by Elizabeth Cairns | Apr 23, 2023 | Uncategorized
April has certainly lived up to Chaucer’s expectations this year. Showers have been heavy and unpredictable. I have been drenched more than once even though we can often see the rain approaching from our vantage point here high above the weald. Despite, or...
by Elizabeth Cairns | Mar 6, 2023 | Uncategorized
It has been a wonderful snowdrop year. Why? Perhaps last year’s hot summer baked the dormant bulbs as is normal in their natural habitats in Greece, Turkey and eastern Europe. Rain came in abundance in the autumn when they would have been putting down roots. So...
by Elizabeth Cairns | Jan 26, 2023 | Uncategorized
Despite endless rain followed by bitter cold and freezing ground the snowdrops keep appearing and Oh they are so good to see! The very earliest, Donald Sims, Mrs Macnamara and Three Ships, are over. But now we are seeing more and more of the most ravishing varieties....
by Elizabeth Cairns | Jan 4, 2023 | Uncategorized
How my heart lifts to see the first snowdrops and they have appeared on time which was a relief after the extraordinary weather in 2022. I don’t really count the autumn flowerers as they come too early to spark optimism but Donald Sims began to flower at the end...
by Elizabeth Cairns | Oct 2, 2022 | Uncategorized
2022 has been an extraordinary year which has tested the garden hard. I have been keeping rainfall records for over 20 years and have never experienced 32 days without any rain at all as we had here in July and August. And the extreme heat added another dimension. Now...
by Elizabeth Cairns | May 23, 2022 | Uncategorized
It is hard to decide what is the best thing about the month of May but I think peonies must win the prize. The early tree peony Lutea, its yellow flowers gone almost before you have seen them, our various plants of seed grown (I know I should not boast but I am rather...
