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 from the U.K.

Literary Festival 2023 | Line-up and extra tickets released! We are delighted to share the first confirmed speakers for this year’s Garden Museum Literary Festival, and to celebrate we’ve released a limited amount of extra tickets! Some of the UK’s most influential and award-winning garden designers and writers will be joining us at Parham Housein Sussex over two summer days, to celebrate the best in garden writing and to share what inspires us in gardens, including Alan Titchmarsh, Advolly Richmond, Isabel Bannerman, Olivia Harrison and Tom Stuart-Smith. This year we are pleased to also offer an additional six weekend tickets free of charge to students of horticulture and garden design. To apply, please submit around 100 words on why you would benefit from attending to info@gardenmuseum.org.uk, by Monday 22 May. Our 2023 Literary Festival will take place at Parham House, one of the country’s finest Elizabethan houses set at the foot of the South Downs in West Sussex, hosted by Lady Emma Barnard and her husband, James. Fri 23 – Sat 24 June Limited extra tickets available now! See the Lit Fest line-up Last chance to see! Cecilia Charlton: Memory Garden Inspired by memories of garden flowers and the slowing of time needed to create both gardens and textiles, four large-scale site-specific weavings by artist Cecilia Charlton are on display this weekend in our historic nave for London Craft Week. Free entry Until Sunday 14 May Find out more Book Extract | Andrew Timothy O’Brien: To Stand and Stare Ahead of his book launch at the Museum on Tuesday 30 May, we share an exclusive extract from podcaster, writer, and online garden coach Andrew Timothy O’Brien’s new book ‘To Stand and Stare: How to garden while doing next to nothing’: “Let’s get one thing straight. Your garden will get along quite well without you. It just won’t be your garden. It will be that piece of land where once a garden was, and there is no tragedy in that. Every square inch of our planet’s surface is trying to get back to a state where it feels at ease with itself, a way of being from which forestry and agriculture, road building, town planning and, yes, even gardening continually strive to hold it back. This is not whimsy. This is science. I can see it happening in my lawn, in my flowerbeds and borders and, particularly, in the more forgotten corners of the garden where plants I don’t remember inviting in make themselves at home, sinking roots deep down into soil while reaching ever skyward to gather in the sun’s largesse…” Keep reading Talk this week | Greening the Desert While working in the Middle East in the 1980s, landscape architect Diana Armstrong Bell discovered a new approach to her field: greening the desert. In this talk, she will share the stories and inspiration that she drew from her experiences in the Middle East, from water capture to resilient planting, and how she applied these ideas at the Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain – even setting up a plant nursery on site. Diana will be joined in conversation by landscape architect, historian and horticulturist Karen Fitzsimon. Tues 15 May, 7pm £10 Standard, £5 Friend/Student/Young Frond £5 Livestream Book tickets Cooking Masterclass | Herbs with Rachel Davies In this three house cooking masterclass, herbs are the star of the show! Herbs can be delicate or hardy, exotic or growing in our public spaces and gardens, they have the potential to add flavour and interest to dishes and yet they are so often overlooked. Join chef and cookery teacher Rachel Davies as we explore how to use herbs of all kinds, some familiar and some less so, to make delicious food. The class includes a sit down lunch and a recipe pack to take away. Sample Menu Persian Kuku Sabzi (a baked omelette filled with chopped herbs) with a yoghurt, cucumber and fresh mint sauce Herb oil drizzled honey roasted pumpkin with puy lentils and marinated feta Tabbouleh Chocolate bark with dried edible flowers and herbs Poached plums with tarragon Sun 21 May, 10.45am-2pm £90, includes all ingredients Book tickets Branch Out: Design your own seed packet At this week’s free Branch Out session we will be exploring our archival seed packets for inspiration. Then participants can design and create your own packet using collage and mono-printing, filling them with seeds to take home. Thurs 18 May Drop-in 11am-1pm, 2pm-4pm Free entry Branch Out has been made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England.  See all Branch Out events Object of the Week: The Artist’s House at 19 Queensland Avenue, London, by Harry Bush Bush and the artist Noel Laura Nisbet (1887–1956), whom he married in 1910, lived in the same semi-detached house in Queensland Avenue, Merton Park, SW19, (a gift from Noel’s father) from 1914 until their deaths. Over the years Bush regularly depicted the suburban back gardens seen from his studio, many of which were exhibited at The Royal Academy, as was the case with this work in 1940. Bush saw the ancestry of his art in the quiet dignity of Dutch and Flemish domestic scenes, and, as his younger daughter recalled, mixed pigments and oils, ‘so that his work should mellow, glow and last, and if possible, improve’. 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. Explore the online exhibition

