LOVELY GREENS….. by Tanya from The Isle of Man

This Week’s Ideas & Videos The Garden in May Eucalyptus Soap Recipe Birdies Beds Sale (USA) Birdies Beds Sale (UK & IOM) Hi Penny, if ever there were a month for starting a garden and expanding the one you have, it’s May. Though there’s plenty on the ole to-do list, the weather is getting more pleasant, and I, at least, am spending much more time outside. It’s more fun gardening when you’re not wet and battling the elements 😄 In this newsletter, I’m sharing what’s been happening in the garden, along with insect-repelling soap and tea light ideas, the RHS Malvern Spring Show, and a massive sale on the metal raised beds that we’ve just added to the garden.   NOTE:  it’s worth noting that we have followed Tanya for a very long time but in the last year she a moved her garden/allotment garden/farm to another location and so there has been an intermission in her communication. She did give all of us a “shout out.” It was a massive undertaking. We commend her, because ten years worth of vegetation and all her raised beds, gardening ephemera and plants had to be dug up and moved…while timing everything so that the growing seasons were not completely interrupted. I myself am making a move and all I have are potted plants, but I’m at such loose ends trying to pull a move together. I totally…..don’t know how she did this, but she is a gardener with exemplary dedication. I’d love to meet her so that some of her “earth gifts” would run off on me. Quite a lady!  Birdies Raised Beds But first, those beds… As you’ll see in my new video, we’ve been hard at work in the veg patch and have also created a new growing space outside the Polycrub. The new beds are Birdies Raised Beds which are recently available in the UK and Isle of Man. They were quick to put together and created instant vegetable beds on land that’s rock-hard with clay soil and rubble in-fill. As you can see in the photos, I already have two rows of salad greens and two rows of calendula popping up. That’s in just two weeks from building and filling them 😍 The beds I have are the 8-in-1 type in ‘Mist Green’. The 8-in-1 refers to the eight different ways you can screw them together – long and skinny, square, etc. You get to choose and it’s really simple to put them together. Birdies Raised Bed Sale Interest piqued? You’ll be pleased to know that there’s a massive sale on Birdies Raised Beds right now and until May 29th. It’s up to 30% off when you buy four and use my discount code LOVELYGREENS5  🚚 Plus, you get free shipping if you live in the USA, UK, and Isle of Man.  USA Birdies Raised Bed Sale UK & IOM Birdies Raised Bed Sale It’s a great deal, and one friend who bought them yesterday reckons it saved him over £200 over using wood sleepers to build four beds. Plus, the beds will last many more years and can be moved if you move house. The main discount is automatically added when you add four beds to the cart. Use my discount code LOVELYGREENS5 to get a further 5% off. I tell you more about my beds and the sale in this Instagram Reel. Eucalyptus Repels Mosquitoes Some years ago, I created a eucalyptus soap recipe using essential oil, and I’ve shared it with you before. The main idea behind the recipe was to create a refreshing soap that helps to open up airways and help boost energy during cold and flu season. However, I’ve just found a second potential purpose for it. It’s pretty exciting stuff 😍 With summer right around the corner, we all will deal with biting insects of some kind – the main one being mosquitoes. A new study has now shown that the main natural chemical in eucalyptus essential oil, eucalyptol, has been shown to be a very strong deterrent to these annoying and potentially sick-inducing insects. It may be one of the strongest essential oils we can use to keep mosquitoes away. Herbal Eucalyptus Soap Recipe Citronella Essential Oil Ideas So keep that in mind for insect-repelling formulas. I’m planning on making another batch of eucalyptus soap and seeing if it also has an effect on midges and horseflies, too. Let me know if you’ve noticed it working for you? Citronella is another essential oil that we can use to repel insects, and it’s an ingredient in this cucumber soap recipe and insect-repelling tea lights. And you know what? Citronella and eucalyptus work well together, scent-wise, so all the more reason to blend them together in products too. Watch the Garden in May The Garden in May The month of May is one that I almost completely dedicate to gardening. I make fewer products this month because there are just so many May Garden Jobs to get through. I admit I love this month more than any other and spend as much time outside as possible. May is a time of seed sowing but also planting out seedlings and young plants. In my new video, The Garden in May, I take you through some of the work I’ve done this month, including planting the peas grown in a gutter, the no-dig asparagus crowns I’ve just put in, and of course, the new Birdies Raised Beds. There will be a new video tomorrow, too, and I’ll be planting out sweet potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant (aubergines), and more in the Polycrub. Plus introducing you to a new olla watering system. Subscribe to the Lovely Greens YouTube channel to get a notification for when it’s out. Recent & Seasonal Ideas Lemon Balm Lip Balm Recipe Lemon Balm Lip Balm DIY Video Easy Rhubarb Gin Recipe Malvern Spring Show Even though this is a busy month in the garden, I also got the chance to visit the RHS Malvern Spring Show. If you’re not aware, the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) hosts many gardening shows at various points in the gardening year. Chelsea is the most famous and is happening next week. Malvern is like a taste of Chelsea with several show gardens and oodles of ideas and plants, but it’s more relaxed and with fewer celebrities. Malvern Spring Show I’ve shared photos and a video reel on Instagram, but I’ll post a few more just below. One big theme with the show gardens and stands was creating space in our gardens for wild animals and wild plants. In the two gold-winning gardens, nettles, grass, and other wild plants were even woven into the mix. It shows their importance to wildlife and how we can work with nature rather than trying to eliminate it from our gardens/yards. I absolutely loved that and feel so inspired to add even more water and wildlife features to our garden. The small pond has been filling in but there’s just so much more that we can do! I hope that you have a lovely weekend, Penny, see you again on social media or in your inbox in a couple of weeks. Tanya Anderson of Lovely Greens This newsletter comes to you every two weeks with new and seasonal content from Lovely Greens. To never miss one, please add tanya@lovelygreens.com to your email contact list. That way, emails will appear in your inbox. Lovely Greens Website  Instagram  YouTube  Facebook  Patreon Not yet subscribed? Subscribe to the free Lovely Greens newsletter Lovely Greens PO Box 31, Ramsey, Isle of Man, IM99 4QX, British Isles   SHARE TWEET FORWARD You received this email because you signed up on our website Unsubscribe

