Spring Gardening on Wellington (REVISED ) 5/16/23 – Tuesday – 5:00 pm

BEFORE

We are here today to complete our clients spring tidy. The Pansies made it through the winter and most everything came back except one (1) Salvia. The Shasta Daisy looks small but we are pretty certain it will fill in. Our last fall tidy took a lot of weeds out so her beds are fairly clean of weeds.  She does have some left over spring blooming daffodils and we planted tulips last fall, so we need to do some cleaning up of the beds of those two early spring bloomers. And it’s time to remove all the Pansies. They served her well from late October until now. A good run forPansies, and she loves them

So Yesterday she and I shopped for plants. This year she wanted to add all “annuals.” So we found some pretty ones. The main thing is she likes color and instant gratification and she made all the pics herself. Waiting for blooms is not particularly her ”thang.”

Here is part of her area from last year, as a comparison after we added about 8 new perennials and finished her spring  work

Sooo…. Please check back this evening to get a “birds eye view” of our progress.

IN PROGRESS

We are still planting and moving plants around. Tidying up early spring bloomers and cleaning the patio furniture and cleaning the sand from the newly created stone patio. We will be back tomorrow to first off plant the two new yellow  Rose bushes, finish planting the four new Canna Lily’s and four other annuals in the larger bed. Then we will mulch everything and take a final video.

We completed four hours today and estimate another four or five to finish. We can always move a few hours into Monday morning. Let’s see how it takes shape. One thing is for sure, the beds were full of weeds and creeping vines when we took on this project and we have come a long way. It is looking full and will definitely be pretty for our summer season.

“Contessa”

(REVISED) Friday – 5/12/23 – 5:30 pm

Four (4) Hours today. New yellow Rose bushes planted in the sloping bed. Tricky digging holes on an incline. But we think we have them positioned quite well. Both a little higher on the slope than the one in the middle at our clients request. Everything in the main bed is planted and the entire bed is cleaned up of debris. All four Canna Lily’s in pots are yet to be planted. We need one more larger pot as Canna grow rather large and we don’t want them to tip over. We will check our own supply to see if we might have one in storage, but the owner is willing to purchase a fourth if need be.

We need potting soil and we will pick it up Monday morning on our way to the site. But they were thoroughly watered and with 90% chance of rain tomorrow, Saturday, they will be fine until Monday when we return. Finally to finish this project we will spread the mulch.

We had told our client we would clean up all the patio furniture and so our “wonder cleaner” baking soda did the trick. Not only does it clean grime, but it whitens and brightens. Can’t beat it for .80 cents per box. All her chairs had mildew and the baking soda eats away at it; just a little water and soda and a soft brush really cleaned them up. A wonder cleaner. Late fall we had gathered and placed all the furniture off to side of the yard so that when the patio folks arrived last week they had clearance to complete their job. And it’s looking really very nice. Great stone and great pattern the way they laid it. Still a good amount of sand is lingering on the surface, but when we finally wrap up the gardening project, we are going to clean it up well. No additional photos this week because we prefer to give you a “final video” upon completion. But it’s looking really great already.

”Contessa” says….. a big project…. but a fun one as well! 

•••••••

(REVISED) – 5/16/23 – Tuesday- 5:00 pm

This client had no garden when we met her. Nothing but invasive creeping vines. So this is year three and we have lots of flowers now and today we finished up all the finishing touches. Planted four Canna Lily’s and a very pretty ornamental Azalea for the center of her garden table.

We are home now….. and will be invoicing her for eleven (11) hours. Five bags of mulch, two bags of potting soil, and two (2) yellow rose bushes.

FINAL VIDEO

”Contessa” says….so lovely to work in and complete this pretty little garden!

Our very own plants….. need care today

Sunday morning …..rest and giving our plants some tender loving care. In reality this task feeds our psyche and provides a mental rest, calm and peace for our soul. Plants are so grounding. We planted lettuce seeds about ten days ago and they are coming up in our window box. We need to thin out the seedlings today.

Our sched has been brisk lately and so a little break today is more than welcome. Maybe we will prepare a small supper and enjoy a little reading in between beginning to clear out some books and things we no longer need.

All in all…our goal is a simple day. Just relaxing and small tasks. We’ve a full week ahead with two jobs. One on Monday and Tuesday; a new couple who have been communicating with us by txt, and who have been following all our instructions to be fully ready for us once we arrive. And our second project will be Wed through Friday for one of our repeat and very good customers. So far two new beautiful yellow, full bud rose bushes. Both projects are going to be good ones. Looking forward to them. 

