A Private Viewing

Anyone who knew Angela Jupe, the late landscape architect and garden maker, will remember her particular love of snowdrops, or Galanthus, as this genus of dainty bulbous perennials is properly known.

I wasn’t aware that it was the end of the month until it no longer was the end of the month, and the new month of February instead – this is becoming a habit! As my EOMV posts are as much for my own records as anything else, I shall whizz through it with just photographs this month and (may) be better prepared next month… You can check out the usual locations the photographs are taken from by looking at the ‘Route of Video Tours’ under The Garden tab.

Last week, I showed you the Turkish astrobotany investigations flying on the Axiom 3 Private Space Mission, which launched to the International Space Mission yesterday. The plant experiments are part of a larger research program for the mission, much of which focuses on human biology and medical research. 

A conservatory has many uses, as a garden room, dining room or even a spare bedroom! Once you have a conservatory you will want to spend a lot of time in it, so get the location and aspect just right before you begin. So many people thinking of a conservatory forget about the garden and then live to regret it!

Header image: An illustration of a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft approaching the International Space Station for docking. Image credit: NASA

It seems to have been ‘late summer’ for a number of weeks, but now that October is nigh it is probably more appropriate to think of it as autumn. The garden has been winding down, admittedly, and there are signs of colour change in the trees, but there is still much of interest in the garden and the roses are certainly in denial in a late flush of excitement. I have begun cutting back where appropriate, but foliage on most perennials is still luxuriously healthy and the first frost is not yet imminent (early December last year, early November the year before).

August has been a strange month and although in parts of the UK has been particularly wet, here in the no-mans land between the East and West Midlands we have had rain throughout the month, but not in any great quantity, and it has been warm rather than hot Looking back, I am guessing this the reason behind the almost overwhelming growth in the garden, growth of annuals, perennials, shrubs  – and WEEDS!

The 18th century Union Jack Gardens at Wentworth Castle were originally called the ‘wilderness’. It was dense with shapes, texture and contrasts of shade and light. Now it may be a suitable place to take a seat in the garden and see the original Yew trees and the variegated ‘creamed’ Hollies.

Some time ago in the pre-Trump era the west lawn at the British Museum  showed plants from North Americas landscape. The plants were provided in partnership with Kew but the photographs were mine taken in September. I now wish I had also visited to see and take pictures of earlier spring and summer flowers fro N America.

For the last two or three years I have kept a rough record of how many hours I spend gardening (excluding things relating specifically to our charity openings). It’s usually the afternoon before any gardening can be done, and a couple of hours a day is the figure I generally quote when someone suggests I must spend ages working in it to get keep on top of it, but of course this varies during the week and over the year as a whole. This year, in the three months prior to this one, I spent 31, 20 and 39½ hours gardening; in April it was 59 hours! In previous years, the number of hours worked in the months after April dropped back to 30 or 40 and then tailed off towards 20 hours or so in December, showing that April is indeed the busiest month.

Such expressions by Church and other artists in the Hudson River School marked the start of the American environmental movement, many experts believe today. Standing in my neighbor friend’s garden recently and looking out at the same landscape they did, I was reminded how few of us get to witness that kind of majesty very often, and how precious a resource such viewsheds are. No wonder they inspired an entire movement.Today a number of historic sites like Church’s astonishing home near here called Olana are working to protect their viewsheds, in part thanks to work by groups like Scenic Hudson, and to unique events like the one coming up Nov. 1 for Olana’s benefit (see details of their ‘Viewshed Tour’ below).Nearer to New York City, the dramatic stretch of Palisades acr

THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY’S national Open Days garden-visiting program is officially under way for 2008, with more than 300 gardens including mine open to the public on specified days.