THE GARDEN MUSEUM- a beautiful post today from the U.K. – a special note: on the lovely flower “the sweet pea”

Benton Irises: It’s all in a name By Lucy Skellorn Artist plantsman Cedric Morris will be celebrated on the main avenue at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year in an exciting collaboration between Nurture Landscapes and garden designer Sarah Price. A distinguished painter, Morris experimented with the cross-pollination of irises to produce new colour combinations. Famous for their off-beat shades, Cedric named many varieties after friends, lovers, pets and places. Ahead of the show, we take a look at the stories behind the names: Iris ‘Benton Menace’ (pictured above) Morris had a deep fondness and empathy for animals resulting in quite a menagerie at Benton End. This included Rubeo, the scarlet macaw who would nip the legs of anyone wearing shorts and swore liberally. There were also a host of cats that roamed the property, many of them predominantly cream-coloured, locally known as Suffolk creams. Among them the one-eyed ‘Mrs Pearce’, ‘Baggage’ (on account of her having had so many litters of kittens) and ‘ Menace’- a particularly troublesome Tom. Both cats have been immortalised in Iris ‘Benton Baggage’ and ‘Benton Menace’, but it is ‘Benton Menace’, with its fabulous iris with rich purple falls and ruffled, plum-coloured standards, which has been chosen for the Chelsea garden… Keep reading Visit the Garden Museum during the Chelsea Flower Show Heading to London for The RHS Chelsea Flower Show this week? Why not pop across the river to the Garden Museum while you’re in town to see our Dan Pearson-designed courtyard garden just coming into its summer glory. Plus visit our current exhibition Private & Public: Finding the Modern British Garden, and stop by our award-winning Garden Cafe to enjoy a daily changing menu of modern-British and European, light, fresh and seasonal dishes. Limited tables are available in the lushly-planted courtyard for the ultimate blissful Garden Museum experience: book a table. Plan your visit Talk this week | Sarah Price on building a sustainable Chelsea Flower Show garden We are delighted to host an evening with garden designer Sarah Price joined in conversation by co-founders of Local Works Studio, Ben and Loretta Boscence. Sarah, Ben and Loretta will discuss how they transformed waste materials into garden features for The Nurture Landscapes Garden using accessible processes and crafts. Features have been designed to be carefully deconstructed for reuse at their permanent home, at Benton End. Weds 24 May, 7pm £20 Standard, £15 Friends / Young Fronds £10 Livestream Book tickets British Flowers Week 2023: Three weeks to go! Our annual British Flowers Week exhibition is back this summer, championing British-grown flowers, sustainable floristry and the immense talent in floral design found across the country. Five florists hand-picked by the Garden Museum will build immersive floral installations around the museum, transforming the space for five days. The floral designers – Botanical Tales, Lucy Vail Floristry, Mahal Kita Flowers, SAGE and Yinari – will use only seasonal, sustainably-sourced, British-grown flowers, arranged with environmentally friendly materials and methods. This year’s theme is ‘New Beginnings’, inspired by fresh starts, budding new growth, changing seasons and an optimistic step forward for the floral industry. The week will also include a panel talkand a Friday Late. 8-12 June Book your visit Plant of the Week: Cedric’s Sweet Pea By Matt Collins, Head Gardener Generosity abounds among gardeners, and the gift of seeds is a marvellous thing: that the transference of so small an entity can express such joy, promise, discernment and encouragement. As we approach Chelsea Flower Show week, with all its beauty, buzz and bustle, it feels a good moment to celebrate this most grounding aspect of horticulture – the sharing of plants between all gardeners, potterers and professionals alike. The sweet peas now in flower and perfuming the Garden Museum entrance are among my most treasured of gardening gifts, sown from seed that has been passed from gardener to gardener over many decades, tracing back to plantsman Sir Cedric Morris and to his garden at Benton End. Morris and Benton are the inspiration for Sarah Price’s show garden at Chelsea this coming week, where his sweet peas will, alongside an intoxicating array of plants (including the irises Morris once bred in that garden), evoke Benton in its unbridled, colour-brimming 1950s heyday. Collected as a wild variety of Lathyrus odoratus he had spotted growing in Sicily, Morris cultivated this sweet pea at Benton End and later shared seed with the garden writer Tony Venison. From Venison seeds travelled via a mutual acquaintance to landscape designer Dan Pearson, who in turn sent me a handful in the post during my time in the garden at Benton End in the early months of the pandemic. Last autumn I sowed it earlier than usual and, hardy as they are, the plants persevered through the difficult winter: they were planted out on a hazel wigwam in March and the first of the flowers appeared a few weeks ago. The scent is pervasive, addictive and evocative of an enchanting garden that was an inspiration to so many influential gardeners. Be sure to stick your nose in as you pass through the museum doors… As part of our new ‘Branch Out’ series of free activities and events held in the museum nave, we are holding a seed swapon Thursday 1 June, 11am-2pm. Drop in, drop off and pick up some seeds — flower, vegetable, herb, mystery plant(!), all welcome. Branch Out Seed Swap Elsewhere… we recommend Tom Stuart-Smith talk at Sir John Soane’s Museum By Design, a talk series at Sir John Soane’s Museum, in partnership with Luke Irwin, is back for its fourth season.  Internationally renowned designers are invited to discuss their practice through a single object from the Museum. In this talk, Alice Rawsthorn talks to landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith. Mon 5 Jun, 6pm – 8.30pm £30 Find out more Images: Benton Menace (c) Alison Sargeant; Cat at Benton End (c) Estate of Elvic Steele; British Flowers Week 2022 (c) Graham Lacdao; Cedric’s sweet pea (c) Matt Collins; Tom Stuart-Smith garden at Hepworth Wakefield (c) Jason Ingram Garden Museum 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB gardenmuseum.org.uk

