1 month to go! garden opens Sunday 7th September 2-5:30pm

It is now just less than a month before the one afternoon in the year where we open the garden for the National Gardens Scheme!

The Yellow Book says....

An exotic garden full of the exuberance of late summer inspired by travel in Southeast Asia. A jungle of big leafed plants, bold colours and shapes including bananas, dahlias and tetrapanax. Huge ‘secret’ garden gives the garden unexpected size with ponds, bee hives, sunken terrace, productive area and greenhouse of carnivorous plants. Featured on BBC Gardeners World and in the Independent

Past visitors have said 

'ooh'
'ahh'
'eh by gum what's that' 

Come! you can also eat some of the nicest cake in Cambewell. full NGS and address details here

Overall I'm pleased with how the garden is looking and hope that anyone who has been before will notice how the planting is maturing and how things are getting bigger! In a way the top garden looks completely different to how it was on the first two openings, with the rest getting better and better. I'm especially happy with how the terrace is looking as it is the most jungly it has ever been

So put it in your diary! Also open on the same day is Patrick's tree tern filled garden for any exotisist wanting to make an expedition! 

Some pictures to tempt you in....

Come! have a nosy! I look forward to meeting you!

We need you! Open YOUR garden for the National Gardens Scheme!

Time is running out for anyone considering whether or not they want to open their garden for the National Gardens Scheme in 2015 as the deadline for recommendations and getting your Yellow Book entry together is mid September.  We need more people to open their gardens, as the more gardens that open the more money we can raise for charity and the stronger the NGS will get.

Overall I have loved opening for the NGS and on September 7^th I will open for the fourth year however we need more gardens to open in London! So if you are thinking about it, or if you think your friend has a great garden please do come forward!

But, if you are unsure here are my top 5 reasons why opening your garden is a good thing...

1) Together we can raise lots of money for some great charities: Last year people opening their gardens for the NGS raised £2.1 million for the different charities it supports including Macmillian, Marie Curie help the Hospices  and many others

2) It’s fun and like a giant party!: I love my opening as suddenly there are lots of like minded people in the garden who are interested in it. Time tends to pass like a whirl and it is great to meet lots of different people and have a fun afternoon

3) It helps get things done: gardens are often full of lots of little jobs that need finishing off, or projects that need to be done. Opening for the NGS helps you move forward with things and get the garden to be the best it can be.

4) The NGS helps make it easy: Opening as part of the NGS makes things easy as they cover you for insurance, give you materials to help promote your garden and you are generally promoted as part of being in the Yellow Book. You also have a national team to support you and people like me as area organisers

5) Recognition: Being part of the Yellow Book is a great achievement and does bring recognition to what can be a solitary pursuit

Does your garden have to be perfect? No! Gardens do have to be of a certain standard; however we are not talking about oppressive horticulture and within the NGS family there are some very different gardens and a few that intimidate me. Is anyone’s garden perfect?!

Do you have to have 45 minutes of interest for visitors?: In London gardens are a lot smaller so you do not have to have vast acres of space....the smallest I have visited was probably 10meters square, the key thing is to have a garden which is well kept and of interest to visitors. If you are worried about the size you can always put your gardens dimensions in your write up so people know what they are coming to.

Do you have to put on refreshments? Providing tea and cake is a great way to make more money for charity and bring in additional visitors, but not essential... refreshments are made much easier by asking friends to help out and make cakes.

Want a non committal chat to find out more? All across London there are volunteers like me who are area coordinators whose role is to help look after local openers and support new people to open their gardens. If you may potentially be interested but would like someone else to have a look round and talk through the ins and outs please get in touch by emailing me (you can see my email in the about me section) and I can put you in touch with your local coordinator. or go through NGS HQ more details here

So if you are in England please do think about opening, we need more gardens! 