Images: Parham House (c) Jonathan Wilkinson; Cecilia Charlton: Memory Garden installation view (c) Ben Deakin; Andrew Timothy O’Brien (c) Sundari Ferris; Greening the Desert illustration (c) Diana Armstrong Bell; Herbs (c) Rachel Davies; The Artist’s House by Harry Bush (1883-1957), image courtesy of Liss Llewellyn

THE GARDEN MUSEUM, the U.K.

Rupert Tyler appointed the Garden Museum’s next Chair of the Board of Trustees The Garden Museum is delighted to announce the appointment of Rupert Tyler to the role of Chair of the Board of Trustees. Rupert (pictured left) will take over the position, which has been held by Mark Fane (right) for twelve years, in June 2023. In his new role, Rupert will lead the Trustees and team in the strategic development of the Museum and in fulfilling its potential as the only Museum in Britain dedicated to the art, history and design of British gardens and their place in our lives today. Rupert brings a wealth of experience spanning different sectors and a keen interest in gardens, gardening and the arts. This is supported by his strong business background and understanding of the vital importance of diversity and inclusion in all areas of society. During his 35 years in the City, Rupert has managed a diverse portfolio of private clients including Trusts, Personal Pensions, Charities and Private Charitable Trusts. Rupert is Chair of Jerwood Arts, an endowed charity which seeks out and promotes excellence in artists in all art forms throughout the UK. He was appointed as Chair of the National Garden Scheme (NGS) in 2020, a role he will continue, having been a Trustee for some years. He and his partner, architectural and garden designer Charles Rutherfoord, have created and nurtured their own garden in London over the course of 35 years, featuring in many magazines and gardening programmes and open regularly for the National Garden Scheme. Both are Liverymen of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners. Keep reading New Talk! Andrew Timothy O’Brien: Let it go and let it grow With such a wealth of gardening advice available, it can be a job of work simply to decide who we should be listening to – and yet perhaps our most qualified instructor is the garden itself. In celebration of his new book To Stand and Stare, podcaster, writer, and online garden coach Andrew Timothy O’Brien considers the stories we’ve been taught about the whole business of gardening and wonders if there’s a way to be in a relationship with the natural world on our doorstep that’s not only more sympathetic to the needs of our environment, but also to our own physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing. Join Andrew and Consultant Gardening Publisher for DK Books Chris Young as they discuss whether or not a different kind of relationship with the garden might be the answer we’re all looking for. Tues 30 May, 7pm £15 Standard £10 Friends / Young Fronds £5 Livestream Book tickets The Wild Escape: Earth Day Did you know that in the UK we have 31 species of earthworms? Earth Day 2023 at the Garden Museum offers the chance to see a creature that inhabits the soil and which has been called an ‘ecosystem engineer’. The very humble and underrated earthworm! They are important to the soil structure and fertility as they break down dead organic matter which releases nutrients into the soil which are taken up by plants. Come along and have a close look at earthworms using our digital microscopes and see if you can identify a species. We’ll also be making a collaborative three-dimensional garden using clay to depict some of the wildlife and plants that can be found in gardens and under the soil. Ceramics artist Monica Tong will be on hand to help. Sat 22 April, 10am – 3.30pm Free entry, drop-in Suitable for all ages The Wild Escape is made possible with support from Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants, with additional support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Kusuma Trust, Foyle Foundation and a group of generous individuals and trusts. Find out more Spring Plant Fair this Sunday! Come down to the Garden Museum this weekend to treat yourself to garden plants from some of our favourite specialist nurseries and growers, from shade specialists to plants for pollinators. This year’s stalls include historic nurseries Great Dixter Nurseries and Beth Chatto Plants & Gardens: meet the growers and pick their brains on what will flourish in your garden, balcony or allotment. Sun 16 April, 10am – 4pm £5 Standard, £4 Friends Book tickets Object of the Week: 7 Wilbury Crescent, Hove by Charles Burleigh (1869-1956) Assemblages of objects lying around an artist’s studio, paint brushes, pot plants, natural history objects, fabrics, often formed the subject of still lives, though the chance arrangement of a composition was rarely as casual as it appeared. In Burleigh’s studio view an easel is visible at the edge of the composition, with objects laid out in front, ready to be painted. A view of the terraced houses of the artist’s native Hove are visible beyond, seen through half-drawn curtains. 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: Rupert Tyler  and Mark Fane © Jake Darling Photography; Andrew Timothy O’Brien © Sundari Ferris; Spring Plant Fair illustration by Lizzy Stewart; 7 Wilbury Crescent, Hove by Charles Burleigh (1869-1956), image courtesy of Liss Llewellyn Garden Museum 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB gardenmuseum.org.uk