We are going to have some rain this week so if you are a gardener, it’s a perfect time for planting. The rain is predicted to be seasonal, but light, and so if you are inclined to be out there in your garden….it should be a pleasant experience. Soft, teeming rain is perfect for gardening tasks. And rain reminds us how important moisture is for the beauty of our world. Our spring season is still stretching her “roots.” While you are out tending your gardens we encourage you to listen for….. and observe our birds and creatures in nature. They will bring you good cheer, if you let them into your world.  

We trust you will renew your spirit today as well.

”Contessa” says……it’s sooo very important! 

Martha Custis ……the six hour challenge in the COLD!!!

Can you believe it… 6 hours. Why such a long time?

First off…. the bed is only about 24 inches wide. Over to the left of the sidewalk is a humongous tree with far reaching roots underneath the earth. Upon digging down even six inches we ran in to thick roots and tangled feelers about 30 inches long. There was no way the six Azalea bushes that had been planted there three years ago, could ever survive. No soil, no depth in the bed and no girth to allow for growth spurts once planted. These were planted by a nursery. The root balls were larger than basketballs. We had to totally soak them and used three different shovels to dig them out. This left huge holes to fill, and the bed had to be leveled properly. Our planting technique is to build beds up towards the middle. Less dirt on the edges near the way to close brick borders. In our opinion those six bushes never stood a chance. No sun there and no depth of soil.

So, very wisely our homeowner decided for us to dig them up today and just plant some pretty annuals for this summers growing season.

Today was cold.  It was a very muddy job due to our recent rain and the fact that we had to soak them even more to be able to dig them up.

All the root balls and root feelers were set aside but to wet to bag. So tomorrow we will return to take everything and tidy up any muddy spots left on the sidewalk.

Today we were to have completed the back yard spring tidy as well. Time just did not permit. So we are working to schedule time with the homeowner into next week or tge following week

A NOTE:  Folks always ask how long is the project going to take. It’s a normal question, but until we dive into a job it’s very hard to be sure. This job was one of those hard ones. Today’s work was living proof that until you start digging and get into the “nitty gritty” of a project, it’s really hard to give exact times. Once our homeowner saw the mess outside they had a very good idea that our proposed four (4) hours was in the end, not going to be enough time. But the good news is this bed is in much better shape than it’s ever been and together we will try to come up with a more permanent and longer term plan. We’ve recommended removing the brick borders as they really limit the capacity to plant. And a tidy flowering ground cover that is continuously maintained by us may just be the answer. Anyway we will work together to come up with a more permanent solution. In the meantime these very colorful and very pretty Begonias will look nice this summer. They were reasonably priced and certainly brighten up this very shady spot, as they are shade to part shade annuals. For now it’s looking fresh and attractive.

“CONTESSA” says….it’s all very nice!

Spring Tidy for Valley Drive (REVISED) – 4/27 – Thursday

REVISED – MONDAY – 4/24

Tomorrow Tuesday, we will be back to complete this ten (10) hour job. So far we have six hours on the books. We will complete the final push to ready the beds for spring. Our condo crews are coming to trim the square large Boxwoods which creates a ton of leaf debris to tidy up and the perimeter bed which is quite large will be finally addressed to complete “neat and tidy.”  The beds inside the courtyard will be hand “tilled” to turn soil and our liquid fertilizer treatment will be sprayed once the tilling is complete.  Our Rose bush on the left-center-side is positioned on a sloping area in the bed so we are going to dig it up and fill that area of the bed with new soil to create a more level bed. We believe it’s positioned slightly low in the bed to do well. It’s a ”gardeners guess,” but generally our intuitions serve us and our customers well. We are going to “give it a go.”

We asked our good and gracious Lord for “rain” and on Saturday “HE” provided one full hour of moisture. Thank you dearest Lord.  We really needed it for successful gardens.  Your provision is accepted and we are so grateful.

We will provide a FINAL VIDEO, once our work is complete. Our technical issues are resolved and so we can post pics and video once again.  Thank you WordPress!

Our property today has a number of (7)Pencil Boxwoods. We spent part of today hand trimming them. Early spring and they are “fluffy” with new green growth. So much so, they are branching out. So we used a regular shears to trim them. This is the photo (above) before the trim.

And the (below) photo is after the trim. Last year they weren’t so green, so our fertilizer treatment for them really worked, combined with our proper hand trimming, rather than with an electric trimmer they are looking so healthy.    Hand manicuring makes all the difference. They are quite beautiful when given the proper care they “deserve.” These bushes are rare in residential neighborhoods and quite expensive, so keeping them in good shape is a high priority.

