I’m not sorry…
January 2023
I’m not sorry to say goodbye to January. Relentless rain followed by freezing temperatures made my winter coat essential wearing for indoors as well as out and heavy frost dealt a final blow to many tender plants in the garden. At last though there are signs of spring - winter aconites and fragrant Hamamelis Mollis were first to arrive followed by a rush of unfurling hellebores and snowdrops and now the pure white flowers of Japanese quince.
Despite the cold I’ve had two full weekends in the garden with time to make plans for 2023. Climate change and evolving weather extremes mean there’s now an urgent need to see ourselves as part of the eco system rather than battling against it or trying to bend it to suit us and one way forward is to embrace the concept of ‘rewilding’ and do less conventional gardening!
There’s plenty of advice and inspiration at hand. Isabella Tree, the conservationist and award-winning writer tells of how the return to nature of her British farm has transformed its biodiversity and urges us to do whatever we can as gardeners to facilitate positive change. Advice is to plant more trees, introduce wild areas where insects and wildlife can thrive and to disturb the soil as little as possible. Weeding with a penknife rather than a trowel is suggested and automatic watering systems are a no no!
I’m finding it tough to accept that our traditional gardens should change but as a small step forward I have resolved to replace all failed plants with ones chosen specifically for their resilience. As for weeding with a penknife I think that's a step too far, especially given that one of my chores has been to hand-weed invasive muscari and bulblets the size of pin heads!
A New experience…
A trip to Cambridge to make drawings of plaster casts of Greek and Roman sculpture at the Museum of Classical Archaeology at Sidgwick University was a new experience this month. Strange to think that in the 19th Century art training was completely focused on draughtsmanship and drawing the human form in this way. Students would spend most of their first two or three years drawing similar plaster casts before they were allowed to even pick up a brush and paint!
Exciting news…
‘Walking Home’ watercolour paintingI was delighted to be informed that ‘Walking Home’ has been selected by the Royal Watercolour Society for the upcoming Open Exhibition at Bankside Gallery from Friday 3rd - Sunday 19th March. Imspiration came from the view from my studio window of silver birch trees in the mini ‘wild meadow’ which is studded with white crocus and other bulbs in spring.
And as always…
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Happy gardening, Happy New Year, stay positive and stay safe all :-)
