All Things Considered

Allotment Gardens

Allotments have a magical lure. As I drive about Norfolk, I always slow down and stare at my favourite communal gardens where the tenants grow a wonderful array of seasonal fruit, vegetables and flowers. It's the rambling sheds that also grab my attention, quiet hideaways to ponder and cultivate.

Community gardens have been around since the 18th century and were set up as a place for factory workers who had been forced off the land, to still grow fresh produce. In the 1960's, food became cheaper and allotments became less favourable, offering local authorities the chance to sell off the land for development.

The popularity of 'growing your own' has really taken off in recent years, coinciding with our ecological stance on the food we consume and the effect food miles have on the environment. Having an allotment has so many advantages, it brings together a cultural mix of communities who share tips on recycling, improvising, organic methods as well as it being a garden space many don't have. It's the sense of pride, wonder and achievement of planting a tiny seed, watering it and watching it grow to then eating it that never fails to disappoint even the most dismissive green fingered people amongst us.

This coming Monday sees the start of National Allotment Week which is aimed to promote the awareness and availability of allotments both locally and nationally. Many allotments are being earmarked for development as is Manor Gardens in the London district of Hackney Wick. This much loved  plot is being bulldozed for the Olympic games at the end next month despite fierce campaigning to stop it happening. Check out Jane Perrone's blog and her allotment predicament.

Iris

Both in my work and in my garden, I find myself drawn to austere plants with structural seedheeds and understated shades. But there are certain plants whose opulent colours and exuberant flowers are irresistible. Paeonies are one example. Bearded irises another. From 24th May to 10th June the iris fields at Woottens are again open to the public.

Walk between the rows of flowering plants, stretching into the distance, shading from pale ointment pink to chocolate brown and the deepest darkest purple black.

You can't resist stroking the velvety petals of  'Dutch Chocolate', 'Interpol' and 'Oregon Skies', just three of the countless varieties. Due to the warm weather the irises are flowering early so visit sooner rather than later to see them at their best. You can order your favourites whilst you’re there.

Photos of the irises and details of opening times can be found on the  website www.woottensplants.co.uk. The painting displayed here is by Sir Cedric Morris.

Spread a little happiness

An article in the Observer recently featured an altruistic gardening technique that could change our urban and rural environment for the better (if global warming allows).

Richard Reynolds, living in that well-known haven of horticulture - South London's Elephant and Castle - decided to realise the potential of municipal flowerbeds. Instead of litter they could be filled with lavenders and tulips. Seeds of native wild flowers could be scattered secretly onto grass verges, neglected sites stealthily planted up under cover of darkness.

The Guerrilla Gardening (a term coined over thirty years ago by New York's Green Guerrillas) website catalogues the before and after of many of these transformations - with tips on how you might embark on your own mission and links to various worldwide projects.

Reading about this illicit cultivation brought to mind train travellers from the days when train windows could still be opened - 'accidental' guerrilla gardeners who would throw apples cores or plum stones onto the railway embankments, sometimes germinating to create a welcome break from the endless banks of rosebay willow herb and brambles.

For useful tips and to see what' guerrilla gardeners have planted from Leeds to Milan go to:

www.guerrillagardening.org

Geraniums and Carnations

'Geraniums and Carnations', a watercolour painted by Eric Ravilious in the 1930's, evokes the unique smell of geraniums, always with those inimitable fluorescent salmon pink flowers and biscuit-brown crispy dead leaves and stems, on dusty shelves in porches on childhood visits to elderly relatives.

My opinion of these plants as rather dowdy was transformed by a visit, many years ago now, to Wootten's of Wenhaston. The owner, Michael Loftus, has amassed a huge collection of pelargoniums (as geraniums are known) some with scented leaves, others with fat heads of frilly petals or delicate sprays of flowers - with colours from white through to black purple. Here I rediscovered Pelargonium x 'Ardens'. Last seen years ago at an RHS show in Victoria, at Woottens I saw its flowers glowing like embers in the far recesses of the poly tunnel. Another favourite spotted here is P. sidoides. with its tiny magenta purple flowers suspended on fine wiry stems above delicate grey-green leaves.

But pelargoniums are just some of the plants on sale at Woottens. They specialise in perennials,  displayed according to growing conditions. You'll also find a huge range of irises, auriculas and hemerocallis (day lilies). The nursery is a treat to visit, tucked away in the Suffolk countryside not far from Blythburgh. Get there if you can.

Wootten's have a comprehensive handbook illustrated with lots of photographs and written with informative and individual entries . Available from the website. Mail order available too.