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Lenten Study – Palm Sunday

ERADICATE BLAME

We spend a lot of time wondering who can accept the blame for our own, or other people’s misfortunes. But Jesus didn’t allow us to solve our own problems or the mistakes of others. Instead Jesus challenges us to discern in our darkest times, to look for the “Light of God.” During these times, we are most likely to see that God will reveal His work in us. It is very likely, that if we can move beyond blaming, to proclaiming the works of God, we will experience a radically “new life.” All of humanity has its challenges and its problems, but do we chose to live them as occasions to blame others, or as opportunities to witness God at work in our lives.

Read: John 9:1-5

Prayer

My God, the big and little misfortunes in life, and those of others, provide habits for blaming. We humbly ask for your refuge and your help, to strip these times away from us and our using of blame to cope. Challenge us to move beyond the “blame game” and to understand that these difficult times are beyond our control. Teach us to realize and to clearly see these events, as fruitful opportunities for us to grow in Faith and Love.

God is with you…. to do hard work in your life. Can you finally see this in your own life?

A M E N 

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

THE GARDEN MUSEUM News, the U.K.

Joy Larkcom: The Queen of Vegetables Vegetable growing pioneer and writer Joy Larkcom is affectionately known by many as ‘The Queen of Vegetables’, as she introduced so many varieties to the UK that we know and love today. These include Lollo Rosso lettuce, Chioggia beetroot, and Perella lettuce, which she first encountered on her “Grand Vegetable Tour” around Europe in 1976. Her most well-known contribution is the introduction of the cut-and-come-again harvesting method, which provides the ‘baby leaves’ in bags which are so ubiquitous today. So if you’ve ever bought a bag of mixed baby salad leaves from the supermarket, you’ve got Joy to thank! Joy also had a fascination with Chinese vegetables, experimenting with them in her own garden for many years before visiting China, Japan, and Taiwan on research trips in the 1980s. In a new archive display, we’ve delved into Joy’s personal archives (which are held at the Garden Museum) for highlights from her Asian vegetable research, including photographs, correspondence, research notes, gardening tools and seed catalogues. Find out more Talk | Rachel Siegfried: The Cut Flower Sourcebook Flower grower Rachel Siegfried is joined in conversation by Clare Foster, editor of House & Garden, to celebrate the launch of Rachel’s new book The Cut Flower Sourcebook. Growing your own flowers for cutting brings the pleasures of the season indoors and cuts out the air miles associated with many shop-bought flowers. Founder of Green and Gorgeous, a flower farm and floral design studio in Oxfordshire, Rachel will be sharing her recommendations for the best perennials and woody plants for arranging – whether your goal is to have something to pick from your garden each week of the year or start a cut flower business! Tues 4 April, 7pm £20 Standard, £15 Friends / Young Fronds £10 Livestream Book tickets Lucian Freud Raffle Thank you to everyone who entered our fundraising Lucian Freud raffle! The raffle is now closed, and we are delighted to have raised over £6500 thanks to all your entries! This week our front of house volunteer Jenny helped us pick the random winners, with one lucky entrant winning an exclusive private tour of Lucian Freud’s art studio. Second place won a zimmerlinde cut from Freud’s own plant (pictured here with Jenny), and third place won a framed photograph taken by Howard Sooley in Freud’s studio. All funds raised from the raffle will help us continue our exhibitions, education and community programmes.  