Monty Don – Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

Fantasy garden tables

Those of you who are regular viewers of BBC Gardeners’ World will most likely have noted Monty Don’s table of potted plants, which varies throughout the seasons and looks like something most of us can only dream of! In a recent article by Alice Vincent, she describes what she calls Monty Don’s ‘Fantasy table’. (My latest garden fantasy? An elegant table covered in flower pots)

The scale of Don’s table and the amount he has displayed is something many of us may aspire to, myself included! On a recent visit to Anna L’s garden, I was impressed by how she had similarly grouped a range of plants in pots, a mix of bulbs, a small Phlox stolonifera, Violas, a Clematis waiting to be planted and a miniature Hosta. Anna very kindly listed the plants for me and you can see from this that a display does not have to be carefully curated, but a selection of whatever takes your fancy!

Anna's garden table — Anna’s plant table in late spring, featuring:
Narcissus ‘Thalia’ and N. ‘Pipit’; Clematis ‘Rising Star’ and C. ‘Bees’ Jubilee’; Pelargonium australe; Phlox stolonifera ‘Fran’s Purple’; Anemone de Caen blue-flowered; Primula ‘Stella Neon Violet’; Phormium; purple Viola; Hosta ‘Lemon Stiletto’

An Audience with Monty Don

The Barbican isn’t a place one would normally expect to be among crowds of garden enthusiasts. But no-one was concerned about the venue, its brutalist architecture and its slightly bizarre layout. We were all eager to find our seats and hear the stories national treasure Monty Don had in store for us. And what seats! Our seats (thanks to a donation from a generous CABAHS member) were front and central, in touching distance of the stage (and indeed of Monty Don himself).

Gardening for health

Monty Don has always been a keen exponent of the health benefits of gardening, in particular its effect on the not so quiet mind. I have recently read that some hospitals have introduced ‘secret gardens’ where patients recovering from the Coronovirus are taken for periods every day, even in drizzling rain, for the beneficial effects. And, of course, this week it is Gardens and Health Week, sponsored by the NGS with Rachel de Thame as its Ambassador. The NGS website has various links to the personal stories of people for whom gardens have played a vital role in their recovery.

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Also recently published is Sue Stuart-Smith’s (wife of the garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith) book, ‘The Well Gardened Mind: Rediscovering Nature in the Modern World’, in which she points out the pleasures of growing and nurturing things and argues for a ‘greening’ of all of our lives.

Despite exhortations to sit and enjoy our gardens, I think keen gardeners often don’t do that! But this spring there has been one thing that has brought me joy every time I look at it! In the autumn I bought a collection of ‘ tulips for a window box’. When it came to planting them, I decided the window box was too small, so I jammed them all into a pot. The three varieties are absolute beauties and even now they are fading are still immensely lovely.

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I rarely sit outside, but I am greeted by them every morning when I have breakfast.

At the end of my garden I have a Clematis ‘Freckles’ which flowered constantly through the winter. However, I only saw this when I ventured further down the garden. I have resolved to plant something which gives me such pleasure closer to the house where I can see it even in inclement weather. In these unusual and difficult times, let us take pleasure where we can.

The tulips are Double Early and Double Lates: Anthracite, Copper Image and Dream Touch.

Vija