We were at this property for three (3) hours today and three last week. We have video to share once we can post it. Technical issues at the moment prevent our successful uploading.

Please visit us again soon. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow we are visiting the garden nursery and looking for  specific plants for this client. Things in his beds are coming in slowly, but we think we only lost two plants this winter. They are slowly coming into season.

So far this spring tidy has been six (6) hours for this client location.

We completed our deep edgings around the perimeter of the outside of this property and tomorrow when we return from the nursery we will yet again, do some weed pulling. We hope we can work again tomorrow, but we are expecting 90 degrees so we’ll have to see how it goes. A little early frankly for it to be so warm. We aren’t even to Mothers Day yet and in Virginia that is the signal that we can now buy flowering plants for our gardens as any fear of frost/freeze has passed. A strange year so far with NO snow at all and moisture levels at a critical stage.

WE SO NEED RAIN. Oh great creator of all living things we could use your heavens to open up and bring us some moisture. And we know that when your timing is right, you will send it. Thank you our father God, Oh’ thank you!

AMEN……

(REVISED) Tuesday – 4/25

Oh’ a change in schedule today. Could not he helped. We worked a very hard day yesterday and were fighting allergies. Eyes and pollen and wind and muscle aches. Oh my gosh! We had to reschedule our client to tomorrow. We could barely see when we arrived home last night. Eyes very swollen from the pollen count. Fortunately we were able to move tomorrows client to May 2nd. So it has all worked out. We’ve been resting today and trying to stay indoors as much as possible. It’s been a tough couple couple of weeks with allergies and everyone is asking us….”are they crazy that they can’t “see” from all the pollen in the air. No they are not crazy. It’s been exceptionally rough to see. The weather will hopefully provide us with some more rain this upcoming weekend to clear the dusty/green air. Ugh!  Can’t hardly wait for moisture. Regardless tomorrow we must press on. We are fortunate our customers get it. But….they are also suffering too. We all are. Such a really weird spring this year. Pretty of course, but totally off the charts with up and down temps, blooming like crazy flowering trees and plants, and wind to top it all off. Hang tight….one more rainy day and we should be good. I sure am optimistic. Never have we all wanted it to rain so much.

“CONTESSA ” is praying for buckets of RAIN!

(REVISED) – 4/27 – Thursday 

Final Video/Inner Courtyard. 

We need to possibly replace a couple items called Indian Pinks. At $30 each only two came back. And one is trying. The third is robust.  And our Pink Muhly grasses along the center back are taking their time to come round. We know  we need some filler items this year. But as this is our bachelor homeowners first year with an all perennial garden we will go slow, so get can choose his own filler-in-Ed’s. He is particular about his taste and so we are following his lead. We have recommended some bulbs be planted in the fall for next years spring blooming. And he liked the yellow Canna Lilies last year over by his Frank Lloyd Wright statuary, so  he wants more of those tucked in behind where the Pink Muhly grasses will return along back the brick wall of the house. We repositioned  a peachish colored Rose bush that seems to have lost it’s “vim.” But we moved it forward slightly, tended it’s roots and replanted it in new organic garden soil and raised and leveled the garden bed up just a bit. It was sitting in a low spot,  and we think it might have been sitting in a water collection area. So we’ll give it a go for this second season. If it doesn’t come round we’ll replace. But I never give up on a plant “one time around.” I mean I just don’t ever kill a plant. So….as a forever optimist gardener I’m not tossing it just yet. We’ll see how it comes back and if it comes back. It did bloom and was a beautiful pinkish/peach fluffy flower. It just seemed to hug the ground rather than branch out and upward. Upward being the key word here.

During this spring cleanup assignment we ran out of approved hours to revitalize the bed circling the perimeter of the property. As a PFX crew is coming to trim the English Boxwood very tall bushes soon, we will secure additional hours to clean up the perimeter outside area and in and under these notoriously messy leafed bushes post trimming. There will be tons of debris to clear up. They are beautiful but you really have to keep up with them so they don’t mess up your beds. Leaves that drop and are left behind make a real mess on the patio, so we must clean everything up.

Yesterday our clients was billed for ten hours, plus the cost of some organic soil to level out the bed with the rose bush that not performing.

It’s all about bringing the property to “spring ready.” We are close.

“CONTESSA”

Fifth Year in a planter – Yellow Jasmine

Our Yellow Jasmine is singing today. So bright and pretty. And many blossoms yet to come…..