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THE GARDEN MUSEUM NEWS, the U.K.

New Talk! Dan Pearson at Dartington To mark the 90th anniversary of Beatrix Farrand’s involvement at Dartington, Dan Pearson, recipient of the 2022 Beatrix Farrand Society Achievement Award, will talk about the masterplan he has produced for the gardens. A settlement since the 9th century with a medieval Great Hall, the estate was acquired in 1925 by American heiress Dorothy Elmhirst and her English husband Leonard. Together they created a unique experiment in rural regeneration, agriculture, education and the arts. They employed several of the best known names in landscape and garden design during their time there including Henry Avray Tipping, Percy Crane, Preben Jacobsen and Beatrix Farrand. Pearson has taken the masterplan brief from the Elmhirst’s philosophy of a ‘reverence for the old and a joy in the new’. The 20 year plan for the gardens strikes a balance between respect for the old, while proposing gentle renovation. Tues 6 June, 7pm £20 Standard £15 Friends / Young Fronds £10 Livestream Book tickets Lunchtime talk this week Madoo: The Making of an American Garden For this lunchtime talk we are joined by Alejandro Saralegui, Executive Director of the Madoo Conservancy, to discover the story of a unique American garden. Madoo is a magical garden that had its genesis in the late 1960s on a fallow farm field in Sagaponack, in the Hamptons. Its founder Robert Dash, a self-taught gardener and painter who was also a noted poet, experimented as he went along, turning Madoo into a nexus of the American art and poetry worlds. He often described the garden as having “English bones and American flesh”, and Dash’s interpretations of historic garden periods fill the two-acre site, where Rosemary Verey’s influence can be clearly felt in the potager based on a drawing of her own at Barnsley House. Alejandro’s talk will include archival and present day photography of the garden as well as Dash’s own paintings that illustrate Madoo. Tues 2 May, 12pm £15 Standard £10 Friends, Young Fronds Book tickets Cecilia Charlton: Memory Garden Ahead of her installation Memory Garden opening at the Garden Museum for London Craft Week 8-14 May, we asked textile artist Cecilia Charlton a few questions to learn more about the ancient practice of weaving: How did you come to weaving, when did you realise you wanted to use it as your artistic medium? It is hard to pin down an exact moment when weaving captivated me — all I know is that all of a sudden I was completely obsessed. Every morning watching weaving videos on YouTube, ordering weaving books on eBay to learn techniques. Embroidery is such a rich practice, but you really can’t study the history of textiles without having a relationship with weaving. If there was no weaving, there would not be anything to embroider upon — to create paintings upon, for that matter. Weaving is so fundamental to our everyday life — through its success as a technology it has been rendered invisible by the modern eye. We are smothered in it, yet we completely take it for granted. I was completely fascinated by the incredible richness of weaving and the dynamic capabilities of historical techniques… Keep reading Cooking Workshops inspired by the Museum Collection Inspired by items currently on display in our collection, this new series of three daytime cooking classes led by Garden Museum Food Educator and Chef Ceri Jones will explore vegetable-centric cuisine, one seasonal ingredient at a time. The items chosen for this series include our temporary exhibition on Joy Larkcom, the queen of cut and come again salad leaves, a cucumber straightener and Cecil Beaton’s 1960 work The Cutting Garden, which features the edible flower nasturtium. Sample menu for our first session inspired by Joy Larkcom Spinach and Feta Filo Pie Griddled Pak Choi with Garlic and Chilli Rocket Pesto Orzo Salad Dates Joy Larkcom’s Salad Leaves | Thurs 18 May The Cucumber Straightener | Thurs 22 June Cecil Beaton’s Nasturtium | Thurs 13 July £40 per person Book tickets Watch: Tayshan Hayden-Smith and Tom Massey This week on our Instagram we shared a quick chat between guerrilla gardener Tayshan Hayden-Smith and garden designer Tom Massey. Filmed at the Garden Museum before Tom’s recent book launch, the meeting of minds covered sustainable gardening, early access to nature and favourite resilient plants. Tayshan Hayden-Smith is a social activist, guerrilla gardener, and RHS Ambassador. He founded Grow 2 Know in 2019 with the aim of making horticulture accessible to all. Tom Massey’s new book RHS Resilient Garden is out now. Watch Object of the Week: November 5th, 1933, by Eric Ravilious Catherine wheels, Roman candles, rockets. Ravilious was fascinated by the patterns fireworks make. They appear in his wood engravings, lithographs, ceramics, and the now lost mural for the Midland Hotel, Morecambe. November 5th, 1933 was painted in Stratford Road, Earls Court where Eric and Tirzah Garwood lived when they were first married. The painting depicts a row of gardens alive with activity on Guy Fawkes Night, and was first exhibited in his one-man show that opened on 24th November, 1933, at the Zwemmer Gallery. This painting is on display in our current exhibition Private & Public: Finding the Modern British Garden until 4 June. Presented in partnership with Liss Llewellyn. This particular work is not for sale but the majority of works in the exhibition are. For a price list and further details email christina@gardenmuseum.org.uk.  Book a visit Images: Chinese greens photo by Joy Larkcom, taken on her research trips around China and Japan, Archive of Garden Design; November 5th, 1933, Eric Ravilious, image courtesy of Liss Llewellyn Garden Museum 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB gardenmuseum.org.uk

