Rebuilding a nursery - Copton Ash

[Tim Ingram]

Thanks Anne. I am just in the process of finalising a talk on the garden over time for a trip to Ireland next week, so this (blog) has been a useful process to marshall thoughts. After 35 years it is almost like coming into a garden anew with an outlook that has changed. We have always used the garden as a resource for seed and cuttings - and experimenting with plants - but there is an inevitable tension between 'garden' and 'nursery'. Getting this balance right is the aim.

[Maggi Young]

Seems that the Kent Alpine Show at Sutton Valence went well - some pix pinched from Tim on FB!
The Farrer medal was awarded to a super pot of Crocus banaticus 'Snowdrift' - from Alan Furness.  The Alpine Dept. at Wisley put on a good display... and there were clearly many other very good plants on show at an event which also  boasted other attractions at the venue as well as the show. Seems these Kentish folk are full of ideas to widen the scope of interest to the event -  well done everyone!

 
This photo actually of another pan of 'Snowdrif' - not the winning pan!

[johnralphcarpenter]

Excellent show, came away with several new ideas!

[Tim Ingram]

Very enjoyable day Maggi. I would write about it further but am getting ready to go to Ireland tomorrow. Some more when I get back but I expect there will be pictures appearing here and on the AGS website... Alan Furness is a true master of Alpine Gardening - he also had a number of beautiful Celmisia at the Show, including this potful of varied foliage forms of C. semi-cordata subsp. aurigans. Rather tantalising for those us in the Kentish Riviera, along with autumn gentians, but wonderful to see.

[Maggi Young]

Have a great trip to Ireland, Tim!

[Leena]

Really nice to have been watching the progression of your garden, Tim. All gardens tell a story and often the plot (not meant as a pun) of the story doesn't follow a straight line. You have weather and plant growth changing the story line all the time. Added to these, the expansion of the gardener's knowledge and his introduction to new plants are constantly in the mix. It's wonderful that you are documenting your garden's story.

I totally agree with this! I always enjoy your diary, and especially get inspiration on your clearing of the woodland.. I do the same.

[David Lyttle]

Very enjoyable day Maggi. I would write about it further but am getting ready to go to Ireland tomorrow. Some more when I get back but I expect there will be pictures appearing here and on the AGS website... Alan Furness is a true master of Alpine Gardening - he also had a number of beautiful Celmisia at the Show, including this potful of varied foliage forms of C. semi-cordata subsp. aurigans. Rather tantalising for those us in the Kentish Riviera, along with autumn gentians, but wonderful to see.

Hi Tim,

I keep returning to your blog to see if you have written anything lately and keep seeing the pot of C. semicordata ssp aurigans which reminded me of a photo I took in 2009 of a group of C semicordata ssp aurigans growing on Mt Tennyson in the Garvie Mountains.  I finally located the image so here they are.

[Tim Ingram]

Fantastic picture David! You've reminded me that I should give an update since October  . The Northern Hemisphere has lost its way recently causing consternation all around... but the garden is waking up into late winter, ready for spring.

[Maggi Young]

Lovely article about Tim and Gillian's place, prior to their garden open on Sunday 12th -
 this from Favershamlife.org -

http://favershamlife.org/snowdrops-copton-ash/

 P.S. Tim - we think you are a stalwart of SRGC , too!

[David Lyttle]

Fantastic picture David! You've reminded me that I should give an update since October  . The Northern Hemisphere has lost its way recently causing consternation all around... but the garden is waking up into late winter, ready for spring.

Your snowdrops and winter aconite (I presume that is what the yellow flowers are) look splendid - a prelude to spring as I guess February is still very much winter.

[Tim Ingram]

Thank you Maggi  . It's always nice to know you belong to a place, even when it is 500 miles away! I've never been good at long division, much better at integration. There will be many more pictures to show before long, and I might even write a few more Diary entries about Snowdrops and Hellebores on the Alpine Garden Society website, based on a couple of talks lately. The ladies of 'Faversham Life' really give the town substance and it was nice to share our garden with them, just as it always has been here on the SRGC Forum.

Very wintry today David - bitterly cold and snow; not so good for opening the garden tomorrow  .

[johnralphcarpenter]

Tim and Gillian's NGS Open Day seemed to be well attended today, despite recent weather. Plants not as well advanced as in previous years of course. Managed to acquire a couple of reasonably priced 'drops!

[Maggi Young]

This from Tim : "Just beginning to thaw out after opening the garden today for the snowdrops! But a good day with 130 or so visitors - says something for a cold February day in north-east Kent 🙂 - so we raised £500 or so for charity. Many interesting people and some good local friends. After 30 years opening the garden for the National Gardens Scheme maybe the snowdrops are giving us a new incentive for at least another decade or two in these austere times 😉? We are open again for the NGS on Sunday 26th March when more woodland species will be flowering, and then in April and May."

Pretty successful day, I think!

[Tim Ingram]

It was, even though my feet have still yet to thaw! We have a way to go to catch up with Carolyn and John Millen at Spring Platt - hope to visit them during the week, and Elizabeth Cairns at Knowle Hill Farm, which may interest any aficianados of snowdrops looking in later. Some interesting species hellebores flowering too (including several kind gifts from David Stephens), which we took along for a talk from Don Palmer to our local AGS Group in East Kent last Friday.

[Tim Ingram]

In February our thoughts about the garden and nursery turn to snowdrops and rather than repeat much of that here, for anyone who would like to know more please see this and my forthcoming Diary entries on the Alpine Garden Society website: http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/diaries/Kent/+February+/800/. The picture is of Galanthus 'Ginns' Imperati', which is memorable for its strong scent of bitter almonds (though I've never really noticed the scent of snowdrops unless they have been in an indoor display). Ron Ginns was a prominent member of the Alpine Garden Society after WWII - he wrote 30 or so articles for the AGS Bulletin - and had a particular interest in hardy Cacti, Succulent plants and Yuccas, but also in a much wider range of alpines. He was a teacher and I am told (because he lived in Desborough in Northamptonshire, where my grandparents happened to run a Market Garden) also had a model railway line in his garden! (One of those relatively insignificant but revealing facts about a fellow alpine and 'rock' gardener...).