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One thing we have learned is that many blooming plants can be grown in containers. So if your little plot of beds outdoors your home is smallish, you can have two or three very lovely flowering plants in good sized decorative planters and locate them strategically into your garden beds. This way you can move them around without the need to dig them up for a relocation. And you can still plant around them if you’ve the garden bed space. We find that planters are non-restrictive and in fact, one year we had a beautiful Palm that grew pretty large, and we even relocated it into the house for the winter for several seasons. It made a lovely backdrop to divide our living and dining area. It fit in just like it was supposed to be there. And then in the spring we would move it back outdoors as a focal point for our outdoor chair and side table vignette. We have done this also with Hydrangeas and an Azalea Dwarf Tree. So don’t limit yourself in terms of bloomers that you think must only grow in the ground. Your only challenge might be asking a neighbor to lend a helping hand with the moving each season.

We purchased Saucers on Castors and used them to protect floors and rugs and it helps to make your plant so much easier to move around, and it raises it up some from the floor giving a little more height. It’s wonderful. We love large plants indoors so think about trying this. Indoor/Outdoor plants are wonderful.

Brand: MoMoSun

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MoMoSun 2 Pack 13 inch Round Plant Caddy with Water Container and 4 Wheels,Transparent Plant Dolly Rolling Plant Stand for Heavy Planter with Casters,Movable Plant Stand (13 inch for 12inch Pot)

1. 

   Call us if you need assistance in choosing plants, planters, appropriate soil and the rolling Saucers.  It is so worth the look and winter can be dreary indoors without plant 🌱 life. We know….because plants are a huge part of our life and our well being.

“Contessa” says….. just go for it!

Gardening – Rental Property Prep (REVISED) SUNDAY – 4/30 – 9:35 am

Scope of Project

We received a call from a local Bethesda resident to clear the back raised bed of existing weeds and plantings. Upon arrival we discovered a nicely constructed raised bed but very shallow and it needed a soil abatement. All existing plants and weeds were cleared and the plant material was set aside to use in the bed located under the tree that’s bordering the property. We added four (4) bags of soil to build the bed under the tree and planted the leftover existing Hosta.

We then proceeded to a abate the soil quantity in the raised bed under the back windows. We discovered a PCV pipe buried on the left side of this bed so an adjustment in bush placement was needed. Additionally this bed was full of tree roots so a deep excavation 18” down had to occur. Upon the completion of five (5) 18” sized holes we planted up the five (5), three (3) gallon Boxwood bushes that we secured from a local nursery. Added three bags of top soil and four bags of organic garden soil to the arrangement of bushes. Leveled the bed and finished off with two (3) cu ft bags of hardwood bark shredded mulch. A terrific final look and one that is clean looking and will be easy for the new tenant to maintain. 

To complete and finish up this project, we used reserved mulch to fill the side bed near the breezeway fence and in the newly created Hosta bed to finish up this 10 hour job.

Front of Property

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Back of the Property

As of last night,  the Homeowner has requested we price out additional Hosta bushes for both the bed under the tree and the side bed by the fence. We will do so this week and most likely add on to the project, since he will not be listing it for two more weeks. And so delightfully….work will continue.

“Contessa” says….. it’s all good!

(REVISED) – Sunday – 4/30 – 9:30 am 

Mr Fox ( pun intended….Ha!) insisted we show for his Open House yesterday. We arrived early and completed a last minute tidy before his prospective tenants arrived. It’s all part of doing great business. He lives in Bethesda but has had this rental property since 1986. He’s retired and the place has become his “hobby” as evidenced by his conducting his choice to rent it on his own. He placed these Fox biz card holders on his kitchen counter as he decided to promote my business during the 1 to 5 pm showing. A nice turn out of folks came through, with our break in rain, and today three (3) are returning for a second viewing. Sounds promising! The entire unit was gutted in December and construction was completed on April 1st. It is a three bedroom unit and just gorgeous inside, complete with a third bedroom converted into an office with built in book shelving and a desk. Very handsome indeed. I’m certain he will land a great tenant. He’s retired foreign service so he himself has leads from career acquaintances.

“Contessa’s” provided some outside help in bringing the property ready to show. We ended up doing extra and it was a pleasure to work for a homeowner who definitely wants his investment to rent successfully. He plans now to retain us quarterly to provide upkeep. It’s a win for us and for him.

