds that have been struck by motor vehicles. Our friend is building up his own collection of little creatures.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s excellent lamb korai, peas and rice, and sag ponir. We both drank Kingfisher.
Early this morning, we drove Sheila to Brockenhurst for her return home. Apart from Jackie’s planting , and my occasional wander round the garden on this overcast day, we spent it flopping.
We have blooming clematises
Niobe and Arabella on the kitchen wall;
Comtesse de Bouchaud sporting a fennel veil;
Durandii, making its way above geranium palmatums playing host to a bee in the rose garden;
Margaret Hunt;
and this one Jackie recovered after finding that a creature had burrowed underneath it. We had wondered why it wasn’t doing anything.
The recently flowering rhododendron blends well with the Clematis Star of India, the ubiquitous geranium palmatums, and poppies against Jackie in the background.
Here are more poppies leading us to the Rose Garden,
where Laura Ford is reflected on the side of the potting shed;
and where thrive, among others,
Shropshire Lad,
Crown Princess Margareta,
Mamma Mia,
Gertrude Jekyll,
and Mum in a Million.
This red rose was rescued from the jungle by Elizabeth;
this scarlet one stands in the Oval Bed;
and this pink one in the small triangular bed outside the stable door.
The tall scarlet rose is evident in this view of the Oval Path.
Honeysuckle
now climbs above the entrance to the Rose Garden which is visible
from the entrance to the Back Drive.
A bee is flagged up in the text. Three roses each bear a fly. Can you find them?
Mr Chatty Man provided our Hordle Chinese Take Away meal this evening. Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Chateauneuf du Pape.
It is now 9.30 p.m. I f I finish this post this evening it will be a miracle, because, so far, much of it has been spent having useless and frustrating conversations with someone in India about lack of BT Broadband connection.
This morning Jackie drove us to Helen’s home in Poulner where we decanted into Helen’s car, in which she drove us to Lavender Farm at Landford, just inside Wiltshire. Taking in lunch we spent the best part of the day enjoying another splendid late summer’s day, before reversing the process.
The farm is an outlet for many wonderful plants, seen at their best on such a beautiful day.
There was, of course, a plentiful supply of lavender, but also very much more.
From the moment we entered, it was clear that the displays for sale were all as attractive as this one for cacti.
The three of us wandered around the gardens. I photographed the two ladies.
Sometimes just the beds;
or other people, like these two admiring the vegetables;
and these taking tea.
A couple I noticed sitting among the flowers were Brian and Sandra. Having taken the first picture from some distance away, as is my wont when I have not asked for permission, I walked along the narrow path to their bench, and sought it in retrospect. A very pleasant conversation ensued and they happily posed for a second picture. Brian turned out to have a collection of some 3,000 colour slides, mostly of historic Southampton, and was wondering how to digitise them. I described my scanner and advised them how to go about the task.
The garden was clearly troubled by wasps in July.
There is no charge for enjoying this haven, but charitable donations are encouraged.
Of course we bought some plants. Apart from smaller ones like heucheras and salvias, three roses on Jackie’s collection list just had to be acquired.
The first was Gertrude Jekyll, named after the famous gardener.
This is from the website in her honour: Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932), created some 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and America; her influence on garden design has been pervasive to this day. She spent most of her life in Surrey, England, latterly at Munstead Wood, Godalming. She ran a garden centre there and bred many new plants. Some of her gardens have been faithfully restored, wholly or partly, and can be visited. Godalming Museum has many of her notebooks and copies of all her garden drawings, (compiled and sorted by members of the Surrey Gardens Trust); the original drawings are in the University of California, Berkeley.
Her own books about gardening are widely read in modern editions; much has been written about her by others. She contributed over 1,000 articles to Country Life, The Garden and other magazines. A complete list of every book and article written by her is in the Bookshop section of this site. A talented painter, photographer, designer and craftswoman; she was much influenced by Arts & Crafts principles.
(c) Elizabeth Banks; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
William Nicholson painted this portrait of her in October 1920.
Next came Lady Emma Hamilton.
Wikipedia tells us that:
Emma, Lady Hamilton (26 April 1765; baptised 12 May 1765 – 15 January 1815) is best remembered as the mistressof Lord Nelson and as the muse of George Romney. She was born Amy Lyon in Ness near Neston, Cheshire, England, the daughter of Henry Lyon, a blacksmith who died when she was two months old. She was raised by her mother, the former Mary Kidd, at Hawarden, and received no formal education. She later changed her name to Emma Hart.
Finally, has the rose Mamma Mia anything to do with Abba?
Readers may be amused to learn the reason that my first attempts at photographing these last two roses produced very bleary images. This is because a very small insect had become ensnared in Helen’s chutney. Not being able to identify it with the naked eye, I thought that if I photographed it with the macro facility it would be possible to do so. The creature turned out to be a small wasp. But I had poked the lens into the chutney, with the obvious results. My handkerchief was not adequate for the task of cleaning the glass, so I had to use a lens cloth when we got home, and photograph the roses here.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s chicken jalfrezi and savoury rice, with chicken samosas. I finished the cabernet sauvignon.