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THE GARDEN MUSEUM NEWS….

THE GARDEN MUSEUM, the U.K. British Flowers Week 2023 The Garden Museum’s annual British Flowers Week exhibition is back this summer, championing British-grown flowers, sustainable floristry and the immense talent in floral design found across the country. We’ve hand-picked five of the most exciting florists working in Britain today to build immersive floral installations around the museum on the theme ‘New Beginnings’. And we are thrilled to reveal this year’s line-up! Botanical Tales Lucy Vail Floristry Mahal Kita Flowers SAGE Yinari The week will also include a Friday Late and a panel discussion with the florists hosted by Shane Connolly. Find out more about this year’s florists and book your visit on our website now!  8-12 June 2023 British Flowers Week 2023 New Talk! An Evening with Luciano Giubbilei We are delighted to welcome renowned garden designer Luciano Giubbilei back to the Garden Museum to talk about his recent projects, including having his work featured in The Art of the Garden, airing on Sky Arts in May. Twenty-five years after starting life as a garden designer, Luciano Giubbilei has finally created a garden in the country in which he was born. Having been brought up in the walled city of Siena, he jumped at the chance to create a stunning garden around a villa whose views are of a Tuscan landscape unchanged for centuries. Tues 2 May, 7pm £20 Standard £15 Friends, Young Fronds £10 Livestream Book tickets Horticultural Trainee Blog: A week in La Petraia, Tuscany As her year as our Horticultural Trainee comes to a close, Caroline Cathcart shares her final garden placement, far away from our Lambeth patch in La Petraia, Tuscany: “High up in the Tuscan hills in Chianti sits La Petraia, a secluded estate that looks out over a vast rural landscape. The surrounding vineyards roll into dense woodland, where the bare branches of the downy oak, blanched to a blue-green pallor with lichen, appear from a distance like the flowers of the smoke bush, Cotinus coggygria, amassing on the hillsides in glaucous swathes tinged with pink…” Keep reading New Talk! What Gardeners Grow How do gardeners arrive at their favourite plants? Do they go for the beauty makers, the workhorses of the garden, the ones that attract the pollinators, or the plant they first grew as a wide-eyed child? What Gardeners Grow, a new book published by Bloom, collects into one encyclopedic volume the most treasured plants (and the stories behind them) of more than 250 gardeners. In this talk, book contributors discuss what elevates a plant to ‘favourite’ status. And how our favourite plants might be changing as our gardens, climate, politics and environment continue to be in flux. Joining the panel to share their favourite plants are Matt Collins (Head Gardener at the Garden Museum), Errol Fernandes (Head of Horticulture at the Horniman Museum), Sara Venn (Founder of Incredible Edible Bristol), Juliet Sargeant (Garden Designer and RHS judge), and chair Zena Alkayat (founder of Bloom) in conversation. Tues 16 May, 7pm £15 Adult £10 Friends, Students, Young Fronds £10 Livestream Book tickets Lunchtime Talk | Madoo: The Making of an American Garden We are joined by Alejandro Saralegui, Executive Director of the Madoo Conservancy, to discover the story of a unique American garden. Madoo is a magical garden that had its genesis in the late 1960s on a fallow farm field in Sagaponack, in the Hamptons. Its founder Robert Dash, a self-taught gardener and painter who was also a noted poet, experimented as he went along, turning Madoo into a nexus of the American art and poetry worlds. He often described the garden as having English bones and American flesh, and Dash’s interpretations of historic garden periods fill the two-acre site, where Rosemary Verey’s influence can be clearly felt in the potager based on a drawing of her own at Barnsley House. Alejandro’s talk will include archival and present day photography of the garden as well as Dash’s own paintings that illustrate Madoo. Tues 2 May, 12pm £15 Standard £10 Friends, Young Fronds Book tickets Object of the Week: The Willow Grove, Great Bardfield by Charles Mahoney The same landscape view of the Willow Grove at Great Bardfield was also painted by Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden who lived in the Essex village. The group of friends were all keen gardeners and regularly swapped cuttings and seeds. This painting is on display in our current exhibition Private & Public: Finding the Modern British Garden until 4 June. Presented in partnership with Liss Llewellyn, works are available to purchase in aid of our education and exhibitions programmes. For a price list and further details email christina@gardenmuseum.org.uk.  Book a visit Images: JamJar Flowers installation at British Flowers Week 2021 (c) Rona Wheeldon; All for Love installation at British Flowers Week 2019 (c) Courage & Dash; Tuscany Garden courtesy of Luciano Giubbilei; La Petraia (c) C.E. Cathcart; What Gardeners Grow (c) Bloom; Madoo (c) Alejandro Saralegui; The Willow Grove, Great Bardfield by Charles Mahoney ((1903-1968), image courtesy of Liss Llewellyn Garden Museum 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB gardenmuseum.org.uk