Support the Garden Museum Plant of the Week: Sweet violet (Viola odorata) By Matt Collins, Head Gardener Next up among the garden weeds I feel compelled to pot and display alongside the more showy cultivated varieties — particularly those boasting a high tolerance of shade — is the sweet violet, Viola odorata. Who doesn’t love violets? And who would consider them undeserving of a pot, however commonplace? The foliage is surprisingly evergreen, and the flowers, when they arrive to conclusively declare spring, are true to both their common and botanical names: sweetly odorous, and also somehow intricately beautiful yet unassuming and discrete. But there is an aura of the ancient in the presence of violets that seems to endear them further and almost stop you in your tracks, whether encountered in the garden, in woodland or below the rural hedgerow. Violets have a magnetism, and have for centuries been woven into European culture and tradition, from almanacs, folklore and nursery rhymes to perfumes, cosmetics and wine. Consequently, you weed them in the garden with more reverence — or superstitious caution — than you might a bittercress or dandelion. In advance of a new garden project beginning at the Museum relating to herbal and homeopathic plants, I have been reading John Gerard again recently, the Elizabethan physician whose illustrated plants catalogue of 1597 became the most revered of all herbals, historic and modern. Gerard’s writing was essentially the root of all future garden writing, in its blending of scientific and horticultural observation with rich, near-hyperbolic description (sound familiar?). Turning to his page on violets, this winning combination can be seen in full flare: while the author touches on distribution and seasonality (‘floures for the most part appeare in March, at the farthest in Aprill’), and on the medicinal applications of the day (as an anti-inflammatory for the lungs and for treating ‘hoarsenesse of the chest’), his description really goes to town(e), praising them ‘…not only because the mind conceiveth a certain pleasure and recreation by smelling and handling those most odoriferous floures, but also … gardens themselves receive by these the greatest ornament of all, chiefest beauty, and most excellent grace…’. Getting excited, he continues: ‘…they admonish and stirre up a man to that which is comely and honest; for through their beauty and colour, and exquisit forme, do bring the remembrance of honestie and all kindes of virtues: for it would be an unseemly and filthy thing for him that doth look upon and handle faire and beautiful things to have his mind not faire, but filthy and deformed’. So perhaps I am right in registering a sense of venerability about the otherwise humble sweet violet, and right to elevate it from uninvited guest to potted display status. Naturally, ‘odoriferous’ has now entered my ‘must use’ list of garden writer’s adjectives…

About our gardens Opening soon! Private & Public: Finding the Modern British Garden Our next exhibition opens Weds 22 March! Private & Public: Finding the Modern British Garden will bring together over thirty works by Modern British artists who found inspiration in green spaces at a time when many artists were retreating to planting and painting in their gardens. Celebrating the art of both private sanctuaries and public green spaces of London, the exhibition will explore intimate depictions of gardens, greenhouses, parks and city squares by artists of the interwar era including Charles Mahoney, Evelyn Dunbar, Eric Ravilious and Ithell Colquhoun. This exhibition is presented in partnership with Liss Llewellyn, and the works will be available for purchase, in aid of the Museum’s educational and community programmes. 22 March – 4 June Friends go free Book your visit Images: Greens in a field photo courtesy Joy Larkcom, taken research trip around China, Japan and Taiwan, Joy Larkcom typing at Capo Caccia, Sardinia, Italy (24 April 1977); Cut flowers, The Cut Flower Sourcebook photo (c) Eva Nemeth; Sweet violet (c) Matt Collins; Evelyn Dunbar (1906-1960), Invitation to the Garden, c. 1938, image courtesy of Liss Llewellyn

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

a moment…….March 8, 2023

……early spring interlude……look quickly…..for the wind will take them and scatter their beauty in three days time.

Oh’ springs aroma is sweet and so beautiful to see. Today’s  wind and chill give the blossoms notice that they must be quick to “dance their dance.”

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!

THE GARDEN MUSEUM, the U.K.

