A sudden rush…
May 2023I write this journal retrospectively and looking through my notebook and batch of photos it seems that May sped by at breakneck speed with a rush of early summer flowers and fast growing herbaceous plants - and absolutely everything in the garden shouting for attention.
It was during a stint of urgent tidying and plant staking that a hedgehog shuffled out from under a lavender hedge right beside me! Appearing during daylight hours is unusual but seeing its enthusiastic munching was proof enough that it was hunger rather than sickness that had made it so bold and it has been a regular and most welcome nightly visitor ever since - life can be sweet!
This has been a month of treats - including the yearly pilgrimage to the Chelsea Flower Show
The highlight of the show for me was The Nurture Landscapes Garden designed by Sarah Price. The garden was inspired by Benton End, the art school and former home of Cedric Morris and his lover Lett Haines in Hadleigh, Suffolk. Together they ran the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing which in its day was visited by influential artists, writers, musicians and botanists of the 20th century including Vita Sackville-West Beth Chatto, Paul and John Nash, Elizabeth David, Constance Spry and Benjamin Britten. Lucian Freud and Maggi Hambling were both students there.
Morris was a passionate gardener and plantsman and bred his own strain of Benton irises including I. ‘Benton Olive’ and I. ‘Benton Susan’ which featured in the garden design. A climbing rose Rosa x adorata ‘Mutabilis’ scrambled across a dusky pink, painted wall and the whole effect was breathtakingly beautiful.
Another connection (and even closer to home for me) the newly re-developed Gainsborough’s House Museum has a room in the old house dedicated to the portrait paintings of Cedric Morris - sadly not ‘Iris Seedlings’ a painting that I’ve loved since a child.
Lucie Rie Exhibition at Kettles Yard
Another highlight of my month was a visit to Kettles Yard in Cambridge. The original home of the art collector Jim Ede, the museum houses his inspirational collection of 20th century art and furniture and a gallery exhibiting contemporary art. The current exhibition features more than 100 examples of the pottery of Lucie Rie one of the most influential and groundbreaking potters of the twentieth century and is on until 25th June. Not to be missed.
So now for some photos of the bearded irises in my own garden - May was certainly a glorious month.
And as always…
Thank you for taking the time to read this and your interest in my work and garden.
Happy gardening, stay positive and stay safe all :-)
