My Grandfather’s garden was a good place to be. I remember the peppery smell of aubretia vividly and the joy at finding baby frogs amongst the ferns next to his pond. He and I spent time together in his lean-to greenhouse, planting, propagating and pricking out seedlings.
My sister and I digging up potatoes (1978)
It was almost inevitable that I would make a garden of my own…
Life is busy though. With two small children and a fledgling business to look after I’ve often peered out of the window and felt daunted. Sometimes it was literally a jungle out there. I was desperate to have a blend of Gertrude Jekyll-style borders and cottage garden planting but I wasn’t sure how to achieve this with limited time to spare.
I began to notice that certain plants self-seeded easily and made drifts of flowers with little intervention from me. Through neglect rather than judgement, every seed was allowed to germinate and take its place. When I had a free afternoon I’d pull up the thistles and hack at the bindweed and ground elder. I added the odd perennial and threw a few seeds and organic matter down in the Spring but the rest was left to its own devices.
It began to dawn on me that this let-live attitude to each and every seedling was creating something surprising lovely when I looked out of the window. I had fallen in love with the mixtures of wildflowers in the grassland, woodland and even roadside verges near our cottage and realised that that the similar floral jumbles in my own garden were something to celebrate rather than apologise for. The combinations are different every year, like a flowery lottery, and it has been thrilling when wildflowers such as cow parsley and teasels have arrived of their own accord.
This wild and woolly yet colourful style of gardening continually inspires my jewellery designs and not only that, many of the self-seeded flowers can be cut and popped in a jamjar to create posies for free. I seem to have created a garden by mistake.
Feverfew, Californian poppies, breadseed poppies, forget-me-nots, cornflowers, red valerian, aqualegias, foxgloves, lychnis, wild oats, cow parsley, ox-eye daisies and teasels all self-seed well in my chalk and clay soil.
Thanks for reading!
I will never tire of seeing your garden, Emma. It’s lovely to hear some of its history too.
Lovely blog – brought back my own memories of gardening with my Grandad. Thanks!
Love that photo of you and your sister…and…i’ve also discovered the charm of the “let live” philosophy.
Wonderful post!
And it really does always look that lovely. And there are birds singing. It’s one of my favourite places and I feel so fortunate to be able to visit you in it
Lovely Emma, a very pretty garden. I too have decided that I just need to let my garden do its own thing and somehow it works, maybe we try to interfere too much…………:o)
I love your wild and colourful garden!
Letting plants self seed and editing out the thistles is my philosophy too… and despite of (or because of) all the rain, cottage gardens have come into their own this year
Celia x
While some of my garden beds are planned, along the way, any weed that blooms with a pretty flower gets to stay. The animals plant much of my garden surprises and this year a goatsbeard appeared, as well as an orange iris. It is fun to watch in Spring and see what comes up. Very happy to see you branching out, Emma.
wow, really inspiring, thank you
Such a lovely and wonderfully haphazard way to garden. I like your comparison with the naturally-occurring mixtures of flowers that occur in the wild. A flowery lottery indeed. Thanks for the beautiful post.
Your garden is beautiful Emma, I love the idea of a ‘flower lottery’!
Vivienne x
I won’t let my DH mow our front grass too often so that clover, daisies, violets, black medic, eyebright, and what I think is a type of bugle give the bees a chance of some food. The back garden is allowed to grow fairly freely too but the things I want to self set don’t and the things I don’t want to self set do LOL
I think that the surprise factor is the one to enjoy when you let plants grow, you never know what you will find the next time you go into the garden. Very inspirational!
I always love visiting your garden too. It’s beautiful.
Lovely, so nice to read a post where nature is allowed to develope, self seed, raher than an overthought, controlled garden.
Lx
Such fabulous stuff Emma and so many memories you’ve reminded me of from picking rhubarb and sampling the first gooseberries with my grandad to shelling peas with my nan and making windfall apple pies. It’s amazing what’s stored inside your mind that you neglect, but never forget…like a waft of something delicious.
Nina xxx
Going with the flow always seems a very wise path in the garden. Though my version seems to involve a great deal more lemon balm than yours!!
Emma, thanks for sharing your accidental gardening methods
I hope to get similar results here in the Portland, OR area!
Emma your garden is truly a place of great beauty and inspiration, no matter what the method, the results are stunning! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
What a beautiful garden! I wholeheartedly approve of accidental gardening. Why fight nature? In my garden the rain has brought out some beautiful wildflowers and it’s taught me to let things be a little more.
Huge thanks for all the lovely comments!
Beautiful garden Emma and lovely post. It’s full of inspiration. xx
I TOO have a wild and woolly garden and I LOVE it! LOVELY piece!
Me too – sounds like my garden. It’s the only way to go without time or help. Much more enjoyable than neat and tidy.