When I'm 65 (or nearly 30)

When I first started gardening 10 years ago there was a list of plants I banned from my planting schemes and containers as being old fashioned, old ladyish and twee.
They were:

Standard roses
Chrysanthemums
Begonias
Bizzie lizzies
Carnations
and Primulas (the coloured ones.

So is it a sign of old age creeping in that I have a standard rose I adore, Pots of begonias by the front door, an old metal bathtub full of scented carnations, Quite a few Chrysanthemums dotted about and lots of little pots of cuttings and a tray of burgandy Primulas waiting to go in the window boxes. No bizzie lizzies yet though.

I've finally had some rain here which has turned the chicken garden into a bog (poor holly golightlys pom pom hairdo has gone spiky) and given all my poor plants a good drink before I dig them all up. I had planned on spending some time drawing out plans and the like but between one thing and another I haven't got round to it yet. Hopefully that will be a job I can do today as tomorrow's meant to be dry and sunny and unless any thing gets in the way, tomorrow's the day I'll spent in the garden trying to make it all look better.

Chelsea girl

My love affair with Chelsea began 4 years ago,
I've always been passionate about plants,from when I was a tiny little thing I've know the names of most wildflowers and trees and I've been gardening since I was in my teens, a window box here a hanging basket there, borrowing a small corner of a neighbours allotment and pottering about in my mums garden.
But it was 4 years ago that it become more than just a hobby. At the time I was working for a company who were sponsoring a show garden (along with the wildlife trust).My head office department thought it would be a good P.R thing to send a few shop staff up to the showground to "help out" with the gardens construction the week before Chelsea opened. My manager knowing I had a bit of green finger put my name down and off I went to London.

I think all the other staff that had turned up over the week had hung about for an hour or so, had a few photos taken holding a spade and then, disappeared to go shopping on the kings road. I on the other hand fell in love as soon as I arrived I just found the whole thing incredible, the plants, the people, the whole atmosphere. I got stuck in straight away chatting to all the builders, quizzing the designer about everything, swooning over all the plants. I was in heaven.
After proving my mettle I was given a 2ft by 2ft corner to finish planting all on my own, helped clean out the pond and helped to lay turf in the meadow area. I ended up staying on till 10pm (I was meant to go home at 4pm) and had one of the best days of my life.

I think it was when I was standing knee deep in sludgy water helping to drain the pond for the second time that I realized this was exactly what I wanted to do with my life.
I wanted to be a gardener.

So within a few days after my Chelsea Epiphany, I'd enrolled at college and began devouring every Plant, garden and design book our local library stocked. I went out to the scrappy backyard behind my little flat and pulled up all the weeds and designed and created my very first attempt at a cottage garden all of my own.

And now here I am 4 years later working as a horticulturist, living the good life in the country with my dream (still work in progress)cottage garden and still being madly and passionately in love with plants and gardens.

So the Chelsea flower show has an important place in my heart, and one day you'll see me there with my own show garden.

(my garden 2005 image via giles landscaping)

Live life off the wall

Vertical gardening has been around for a while now and is a brilliant way to garden if you don't have any space or if you want to cover a big expanse of wall or fencing.
I recently came across the work of Flora Grubb and have fallen in love with her use of succulents and air plants


(image via Flora Grubb gardens)

I'd love to find a way of replicating this in my garden, although my style is more along the lines of cottagey, and all the walls and fences have climbers on them already.

Hmmmmmm