The Mall is decked out for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting; Lancaster house is sealed off and has much tentage and Lord Lieutenants and their deputies are run ragged greeting delegates at airports.
Spring is late this year as you can see from the trees on the Mall but the weather suddenly improved this week. When this happens it is traditional to wear minimal clothing and head outdoors, preferably along the river, to drink too much. My “first day of summer” routine is to sit in the garden with a drink making a stinging aioli to accompany cold salmon or cod and order two cases of rosé from The Wine Society.
There has been some good and imaginative planting in Margravine Gardens. My neighbour has a big bay tree and forsythia underplanted with cyclamen. Further along is a glorious magnolia. I have a new terracotta container in the front garden and mused on what to plant.
It is south facing and may not get watered when I’m away. My first choice was forsythia but it doesn’t like drought, one reason it flourishes in the west of Ireland. An azelia was ruled out on the same grounds. Olive trees, palms and bays all work but are ruled out on grounds of cliche, ugliness and ubiquity. After much deliberation I planted a viburnum (tinus Eve Price). It can live for up to 400 years, tolerate drought, is low maintenance (needs feeding three times during the summer) and, although it can get very big, is receptive to pruning and shaping. I’m hoping it will be a shrubby pillar and will flower on and off all summer.
While you have been cooped up at the assizes in Dundalk I have been out and about. Today I’m going to Gerrards Cross.
A little mulch applied to your container will help retain moisture during your frequent periods of absence. In addition to the fragrant flowers you will be rewarded with red berries in Autumn.
Thankfully summer appears to have arrived in Ireland also, resulting in some frantic activity in gardens. Yesterday I noticed your brother was employed enthusiastically mowing his grounds on his ride on. Thus, two brother Bellews engaged in horticultural activity, yet with colossal differences in scope and scale.