Thursdays favourite plant

What could you want prettier than the humble harbinger of spring....

Primula vulgaris



There are so many different species of primroses, the native vulgaris is my favourite although Cowslips (primula veris) are very dear to my heart and I love the drumstick primrose (primula denticulata) and the gorgeous primula vialii

I adore these simple little flowers of sunshine, the way the appear amongst tree roots and popping out of hedges promising spring, blue skies and sunshine. One of the first flowers I could identify as a little'un, they remind me of walks in the woods with my mum telling me stories of fairies and elf's. I used to lie down on the ground in the leaves and rub my cheeks against the petals. They still seem magical to me after all these years.

Funnily enough there is so much folklore attached to primroses concerning fairies, My favourite is the Celtic and Germanic stories about finding a fairy hill or a fairy rock and touching it with a posy of primroses, it would open a door to the fairies kingdom. A posy left on the doorstep would invoke the blessings of the fairies upon the house, petals scattered on the doorstep will prevent fairies from crossing the fresh hold. Hanging posies in cowsheds will prevent fairies stealing the milk. This is a good one I found, if you see a single primrose and dance round it 3 times clockwise it will ensure your hens lay well.


If you want to have your own magical carpet of faerie loving sunshine, you can propagate them very easily from root cutting (Hmm I should do some propagating how tos) or you can grow them from seed, either sow seed collected when its fresh or if you buy seed it will need a period of chilling to germinate. You can buy the plants but make sure you get ones marked vulgaris otherwise it could be any old bedding polyanthus.

I'll leave you with this by Cicely M. Barker



The song of the primrose fairy

The primrose opens wide in spring;
Her scent is sweet and good:
It smells of every happy thing
In sunny lane and wood.
I have not half the skill to sing
And praise her as I should.

She's dear to folk throughout the land;
In her nothing mean:
She freely spreads on every hand
Her petals pale and clean.
And though she's neither proud or grand,
She is the Country Queen.

jess x

Shamelessly self indulgent moi

Its my birthday today (hooray) I can no longer refer to myself as 20something (boo) so to celebrate I'm off later to my favourite place to buy plants Hill house nursery Where I intend to buy some beautiful hellebores to fill my disgraceful looking wildness of a garden.

That's so rock and roll.

jess x

Cottage gardens (part 1)

I've spent the last few hours browsing pictures of cottage gardens on the net trying to find one that appeals to me most, because I think everyone has an image in their mind of that quintessentially English rural cottage garden. Its been difficult to find one that ticks all my boxes, I can't even use a picture of my own (I'm having issues that I'll save for another day). Cottage gardens can be one of the most difficult gardens to get right. I think it stems from what we imagine them to look like, they have a real nostalgia, a romantic glimpse of an age that's disappeared and trying to recreate one that fits that image in our minds (and hearts) can be difficult to pull together (or maybe that's just me).
So I've decided to not show a picture of a cottage garden.

The original true cottage gardens were more about function than form. They were productive patches growing vegetables, herbs, fruit and livestock. Flowers weren't really high on the agenda. The local gentry had the flowery gardens, seed from these would creep in to the cottagers plots on the wind or by birds. Its the wealthy landowners gardens that our idea of the cottage garden comes from.
There was a brief trend in the 18th century for aristocrats to create cottage ornees (fake cottages) so they could sample the quaint country life of their hard up tenants.

Cottage gardens were revived in the late 19th century by the arts and crafts movement probably as a back lash to the formal styles of the Victorians with their love of huge displays of bright carpet bedding.
One of the most influential designers was the incredible Gertrude Jekyll who teamed up with the architect Edwin Lutyens to create some of the most beautiful planting schemes ever seen.

Other notable (really really good) examples of gardeners and gardens include Vita Sackville-west at Sissinghurst, Beth Chatto and the late great Christopher Lloyds Great Dixter

So, history lesson over.


Oh go on here's a picture


This is the Chelsea Pensioners Garden From RHS Chelsea 2005 (the year I was there)