Gardening with Gael - Through the eyes of a rambler

GARDENERS SHARE: My pink geranium, Elizabeth (pictured), has found its way into other gardens.

The mad gardening frenzy that is The Garden Ramble is now over. Gardeners who take part are usually approached biennially. This was the last time we will be opening the gardens at the cottages. By the time the next ramble comes around we will have (hopefully) sold the front three cottages. 

During the last ramble two years ago Box said “I hope you are not thinking of ever having the Garden Ramble at The Block.” 

The day before this ramble he said “What do you think about having the Ramble up at The Block next time?”

I think he sees the enormous improvement that takes place in the weeks before and rather fancies seeing the same sort of attempt at order up there as well. 

For the gardeners the Ramble takes three days. On the third day we, the gardeners, get to trail around looking at all the other gardens. It is a wonderful opportunity to see what is happening in the local garden world and explore other plant combinations. Other gardeners are always willing to share cuttings and ‘bits’. My pink geranium – which I call Elizabeth because someone called Elizabeth gave it to me – has now found its way into other gardens. Seeds from my geranium maderense have left the property and I am now the happy owner of a walking iris.

Box and I had a great time. Most impressive was the standard of care most gardeners had achieved before showing. This year I wrote a ‘blurb’ for ramblers as a guide but one enterprising gardener had arrows to follow. “It doesn’t make much difference,” she said, “they all still wander off the wrong way.” 

In another garden I discovered a lovely blue flowering perennial (spiderwort) which belongs to the tradescantia family but does not have the invasive properties of the wandering willy version.

Today I went up to The Block. No attention for the last three weeks has given some weeds the time to completely obscure quite well-grown plants. In spite of the waist-high weeds I managed to rescue a lovely bunch of roses. I wanted to find a spot near the pond for my walking iris to begin its amble and to plant last Saturday’s purchases from the market, a lilac tree and some ice plants. 

For the first time I looked through the eyes of a rambler and realised I will be lucky to be ready in two years. The bones of the garden are well underway but there is a great deal of finishing detail to achieve. Rock walls to finish, Lombard St [the path to the cottage] to pave, irises and daylilies to divide, paths to form and the vegetable terraces to complete. 

Box has planted another couple of hundred grapes and is full-time protecting them from snails possums and rabbits. The possibility of a dog for the rabbits and possums and some ducks for the snails is fast looking like a reality. Maybe they will be of assistance in the next two years.