A Q&A with garden designer Sean Pritchard Ahead of his talk with fellow gardeners Jo Thompson and Steve Lannin on 14 March, we spoke with Somerset-based Sean Pritchard to find out how he got started in garden design, where he finds inspiration and his favourite garden to visit:When did you realise you wanted to pursue a career in garden design? I suppose, quite organically, I grew into a garden design career off the back of a love of plants and how they are displayed. What drives me is a sense of telling stories with plants and creating little moments of tension that elevate outdoor spaces into dramatic performances – almost like a set designer might, only I’m working with nature. I consider myself to have the best job in the world and I wake up every day feeling very lucky to be doing what I do. You’re now an RHS medal winning garden designer. What did that career journey look like to get from studying to where you are now? I studied at the Garden Design School in Bristol under the brilliant Robin Templar-Williams, which gave me a solid foundation in design principles and the construction of gardens. Of course, nothing quite compares to getting out into the world and trying it for yourself, so since then I’ve been developing my style and ways of working with clients – it’s constant learning and exploration, every day… Keep reading Talk | Instagarden: Social Media’s Impact on Gardens and Gardening Thanks to social media we can visit beautiful gardens all over the world and learn from gardening experts all from the comfort of our phones. The ways we find inspiration have changed, but is the experience of visiting a garden in-person irreplaceable? What can some of our favourite garden-insta follows tell us about social media’s power and influence? We’re exploring the online garden world in this talk with garden designer Jo Thompson, garden designer and writer Sean Pritchard, and Iford Manor Head Gardener Steve Lannin. Tues 14 March, 7pm – join us in person, or fittingly, watch online! £15 Standard, £10 Friends / Young Fronds £10 Livestream Book tickets The Wild Escape: Easter Holidays Family Workshops There’s a worm at the bottom of the garden… what else can we find outside? Join us to create paper garden flowers, plants and creatures inspired by the wildlife we find in our gardens. These will be displayed as part of a collaborative artwork for Earth Day on 22 April, and the display will be up until the end of May. Using paper, collage, paint and glue, we will explore and create flowers and animals for our collaborative artwork. What plants and flowers might grow at the bottom of the garden? Daisies, dandelions, tulips, daffodils? And from wildlife to pets, what animals live at the bottom of the garden? Foxes, squirrels, tortoises, cats? £2 per child, suitable for ages 3-10 Mon 3 April: What’s growing in the garden? (plants and flowers) Book tickets Weds 5 April: Who lives at the bottom of the garden? (animals) Book tickets These workshops are part of Art Fund’s The Wild Escape project uniting museums with schools and families in a celebration of UK wildlife and creativity. More about The Wild Escape Plant of the Week: “Ming fern” (Asparagus retrofractus) By Matt Collins, Head Gardener Without question, asparagus ferns are among the big hitters of the houseplant resurgence of this last decade — South African members of the Asparagusgenus, whose bold yet delicate fern-like foliage stretches, twines and creeps through living-rooms the country over. Chief among them is Asparagus setaceus, the common asparagus fern, which, despite its ubiquitousness remains popular for more than a few good reasons: unfussy and super easy to grow (or, hard to kill, depending on your take); excellent figure, effortlessly chic etc. A close second is probably the foxtail fern (Asparagus densiflorus) with its stouter, more compact bushy plumes. But the real gem, for me, is A. retrofractus — the ‘Ming fern’ — a less compliant yet totally captivating species with the star quality of silver-white stems and a springtime flush of acid-green foliage. I acquired our retrofractus at one of the early houseplant festivals held at the Museum, advised by the seller that the seasonal contrast between its new and old needle-like leaves is something quite spectacular, which it is. This might have been about four years ago, and since then the plant has been bumped up and up pot sizes until at last filling the largest terracotta we have to offer it. Repotting just before Christmas, I tied the stronger of its attractive though viciously thorn-clad stems to a discrete stake, and folded in the other stems to form a kind of lifted bird’s nest structure. Under the pressure of continued rapid growth, the ‘nest’ is already falling over itself, but the effect is just lovely: a tumbledown, feathery creature with a bright skeleton of questing branches.

About our gardens Object of the Week: Suttons Seeds Photographic Slides (1910) These photos showing flowers including marigolds, arctotis, begonias and snapdragons were taken to illustrate a Suttons Seeds catalogue in 1910. Suttons Seeds was founded in 1806 in Reading, and these items were one of many ‘rescued’ from disposal by an employee when the company was sold and relocated in the 1970s. They were gifted to the Garden Museum Collection in his memory. Explore our collection Images: “Ming Fern” Asparagus retrofractus (c) Matt Collins; School poster of children gardening (c.1955), Garden Museum Collection

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