Thank you Mr Fox! 🦊

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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A Gardening Consultation/Planters – A Tutorial and Planting 101

One of our prospective clients went shopping today for  planter’s to place in front of her house, near her two white portico columns. Not too large, but a very good size. 14” x14”x 14”. For a first year pick, we think they are a good start; a fair price, sturdy, adequately equipped with built in drainage and made of a resin material which is not too heavy for moving them around. Ceramic planters these days are heavy, costly and they often crack near the base, if our winter is really cold. Plus, as a new gardener she wants to go at it carefully, so as to make sure her skill as a gardener and her commitment to execute a nice little garden, will stick. We think it will. She has owned her home fifteen years and this is her first attempt to learn, create and plant.

We visited to provide our 30-minute FREE gardening consultation. She has actually been reading our blog and  finally decided to give us a call for her rightful 30-minute gardening consultation. While we were together today, we covered pruning bushes, weed removal from the patio, bed cleanup and dead leaf removal, deep edging of her flower beds and size requirements for planted items, soil and mulch requirements and removing invasive repetitive weeds from her beds. When we left she had a couple of our tools to aid her with weed removal and the proper edging of her beds. She seemed to appreciate the concept and our tutorial.

She sent us a photo of the planter above, and checked in to get our “recipe” for extensive weed removal from her fairly small patio…. which she hopes to tackle this week prior to her company arriving for Easter.

The recipe follows:

1 gallon of white vinegar

1 Cup table Salt

2 Tbsp of Dawn Detergent

Pour all in a bucket, full strength, and using your kitchen broom, swish all over the patio. Do this on a full Sunny hot day. Make sure the day following will also be hot and Sunny. The hot sun combined with this homemade weed removal concoction should dry the weeds out… and you can either sweep them away, or power wash them away with your hose and a sprinkler, with the nozzle setting on high. Our homeowner is going to “give it a go.”

We are wishing her well ….and will follow up by going by to see how things are coming along one day this week. As of this posting time, she has secured recommended products and put in two hours labor pulling weeds and edging her beds with tools we left behind for her to take use of.

Such fun…. and we are pretty sure she is feeling like she accomplished some “gardening beginnings” today.

“Contessa” says……it’s a very good thing!

P. S. With her permission we may take photos of her accomplishment and revise this post later. So check back later in the week. And in May once planting can begin we will assist her with choosing plants and planting them. This activity will be a fee-based service by us, and she understands this.

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

Hello Current Clients of Contessa (REVISED) 3/31/23 – Friday

I hope you are all reaching a point of spring expectation. I think by April we will be able to schedule initial visits. Checking out what survived and what is doing well, and setting up semi-solid appointments to begin some real spring tidy and preliminary gardening. Weather is always our definitive.

This year I am requesting that everyone purchase the products that I will need to tend your gardens. In many cases you will receive more adequate and fair pricing, if you will order these items yourself. Amazon has most of the items. This will facilitate my efforts a great deal, as going to purchase, transport and choose is just more efficient if you order online. If you need assistance however, I’m happy to consult with you.

The products I have listed are certainly universal to all of you. If you feel you don’t need a product please send me a txt msg and we can discuss.

I am very much looking forward to planting, carrying for and transitioning your yards back to spring/summer beauty.

If you wish to subscribe again this year to our ongoing “maintenance” program from June through the end of November…our plan will increase this year to $200/month. Please let me know as soon as you can as I have a couple folks on a waiting list. I want to serve everyone well. Same consistent care of your yards, but at $5.00 a day last year, it really was an overwhelming amount of work, and so this year we are raising our fee to compensate. It will now come to roughly $7/day. Very fair we believe. Our hourly “job rate” will remain at $50/hour for 2023/this year. Next year it will increase to $60/hour.  We feel that letting you know now….is very important.

So here are the products we need all of you to purchase prior to our arrival. Questions? Certainly phone us. We are happy to discuss.

AMAZON
Visit the Aqua Joe Store

4.6 out of 5 stars28,829Reviews

Aqua Joe SJI-OMS16 Indestructible Metal Base Oscillating Sprinkler with Adjustable Spray, 3600-Square Foot Coverage

#1 Best Seller in Lawn & Garden Sprinklers

Please order (2) bags

2/5 pks at $2.76 each

$10 to $12  (1 bottle)

Please order (2)

(Fertilizer Wand – Please order/purchase 2/one for spring and one for fall)

Fertilizer for hydrangeas – to acidify and maintain “blue” blossoms with a nitrogen supplement  (1 bag) Approx $20

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We look forward to a great season and to seeing you all again very soon. If you wish to go to the nursery with us, let us consider new plant selections in May. That is the recommended and common planting protocol in Virginia.

Happy Spring to all…….!

Penny

The Garden Contessa