May 2004

May Viewpoint clicking on the picture shows the garden in the pouring rain taken from the comfort of the conservatory but still a sight to banish despondency

Isn't it delightful when something you have regarded as a huge mistake turns out to be a delight.

About three years ago I planted two varieties of the new clematis montana hybrids, one deep pink and one a very pale pink. The flowers of these hybrids are semi double and somewhat smaller than the single montanas, such as Elizabeth, but they have the advantage of a longer flowering period.

The deep pink one which scrambles up a holly, I loved straight away. (You can see this one by going to the archives and looking at the cover picture for May 2003)

I was dissatisfied though with the pale one. There was nothing wrong with the individual flowers, but I felt that the site I had given it was wrong. Rambling over the arches that divide the decorative garden from the veg. patch it looked wishy washy. I suspected it needed a dark green background to throw it into relief.

This year, however, it flowered at the same time as that grand modern Bourbon rose, Theresa Boulignier, and demonstrated that it was not a background that it needed but a foreground. (I suspect there is a parable here.)

In the front garden the ceanothus did it its usual four week-wonder display, before leaving me with the headache of how to restrain it before it falls down under its own weight. The trouble is it responds very badly to pruning and I am not strong enough by myself to push it back and rope it to the wall.