There are three weeks to go now before set-up begins in Birmingham. A spreadsheet is working hard to keep me feeling calm – the plants still to buy with nursery visits squeezed in around the car’s availability; pots to be planted up with enough time to settle in; working backwards to print deadlines and evenings spent trying to understand website design.
Exactly when plants flower and for how long was not something I had thought much about before this, but now it’s the thought I wake up with, chest tight with dread deep in the night. Will more nepeta throw up flower spikes in time? Will the achillea open out of its silvery greyness? Will the digitalis be over, or not yet beginning?
The landscape plants fill the back garden, rotated through watering cycles and inspections for snails, leaf-curl and aphids. In those night-waking moments, their presence is a reminder of all the things that can go wrong. But come daylight, coffee in hand, it’s quietly exciting to see them there, glowing in the morning sun. The greens are lit with variegated artemisia and sage, purple fennel feathering through it. The santolina and coreopsis are pushing out buds like jewels, the calamagrostis is just starting to flower so palely, and the digitalis is nodding, panicle buds yellowing amongst the green. And yesterday a nepeta opened its first flowers, lemon yellow and full of bees.
I am glad of what we’ve learnt and proud of what’s to come, but still, perhaps the next project might just focus on foliage.
a year in the garden 