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THE GARDEN MUSEUM NEWS, the U. K.

The Garden Museum News 🌿

Branch Out: Free events and activities at the Garden Museum! We are delighted to announce Branch Out, our new programme of free events and activities exploring gardening, art, floristry, plant science, history, design and more! Starting in April, join us on Thursdays for free talks, tours, workshops and performances in our historic nave. Branch Out has been made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England. From seed swaps with our gardening team, to curator-guided tours of our collection, and nature-inspired art and craft workshops, try something new every Thursday at our free Branch Out activities. The programme will take place in the Garden Museum’s Grade II* listed deconsecrated church nave, parts of which date back to the 14th century, and visitors will be able to explore one of London’s most fascinating historic buildings. No need to book, just show up! Explore our free Branch Out activities Talk | Ideas for a Greener London Inspired by the work of writer, urban theorist, and activist Jane Jacobs, this panel discussion chaired by Evan Davis will present ideas from architects, academics, landscape designers and gardeners on how they envision a brighter, greener, and better future for London. Speakers include designer of public spaces Alex Arestis on the importance of street trees; Dr Morag Rose on why we need walkable cities; geographer Oli Mould on turning golf courses into community gardens; and George Hudson on the connected thinking required between gardeners, designers and decision makers. This talk is part of our Jane Jacobs Dayprogramme.  Tues 4 May, 7pm £10 Adult, £8 Friends £5 Student / Young Fronds £5 Livestream Buy tickets Visions of Welfare Conference We are pleased to be hosting this day of discussion as part of Visions of Welfare: a three-day international conference discussing the role of women in the creation of the spaces of the post-war Welfare States. Presentations will consider the role of women in the formation of key spaces in the Welfare State, looking beyond individual achievements and professional boundaries. Across a day of talks, the conference will explore who forms a built environment and emphasise and celebrate the diversity of women’s practices. Visions of Welfare is co-hosted by the Women of the Welfare Landscape Project, the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (SAHGB), and the Women in Danish Architecture project. Mon 15 May, 9.30am – 5.30pm £60 Standard, £45 Student £25 Livestream Book tickets Visions of Welfare Conference Talk: Greening the Desert Landscape architect Diana Armstrong Bell gained a unique perspective on her discipline whilst working in the Middle East in the 1980s. She learnt the fundamentals of greening the desert from women like Grace Kirkwood, consultant landscape architect for Kenzo Tange, and applied these ideas at the Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain – even setting up a plant nursery on site. In this talk, Armstrong Bell will share the stories and inspiration that she drew from her experiences working in the Middle East,  joined in conversation by landscape architect, historian and horticulturist Karen Fitzsimon. This talk is part of the Visions of Welfare Conference but standalone tickets can be booked below. £10 Standard £5 Friend/Student/Young Frond £5 Livestream Book tickets Plant of the Week: Corydalis By Matt Collins, Head Gardener Some botanical names, when you type them, feel as easy on the fingers as they do spoken aloud. For me, ‘corydalis’ is one of them. The letters flow in natural swirls. The word originates from the Greek ‘korydalis’, meaning ‘crested lark’, and was attributed to the flower for its similarity in shape to the head of this common Eurasian bird: the narrow, downward face of the bloom; the backwards flick of its spur. And, rather than point to one single variety, as I have done here in the past, I thought I’d group a few growing at the Museum in celebration of their all too often unsung spring efforts. As with the majority of my springtime favourites, corydalis are for the most part woodlanders, flowering around the base of trees in the short window between winter’s end and canopy leaf break; after this they vanish. There are exceptions that prefer the contrasting conditions of sun and free-draining soil (notably the feral garden escapee, C. lutea, now reclassified Pseudofumaria lutea); and, ultimately, it can be quite hard pinpointing exactly which soil type and conditions a corydalis is likely to thrive in, so often it can come down to trial and error. However, for pot displays, I find them completely charming. Their blooms coincide neatly with the spring bulbs of March and April, delivering complementary accents of eye catching colour, be it the cool pink of C. ‘Beth Evans’, the electric blue of C. ‘Pere David’ or the luminous yellow of personal favourite, C. cheilanthifolia, whose fern-like foliage is a wonder in itself. At the Museum, I keep our corydalis in their pots after flowering, allowing them to die back and dry out a little in a shady spot out of view, and then repot them in late winter for the coming display.

