Gardeners' Chat

[MmePoppySeedDefage]

Chat. For gardeners. About gardening, but we can go off piste and chat about things like non-gardening clothes, or food or whatever, without being told off

I normally never eat anything at Chelsea beyond a slice of cake. Made an exception a couple of years ago when a friend won an Instagram competition for free tickets to the Raymond Blanc corporate entertainment VIP area, including fancy breakfast, lunch and lashings of champagne.

We had a marvellous time - got completely pissed and laughed like drains when we got stuck in a designer hanging chair pod thing. Utterly uncouth and embarrassed ourselves royally. One woman commented “You two are having more fun in here than everyone else put together!” Yeah spot the pleb competition winners who haven’t paid £500 a ticket!

£500 a ticket?! no wonder I've never been. Getting that for free alone would make me have a great time

Anyone been to Mottisfont lately? Wondering whether the roses are out yet.

That was the Raymond Blanc VIP hospitality thing. Normal Chelsea tickets don’t cost anything like that.

I’ve never been to Mottisfont. I’d love to go.

I have had a revelation!

Our Hoselock hosepipe used to leak a lot from the tap connector end, and also the bit that fits onto the hose reel.

Browsing for a replacement head, the old one having cracked in the cold, I spotted some replacement O rings, and flinging caution to the winds bought a packet. My word, they work. Only a tiny dribble from the tap, and none from the connector.

Am slightly embarrassed not to have thought of this before...

@MontyDonsBlueScarf The roses aren’t out yet. If you look on the Mottisfont instagram or other social media they say that they give updates on when the roses are out.
I thoroughly enjoyed it when I went a few years ago, but then I am a big fan of roses.

@notanicepersonapparently thank you so much, I checked on the National trust website but didn't think to look on social media. Really helpful.

I was always disappointed with the rose garden at RHS Rosemoor, although haven’t been since Covid ruined “just popping in” on the way past. Hardly any varieties, and some of them not even fragrant, FFS!

So which is our favourite rose garden?

I vote for Sissinghurst because of the mixing of roses and other plants:

thebloominggarden.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/the-rose-garden-sissinghurst/

Mine used to be the gardens of the Rose Society in St Albans but sadly they closed down :-(

Sissinghurst is gorgeous. I think possibly because there is little in the way of lawns so one seems surrounded on all sides by roses and their companions. Mottisfont is lovely too though and wonderful as it seems on have one of everything so you can study them all and see which are your favourite varieties. I don’t think I could choose which is my favourite.
I can’t think of any other really great rose gardens at the moment. Definitely not the Savills garden in Windsor Great Park which I visited last May. I know it was a little early in the season but it was underwhelming. The roses didn’t look like they were thriving and it all seemed a bit bare. I’ve been to Rosemoor but not at the right time to see them.

Oh no! about the Rose Society garden being closed.

There is also the David Austin roses garden which is a very good advert for their products and how they fit in with other plants. I like the one at Nymans too - it's small but full of flowers at the right time of year.

There's a list of NT rose gardens here - some I've never heard of before and I definitely want to see Mottisfont.

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/gardens-parks/best-places-to-see-rose-gardens

I find the one at Polesden Lacey a bit too old- fashioned - lots of roses in a bed, with bare earth, in the middle though more relaxed planting round the edges.

Sounds like a thread visit to Mottisfont might be in order?

I'd be up for it.

Count me in!

Yes I think Sissinghurst and Nymans would get my vote. Although I do like Wisley too; it isn’t as beautiful, but the variety of roses is fabulous. And a little further afield, I remember the rose garden at Jardins Albert Kahn in Paris being the most beautiful place I’d ever seen. That was a few years ago though.

Oh wow! that is stunning. Aberglasney have a rose arch on a much smaller scale using The Generous Gardener which always looks and smells amazing.

Mottisfont is miles and miles away from me 😔

However, I'm spending a week in Pembrokeshire in July, Aberglasney would be doable.

That Parisien rose arch, just wow!

I've put my brussel sprouts in two bit plastic pots with some lemonade bottle cloches to protect them, but they're just not growing. Is this normal? Are they psyching themselves up for a growth spirt? They look healthy, as I'm any judge, just tiny.

Garden dinner tonight

Lovely.

You should post that on the 'massive salad' thread, in the vein of Crocodile Dundee perhaps.

I love Kew Gardens’ rose garden. I remember a whole bed of Alexandra Duchess of Kent roses and the scent was intense.

Kew Gardens is gorgeous, even not in rose season.

@IcakethereforeIam I am struggling to get seeds to even germinate 😥My allotment looks very empty, but then it's not had any rain for a fortnight. Have you tried giving your brussels a dose of tomato feed?

@HazelTheGreenWitch one of my friends was complaining that nothing was germinating in her garden.

I've potted my sprouts in fresh supermarket compost. I may have added some granular plant food that I had left over from my spuds (that are going great guns in bags). I was thinking of getting some rotted manure as a top dressing. But I've got tomato feed. Can you overdo the feeding?

Ummmm... yes? I don't know how much feed is too much. Someone here will know!