English Country Garden

"How many kinds of sweet flowers grow in

an English country garden? 

We'll tell you now of some that we know,

those we miss you'll surely pardon." *

Although half of the country is dealing with snow, ice and freezing temperatures, some of us are starting to think about Spring! About the garden, about color and bulbs and scents and sun. All the warm, sunny days ahead and the pleasure there is to be found in gardening. Spending time outdoors, listening to the birds sing and twitter. Watching the squirrels chase each other around the tree and hearing children's voices calling out to each other from the park.

Moving from the UK to America, to the high desert, means recreating an English country garden is a lot of work. Not only do the deer like to come along and chew everything to pieces, but the sandy, dry soil, the high altitude and searing temperatures do not help.

However my thoughts turn to the garden my mum had and the flowers and bulbs she planted. The seeds she saved as she dead-headed flowers and then replanted them the following year.

My ideal English garden is what would typically be called a 'cottage garden'. Plants are everywhere, they are massed together, a riot of color and texture. There is no careful spacing, no serried rows of flowers and plants, it's a random, crazy patchwork, as if someone had taken seeds and just flung them out onto the soil with their eyes closed.

First come the bulbs, sweet small snowdrops, peeping their heads up above the ground when the weather is still so cold and dreary. Then narcissus and daffodils, their bright yellow faces turning up to the sky. Hyacinth, crocus and tulips, all herald the arrival of spring. Then as the weather warms and lightens, forget-me-not, lavender and phlox start to bloom and fill the garden with their rich, fragrant scent. Sweet William, bleeding heart, salvia and roses all flower and add color and brightness in every direction.

Sweet pea, planted in containers outside the kitchen window fill the house with their sweet scent. Add the cut blooms to fill little glass jars in the house, and the plant in the garden will reward you by flowering again and again.

The English love to use quirky items in their gardens. Old coal scuttles, tea pots and watering cans all make great planters. Sit a large plant into the broken seat of an old painted chair, poke small alpine into cracks in concrete or brick walls, and use old stone sinks or chimney pots to add height and charm to the garden.

Wendy

*Lyrics by Rolf Harris, English Country Garden