Explore our gardens Elsewhere… Berthe Morisot: Shaping Impressionism at Dulwich Picture Gallery This spring, Dulwich Picture Gallery will present the first major UK exhibition of Berthe Morisot since 1950. In partnership with the Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, it will bring together 30 of the Impressionist’s masterpieces from international collections to reveal the artist as a trailblazer of the movement. A founding member of the Impressionist group, Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) was known for her swiftly painted glimpses of contemporary life and intimate domestic scenes. She featured prominently in the Impressionist exhibitions and defied social norms to become one of the movement’s most influential figures. 31 March – 10 September 2023 Find out more Images: Branch Out design by Han Valentine; South Bank roof garden photo courtesy George Hudson; Design offices of the Ministry of Metallurgy and Mechanical Engineering, Budapest (1957) (c) Martin Kurutz, Fortepan; Arabic tent illustration (c) Diana Armstrong Bell; Corydalis photos (c) Matt Collins; Berthe Morisot, At the Ball, 1875 © Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris

Garden Museum 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB gardenmuseum.org.uk

Birds and Blooms 2023 – Jan/Feb/March/April

Our 2023 season Birds and Blooms features:

January: Snowbirds

February: Blue Jays 

March: Purple Finch

April: Bullock’s Oriole

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Musings…….back cover

January: Tufted Titmouse (Wisconsin) “Where there is an open mind there will always be a frontier

February: Pine Warbler on Camellia – “No matter what changes take place in the world, or in me, nothing ever seems to disturb the face of spring.

March: Green Jay – “Life is so extraordinary. Wonderful surprises are just around the most unexpected corners.

April: Northern spatula (Arlington, VA) “How pleasant the lives of the birds must be, living in love in a leafy tree.

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Dear “Contessa”  Friends,

We have gathered our first four (4) issues of:

Birds and Blooms….and they are ready for your viewing if you would like some uplifting reading for our rain marathon today and tomorrow. We are happy to drop them by your house today. Great photos and helpful bird identification and proper feeding info. And where to find and photograph these birds. Spring especially is the perfect time to bird watch with the children or your senior live-in’s. Inexpensive and enlightening weekend entertainment.

Seriously….. we can drop these four copies off by Noon today, just give us a buzz.  We are close by, so no problem.  You too can enjoy what we enjoy reading every month. In one weeks time, we can pick them up and pass to our next birdwatcher fans.

“Contessa” says….perfect for a very rainy weekend.

Enjoy!