The end of July: jungle beasts growing

July has been hot! a time to sit and enjoy the garden rather than doing lots of work. The majority of things are now all ok and doing well however there is a slug and snail army which is attacking at every turn. Last night we picked about 15 slugs and snails off a 6ft Dahlia imperialis taking great pleasure at stepping on the snails and cutting the slugs in half using some sharp scissors.

NGS opening wise, I worry how some plants have been damaged too much as there are 2 dahlias which are having trouble coming out of the ground and a few salvias that are decimated however we shall see.

I have been surprised at how well the Ricnus are able to cope with the slugs (and surprised that they can eat something so toxic!) however those seedlings which I planted out and then had to rescue have done as well as those that went straight in the ground and next year I may keep them in pots until they are taller.

There is still lots to do as there are a few gaps and the huge area taken up with the Scotch thistles is about to look very empty as they are withering away and producing so much seed that I could stuff a pillow. Thankfully there are some gems that have managed to seed themselves with some 3cm high Nicandra popping up and also a forest of spiky solanum.

Anyway a July wander...

The palms are getting big! supplemented by a still sulking bamboo and Musa sikkimensis

i am very pleased with this...a huge Musa sikkimensis in a pot with a Schleffera macrophylla which is still alive!

pots on the wall....lots of red from the Hedychium greeni and Ensete

other side of the terrace, Brahea and Ensete that is already too big for its pot!

HUGE Plume poppy and cardoons

Wider vists with the arches covered in Cobea that I am having to wind in to keep controlled

Cobea being very prolific

The Kangeroo Apple has gone crazy this year as it wasn't knocked back by the frosts and has actually grown too much! I have had to cut back huge swathes of it to keep it in check!

The Paulownia is already as big as it got last year

Clerodendron a go go.....above is C. trichotomum and below bungeii

Emerging dragonfly on a water arum

The first canna flower!

I have hopefully solved a dry corner where nothing grows by creating focal point with a large pot of Thaila

vista of the pond and growing Ensete...holes formed by slug mauled salvias....

hurrah first flowering water Canna

 Finally a picture of Mirabilis longiflora, a native of SW USA/Mexico. The flowers open at dusk and have an amazing scent. I also marvel at how long the proboscis of the moth that pollinates it is as the flower is very very long!

The July garden

With all the summers warmth the garden is beginning to look very lush and tropical. The Paulownias are already giants and the bamboo is threatening to take over all of Camberwell

As the garden ages it is becoming more and more about the  perennials as things like the Tetrapanax forest gets bigger and crowds out space for annuals and Dahlias. Dry areas remain problematic as things in them shrivel in the heat and I scratch my head to see what I can put in instead. I'm being more and more drawn to things in pots as you can water and feed them better and I love jigging things around as they grow...

Motivation to garden in the hot weather is also a challenge as is the random decision as to whether I should host a group of 35 visitors lead by the 'Austrian Alan Titchmarsh' visitors in August 2015!?! sometimes being part of the NGS can throw up some random things...

So a July wander... 

We have moved around the terrace and have a huge pot of 12ft Musa sikkimensis in the middle adding height and hiding the neighbors.  

My Schlefera macrophylla is still alive, hurrah! at the bottom is a Petasites in a pot which I am rather pleased with as it is so much better than those in the ground

Canna musifolia begins to get tall and the Ensetes are also bursting back to life

Paulownias are up to 10ft? although the surrounding Dahlias are just poking through the ground thanks to the slug and snail plague...

Bean tree...a little abused but flowering merrily

Tetrapanax coming into their own

My problem area, dry shade where everything seems to struggle..

Kniphofia northiae with Lobelia tupa behind (and below)

Juvenile Musa basjoo and Tetrapanax with exploding nasturshums and horseradish 

Self seeded verbascums...usually they are only 2ft where I plant them, but they are all abotu 6ft where they chose to plant themselves 

Scotch thistles

The bees...currently 3 hives topped with 9 supers. the up and down relationship continues...

Leaning Echium whose days are numbered with sad Washingtonia

Huge bamboos continue to shoot skyward

fin.