Head Gardener and Estate Manager. Started working at Columbine Hall, Suffolk aged 16 from 1997 to present. Finalist in Professional Gardener of the Year.
Over 25 years ago Hew & I planted some trees in an area that was nothing but rough grass and brambles. Now it is a woodland. The last few years I have been planting snowdrops there & now they have started to carpet the ground. This fills me with deep joy.
I have sown thousands of seeds in my life but no matter how many times I do so, it is still the most exciting and miraculous process. Seeing seedlings come up never fails to delight. 🤗
There are some plants in the garden that just get on with it - requiring little or no fuss. And those that also provide scent are to be cherished. Lily of the valley is one of them. The perfume is mesmerising. Happy Cut Flower Friday. 🤗
#CutFlowerFriday
Over 27 years ago Hew and I planted some trees in an area of rough grass, brambles and nettles. A quarter of a century later it is now a woodland. The last few years I have planted snowdrops there & now they are starting to carpet the ground.
#SnowdropSunday
IT IS 23 YEARS AGO TODAY THAT I FIRST CAME TO COLUMBINE HALL. It's the best thing I have ever done. I'm so incredibly lucky. So cheers Columbine....here's to the next 23 years.
The daffodil of the moment is ‘Arctic Bells’. It has such a beautiful simple yellow flower that turns white with age. (Part of the 8,750 spring flowering bulbs I planted back in the autumn). It’s an absolute delight - I love it. 🤗
Can there be a more versatile plant than Erigeron karvinskianus? It’s daisy flowers last for such a long time & it looks wonderful spilling over walls, planted in cracks in paving or steps or as I’ve done here planted it in one of our lovely stone troughs. 🤗
A teeny tiny jam jar posy for you - gold-laced primula, Scilla siberica, muscari (grape-hyacinth), Pulmonaria ‘Sissinghurst White’ and Anthriscus sylvestris (cow parsley foliage). Happy Good Friday and Cut Flower Friday. 🤗
#CutFlowerFriday
WE HAVE REACHED PEAK TULIP TIME IN THE WALLED GARDEN. With one of my all time favourites - the elegant, long-lived Tulip ‘Exotic Emperor’ (recently changed its name to ‘White Valley’). Guaranteed to add class and impossible not to love.
Here they come! 🤗 The first to flower of the 8,750 spring flowering bulbs I planted in the autumn are Iris reticulata. Exquisite little flowers whose intense colour will brighten up even the gloomiest of days. You can never have too many!
It’s Cut Flower Friday and my parents Golden Wedding Anniversary so I’ve gone with something golden - these pale yellow and wondrously scented Narcissus ‘Minnow’. (Grown & picked from the greenhouse).
#CutFlowerFriday
Glorious, glorious May. I adore it. I’m relishing every single second of that wonderful froth of cow parsley and hawthorn and the fresh greenness of everything.
Our black and white tulips are still looking glorious. This display comprises two of the best dark tulips ‘ Queen of Night’ and the sumptuous ‘Black Hero’ and ivory-white ‘Maureen’.
The joy of snowdrops. A little vase of Galanthus nivalis and ‘Flore Pleno’ then G. ‘Grumpy’, G. ‘Blewbury Tart’, and G. ‘Green Fingers’. Happy Snowdrop Sunday. 🤗
#SnowdropSunday
The bulb planting continues…..today planting 100 Pheasant’s Eye Narcissus in this lovely old copper. I’ve replaced the compost with a mix of multipurpose peat-free compost and some of my homemade compost & leafmould + grit. Can’t wait until spring. 🤗
We have reached peak froth with the cow parsley and to celebrate its fabulous frothiness I have picked oodles for you for Cut Flower Friday. 🤗
#CutFlowerFriday
I’m so glad they are repeating
@TheMontyDon
Adriatic Gardens series and what a glorious programme last night’s was exploring the beautiful gardens of Venice. So inspiring. The book is superb too.
Now at its glorious best is Narcissus Bath’s Flame’ another historical cultivar from my National Collection of Engleheart Narcissus. Pre-1913 I love how its elegant flowers dance in the wind and how the flowers do not fade as they age.
I’VE FINISHED ALL OF THE BULBS. I REPEAT OPERATION BULB IS COMPLETE!! The last 1000 of 8,750 have been planted today and you can come and see them at our big open gardens day all in aid of
@StElizabethHosp
on Sunday April 28th 2024. 🤗
IT'S 24 YEARS AGO TODAY that I first came to Columbine. 1st photo shows the walled garden when I arrived - 2nd pic as it is today. It was the site of an old barn, we kept the walls & created a walled garden. So cheers Columbine - here's to the next 24 years.
It’s Snowdrop Sunday. 🤗 And the first of my special snowdrops are out just in time (in a pot in my unheated greenhouse). ‘Godfrey Owen’ with it’s wide flowers always reminds me of a lampshade!
#SnowdropSunday
Callicarpa bodinieri ‘Profusion’ or beauty-berry is living up to its name. Gleaming mini pom-poms of metallic purple bead-like berries. It’s berry beautiful. 🤗
There’s an outbreak of mass wisteria here. We have several wisteria growing around the garden and this wisteria sinensis is joining in and flowering for the first time. 🤗
Now go on - admit it…..you’ve been waiting for me to do this all day…😉 Yes folks - it’s Cut Flower Friday! And I give you pink gladioli with gypsophila. Cut flowers from the garden are just the best. 🤗
#CutFlowerFriday
As well as holding the National Collection of Engleheart daffodils, I have a great love for other historic daffs. And this is giving me great joy - Narcissus ‘Sir Watkin’ Pre 1868 with pretty creamy white flowers surrounding a golden trumpet.
Bulb update. Today I have planted 600 Tulip ‘Exotic Emperor’ in our walled garden. Now I know I enthuse about this tulip every year but I really can’t recommend it enough. It flowers for ages & looks good from in bud to when it’s almost dropping. Superb.
It’s the first of February, the sun is shining and the hazel catkins are out. They are as striking as any flower and a sure sign that spring is on its way. 🤗
Columbine Hall, Suffolk will be open for our BIGGEST EVER open day Sunday May 19th 1-5pm all in aid of St. Elizabeth Hospice. Plants for sale, craft stalls, homemade teas and cakes, dogs on leads welcome, under 16's free - please come and support us.
Looking at their glorious best are our pheasant’s eye narcissi. With their wonderful scent I love to pick a few to bring indoors where their fragrance will fill a room.
Bulb update….Today has all been about planting up our pots around the garden with some stonking tulip varieties. Including the stunning ‘Chansonette’, ‘Black Parrot’, ‘Super Parrot’, ‘Brown Sugar’, ‘Peppermint Stick’ and ‘Angelique’ 🤗
This week I celebrate 27 years of being at Columbine Hall. I am lucky to have been in this special place from the age of 16 & to have seen the development of the gardens from almost the very beginning. So cheers Columbine - here’s to the next 27 years.