THE GARDEN MUSEUM, the UK

New talk! Tom Massey: Resilient Garden Tom Massey is one of the leading designers of his generation and his new book, RHS Resilient Garden (published by DK in April) is a climate emergency call to action for us all to garden more sustainably. To celebrate the publication, hear Tom and some of the book’s expert contributors discuss the important issue of climate-resilient gardening. How can we design our gardens and green spaces to become more adaptable in a warming climate? How resilient are gardens, in the face of extreme weather events such as heatwaves and drought or excessive rainfall and flooding? Why should we be planting our own food forests, adopting green roof and swale planting, harvesting rainwater, or adding hügelkultur mounds? What are the best plants to cool the air and trap harmful pollutants? The evening will be chaired by Chris Young, who will welcome guests Tayshan Hayden-Smith, Dr Tijana Blanusa, Dr Hayley Jones, and Thomas Rainer on stage, joining Tom Massey for a panel discussion on resilient gardening. Tues 11 April, 7pm £15 Standard, £10 Friends/Young Fronds £10 Livestream Book tickets Jane Jacobs Day 2023 Join us for the Garden Museum’s inaugural Jane Jacobs Day, a day of activities celebrating the renowned urban theorist, writer, and activist Jane Jacobs, most famously known for her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961). The day will include a Jane Walk in our local neighbourhood, a community workshop, and an evening panel discussion on London’s future, to commemorate the outstanding contribution Jane Jacobs made to urban studies, sociology, economics, and activism. Full programme coming soon, but tickets are available now for the evening talk! Ideas for a Greener London Chaired by Evan Davis, this panel discussion will explore how to envision a brighter, greener, and better future for London. Speakers include Architect Alex Arestis on the development of an urban arboretum; academic Dr Morag Rose on walking together to shape the planet; Oli Mould on the futures of golf courses and writer George Hudson on why utilities are the problem… Thurs 4 May, 7pm £10 Adult, £8 Friend, £8 Student, £8 Unemployed £10 Livestream Book tickets Plant of the Week: Fritillaria verticillata By Matt Collins, Head Gardener As anyone who follows my Instagram account will know, my fixation with fritillaries began in earnest while living at Benton End in Suffolk, where the appearance of various species once grown by Benton’s renowned artist-gardener, Sir Cedric Morris, still appear sporadically in the rough grass, decades after his death. Going out in the dewy spring mornings to spot dainty, elegant and sometimes curious fritillaries half hidden in the walled garden there — during the strange quiet of the pandemic — will forever remain one of my most favourite gardening experiences. Not least as it tuned my eye to the nuances and natural appeal of species bulbs more generally. This week, while the cold weather creeps on into spring, stinging hands and stiffening boots, I have rejoiced at the indifference shown by our clumps of Fritillaria verticillata— a completely magnetising species fritillary from Japan whose multi-headed, cream-white blooms appear to have almost doubled in spread and size since last year, despite the chill temperatures. Planted in the Museum courtyard as a little drift last April, I staked the emerging shoots this winter with little berberis prunings (sturdily pronged and advantageously sharp), to give its slender, tendril-clad stems something to cling to. Here at the damper, partially sunny end of the garden they have now risen to well above two feet, dangling as many as five flowers each: qualities that make verticillata (which means ‘whorled’, in reference to the arrangement of its leaves around the stem) a fantastic garden plant for spring. Verticillata wasn’t among the fritillaries I encountered at Benton End, but I came to know it around the same time during a visit to a garden once owned by late garden writer Tony Venison. Venison died in 2019, but for many years was a frequent visitor to (and great chronicler of) Benton End. So there is a small chance the fritillary is linked; if not given by Morris (who was famously generous with plants) then perhaps discussed with him in the garden. Upon seeing it I was instantly charmed: if the height, floral abundance and butterfly antennae-like tendrils weren’t captivating enough, you lift the little pendent heads to reveal an exquisite, blood-red crosshatch beneath the petals. If you’re visiting the museum, I encourage you to wander out and look.

About our gardens Otros Vinos at the Garden Café Friday nights at the Garden Café are back from next week, and to celebrate we’ve invited one of our wine suppliers and good friends of the Café, the excellent Otros Vinos, to join us and pick the wine list for the evening. Focusing on low-intervention wine makers, Otros Vinos use lesser known grape varieties from some of the more obscure regions of France and Spain. Head chef Myles has put together a Mediterranean inspired menu for the evening to compliment the list. Spots are limited so please book online in advance. Friday 24 March, from 6pm Book a table Images: Tom Massey (c) Wax London; Jane Jacobs, chairman of the Comm. to save the West Village holds up documentary evidence at press conference at Lions Head Restaurant at Hudson & Charles Sts (1961), New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress; Fritillaria verticillata

Garden Museum 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB gardenmuseum.org.uk

VIRGINIA Bluebell Season Arriving Soon

Gardening Friend’s and Colleagues

Bluebells – Manassas National Battlefield Park (U.S. National Park Service)

• https://www.nps.gov/mana/learn/nature/bluebells.htm
• We phoned the visitors center this morning, March 6th at  8:30 am. The bluebells are not yet “awake.”  But if you have interest in going…. call and check with the Park Ranger in about ten days time.
• https://pin.it/7qcHHtk
• VIRGINIA bluebells

First signs of spring are these lovely blossoms. In town here in Alexandria, VA we already see some Crocus, Daffodils and Tete-a-tete blooming, but out in nature, covered by leaves and branches it will take a little more time for these lovely blossoms to poke up. When they do….it’s magical and very much worth it…,to take a day and visit. It will fill your soul with “Hope” for this springtime arrival.

“Contessa” says….. it’s a very lovely thing to do!

Prairie Moon Nursery

Our spring native seed catalog has arrived. We are happy to lend. Just give us a call and we can drop it off. Some very nice grouping selections. Prairie Moon is very reputable, with tenure in the seed business, and in fact most of these seeds are found at the  family farm in Marshall County, Iowa.

This copy is 48 pages….and in full color

We are happy to lend to you for one week. We can then pick it up and pass to our next interested seed enthusiast.

Enjoy! 

