Hedgerows and verges are suddenly spectacular. I must stop the car at least once a day to look at, identify and photograph a verge, island or hedgerow. I love grasses and umblifiers and would happily develop a planting scheme based on some of these “native” collections, however where I see native, clients might see “weeds” and I sympathise with having a planting scheme that looks not to dissimilar to what is on the side of the road. That said there is something dramatic about huge blocks of grasses, achillea, acres of oxe-eye daisies and even the humble dandelion when planted en masse. Some schemes are man made, annually. A pair of roundabouts on the edge of town are stripped and resown every year. Early mornings with a low sun, make them a stunning spectacle. This year (so far) it is a predominantly red poppy scheme. Most roundabouts are wild with a mown perimeter, so such colourful daubs are all the more effective and unexpected.

Tatton Flower Show is on this week. I have been asked so many times if we have a garden there, no, sorry. We did Chelsea in May and one show a year is enough, really! I recorded the time spent getting this year's garden together for Chelsea and it was over 250hrs, without actually being at the show. That equates to approx 7 weeks of work. That is a lot of late nights and time away from other things. I don't think I'd remain married if I did two show gardens. So one is enough. As the Chelsea deadline is looming I am not going to be able to get to Tatton even as a visitor unfortunately. We are on holiday at the end of next week and (fortunately?) found out that one of the passports had expired.. so the only solution is to spend Saturday down at the passport office in Liverpool.. maybe SSunday????

So where do garden designers go on holiday, isn’t most of their work a holiday anyway? Well yes I do love what I do, and it does take me to some unexpected and beautiful places, but almost always the places I visit are part of the duty of care and responsibility I give to my projects. Whether researching a planting scheme, visiting a nursery or discussing the supply/ source of materials. Choosing where to go for please is trickier. Trying to balance family desires, budget and of course a constant curiosity for how they do things in other places. Visiting Spain last year I embarrassed my wife by suddenly pulling off a road and parking suddenly, jumping out and photographing a verge side. It was astonishing, tall grasses, fennel, white alliums in profusion, and all in a dusty strip next to an awful smelling gutter. I had of course parked across the entrance a seemingly abandoned field whose owner chose that very moment to return. Despite knowing less than 5 words of Spanish, I managed to make out “loco”. By the way I’m not revealing where this verge was... I hope to use it in a planting scheme! You don’t always have to go to nature for inspiration... sometimes it comes to you. So it will be the same again this year. We are back to Spain, Valencia.. Oh and coincidentally it does seem to have some gardens that look interesting...well whilst there it would be a shame not to…