Hot pink in the front garden

 So the great news is that the Azalea has come back to life and is looking splendid as the moment as you can see. I cut back all the pustular looking branches which has left it an odd shape but healthy and vibrant.

Here we also have Cirsium Something which is also flowering a belter and adding a great upward dimension to the flower bed - this will be echoed later in the year by the foxgloves which have all now been planted out and I'm waiting to see how they go. In the lower right hand corner you can see the furry heads of an Oriental poppy which I hope is Patty's plum and seems to be on the way too.

Icelandic, Welsh? Rather spiffy either way.

Depending on who you speak to, these are either Icelandic or Welsh poppies. I originally thought the Icelandic were yellow and the Welsh orange, however I'm no longer sure and they seem to be pretty much the same plant.

Either way, they are jaunty and cheerful.

A haze of blue begins

One of my favourite combos in summer is the Centauri Montana growing out of the English Lavender - the foliage match perfectly and as the Centauri wanes the lavender takes over.

Happy Birthday to Me

I received a plethora of gardening gifts last week: Dobbies vouchers, a flowery trowel, a grow your own diary and a cool book. But the most 'gardeny' of the lot is above - a raspberry bush, a butternut squash plant and a chard plant. Thanks to the Bishops for this one!

Who doesn't love an Allium?

Well, if there is anyone like that, I don't want to know them!

And just in case Alliums don't float your boat, here's some skulking behind some Aquilegia.

But why pretend - absolutely stunning!

 

The John Madejski Garden at the V&A

Since 2005 there has been a beautiful garden at the centre of the Victoria and Albert Museum, designed by Kim Wilkie and created with the bequest of John Madejski.

I've always thought Irises are pretty anarchic - their upright spiky habit give a punky bearing and attitude. I also love the way their colours and markings are less pretty-pretty and more wild thing. With such beautiful architecture in the Italianate courtyard, their structure echoes the vertical planes of the building.

The planting is in effortless good taste and entirely appropriate for the surroundings - repetitive planting patterns keep the effect harmonious and formal.

The aim of the garden is to provide a calm space in the middle of the museum and the understated but structural planting certainly does that. The reality is that with such strong architecture, you need your planting to complement rather than compete and I believe that's been achieved here.

The elliptical pond adds a sense of serenity in a space and building that is congested with history and visitors and would look amazing in the rain.

The trees also help give a sense of the lofty scale of the building and pull your eyes to the sky, as with gothic architecture.