“Contessa”

The Garden Museum, UK

Film: Lucian Freud’s Chatsworth Cyclamen Mural Did you know Lucian Freud painted a cyclamen mural in a private bathroom at Chatsworth House? In our new exhibition Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits we have recreated the space to give visitors a rare opportunity to see this little-known masterpiece. To find out more about the real thing, we visited Chatsworth to make a short film with Senior Curator of Programme Dr Alex Hodby, to share the story of this powerful plant portrait. Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits is open until 5 March 2023 Digital partner Patch Plants Watch the film New Talk! Freud and Flowers at Chatsworth The Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth holds a rich variety of works by Lucian Freud, including paintings, prints, objects and even a cyclamen mural in a bathroom. This talk by Dr Alex Hodby, Senior Curator of Programme at Chatsworth (as seen in our film above!), will explore these works in the context of the collection and house. Focusing on depictions of flowers and plants, Alex will expand on how Freud’s work is understood within the context of the historic collection, and in relation to the Cavendish family. Centring on works in the collection in comparison with other closely related painting, prints and drawings, Alex will explore the artworks and how she has come to understand their place in the dynamic home at Chatsworth. Alex was one of the curators of the acclaimed exhibition this summer of the exhibition of the family’s commissions by contemporary artists The exhibition Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits will be open from 6.30pm – 7pmbefore the talk (entry included). Tues 29 November, 7pm £20 Standard, £15 Friends £10 Students / Young Fronds Book tickets Talk this week! Charlotte Molesworth in conversation with Non Morris Artist and gardener Charlotte Molesworth has been making a gentle haven of a garden – an enclosed world of light-catching peacocks, plump tiers of variegated box – for forty years. The garden at Balmoral Cottage in Kent was originally the kitchen garden of Collingwood ‘Cherry’ Ingram’s Benenden Estate, and has been featured in Vogue, Gardens Illustrated, Gardeners’ World, The Telegraph and many more! Charlotte and her garden are a great inspiration to some of our favourite gardeners – including Rachel de Thame who commented: “I’ll never forget meeting Charlotte, ambling round that magical garden talking topiary. It was one of the few times I’ve truly resented having a film crew trailing around with us. I wanted to have her to myself … and possibly spend a month sipping tea in her kitchen. A truly remarkable person.” Non and Charlotte will be chatting about the delights of topiary – the way giant fennel and towering sunflowers dazzle against the formal structure, and why Buxus sempervirens ‘Elegantissima’ is the ‘Queen of box’. Tues 8 November, 7pm £25 Standard, £20 Friends / Young Fronds, £15 Students £10 Livestream Book tickets Book Extract | Leif Bersweden: Where the Wildflowers Grow Ahead of his Plant Science Lecture at the Garden Museum on Friday 25 November, adventuring botanist Leif Bersweden shares an extract from his new book Where the Wildflowers Grow:“Parliament Square wasn’t exactly the epitome of biodiversity. It largely consisted of Perennial Rye-grass, a species with shiny, dark-green leaves that’s often sown to create parks and recreation grounds. But as I wandered, I noticed little plants popping up here and there. There were Shepherd’s-purse and Common Chickweed, but neither was in flower. A couple strolled past, arm in arm, eyeing me with a mixture of curiosity and misgiving. I grinned sheepishly at them. Bright-red London buses slid by, heading south over Westminster Bridge. I glanced over my shoulder at the Houses of Parliament and eyed the police guards cradling their enormous guns. I felt like I was trespassing in one of the most famous places in the world. ‘Sorry, officer, don’t mind me, I’m just looking for midwinter wildflowers’ is the kind of excuse that would probably only increase their suspicion if I was questioned about my activities. My concerns were interrupted, however, when I saw the Daisy: tall, bright and open- flowered. I got down on the ground to have a closer look…” Keep reading Christmas Wreath-making Workshop ‘Tis almost the season for wreath-making! Create a beautiful bespoke traditional Christmas wreath from scratch using fresh materials and dried fruit and berries. Florist and floristry lecturer Elaine Fisher will teach you the techniques and guide you to make your own wreath to hang on your front door or even use as a table centrepiece. At the end of the workshop, you can take your festive creation home to decorate your home with. Tues 29 November, 7pm £60, includes all materials Book tickets Object of the Week: The Topiary Lawn at Great Dixter (c.1960) In honour of Charlotte Molesworth’s enchanting topiary garden, this week we looked for exemplary examples of topiary in our collection of historic garden photos and came across this photo of Great Dixter’s topiary lawn from c.1960. Complete with requisite dog sprawled on the lawn! Christopher Lloyd (1921-2006) is quoted on Great Dixter’s website:“A closely planted strip of ash trees on the garden’s west boundary, provide wonderful silhouettes of airy foliage against the sunset sky, in summer, but they do shed much seed into the garden, borne on the prevailing south-west winds. The yew topiary lends a particular atmosphere to several parts of the garden. There was more of it in my father’s time. It has a presence, especially when shadows are long and it appears to inhabit, rather than grow. It needs clipping only once a year. If done in August, it will retain its sharp outlines right through to the end of the following May. However, although we mechanised the operation soon after the last war, we seldom achieve this objective and are pleased if this prolonged task is completed by November. Yew grows much faster than people imagine, if the ground is well prepared and the plants are fed.” Explore our collection online Images: Chatsworth House photo courtesy of Chatsworth; Charlotte Molesworth (c) Leigh Clapp; Westminster Daisy (c) Leif Bersweden; Great Dixter Topiary Lawn c.1960, Garden Museum Collection Garden Museum 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB gardenmuseum.org.uk

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