Uncategorized – The Thinking Gardener

Colour is Good!

“O Tiger Lily I wish you could talk” says Alice in the Garden of Live Flowers, “we can talk” the Lily replies, “when there’s anybody worth talking to”. I remember as a very young child of about six asking what that beautiful tall golden yellow plant was flowering a the back of my mother’s border,Continue reading “Colour is Good!”

Chenies Manor

Elizabeth Macleod Matthews, chatelaine of Chenies Manor died in April 2016. An amazingly stalwart and resourceful lady, for a period of over fifty years she painstakingly resurrected the gardens of Chenies with a lot of back aching work and great panache. It is not my purpose on this occasion to discuss the present gardens; the thousandsContinue reading “Chenies Manor”

Yale University, Slavery and Capability Brown

I have resolutely avoided discussing that most famous of garden designers, Capability Brown. So many others far better qualified than me have written much. However, there is an interesting conundrum in which he figures. What connects Yale University, Latimer House, the churches of Flaunden, Latimer and Chenies, the slave trade and Capability Brown? In theContinue reading “Yale University, Slavery and Capability Brown”

Gardening in hot weather

As I write it is the middle of July and we are enjoying the longest and hottest heatwave since 1976, with temperatures of 30 degrees plus. The searing sun and lack of water has taken its toll on my wild flower lawn and it is looking absolutely frazzled and a dreadful mess, the sight isContinue reading “Gardening in hot weather”