I have run across some Americans who believe all us Brits live in quaint thatched bungalow and are nearly acquainted with The Queen . We might also happen to have it away a distant relative they might have in Kettering , Peterborough or Cumbernauld . It ’s a small country after all . As a proud Englishman I am more than glad to go along with such mythology , despite the fact that Her Majesty always decline my dinner party invitations . I am sharp to make on the approximation that we all endure a pastoral life , saunter around rose - filled gardens , picking flush and placing them in trugs , or set up handmaid to bring in us tea leaf , Darjeeling preferably , with just a dash of milk . Indeed I care it were genuine . Hence , for any green US citizens reading this blog ( I feel confident none of my regular followers fall into this category ) I will posit , quite barefacedly , that British gardener purchase all their industrial plant from sales bear in the grounds of ancient castles . There is , simply , no more appropriate manner for one to furnish one ’s garden .
Saltwood Castle is everyone ’s idea of the perfect English castle and therefore the ultimate plant fair locus . There has been a some kind of fortification here since 488AD and the main buildings have looked fairly similar to the present day for over 600 years . It was at Saltwood that the four knights who kill Thomas Becket plotted his death in the Great Hall on December 28th 1170 . allot to our friend ’s children there are also dragons hold up in the castle ’s dungeons , but I recollect that might be pushing the mythology too far .
There is nothing modern or update about the fortress . Its rough - and - tumble walls , lagged with vulgar polypody ( Polypodium vulgare ) , yellow Cheiranthus cheiri and drear campanula are maintained just sufficiently to permit them to continue standing . Nevertheless it seems that small improvements are afoot . Some of the stonework has been re - pointed and the borders in the inner Pearl Bailey have been cleared and mulched , showing off thud of shining ruddy tulips and sky - blue Dutch sword lily . The dope bordering the drive has been neatly edged and there is evidence of drain work in and around the moat . Being custodian of a building so former and of such national grandness must be a origin of capital joy and tremendous stress , especially on the pocket .
Hence the spring plant fair is an opportunity for the owners of Saltwood Castle , the Clark family , to raise funds for the upkeep of the buildings and , this year , for the Air Ambulance Service . It being May Bank Holiday weekend we expected the weather to be irregular at best , chilly at worst , and so we were sunnily surprised to be treated some affectionate fair weather on the quick pass down through east Kent , pass by Dover and Folkestone en route . There ’s always a great turn - out in terminal figure of local nurseries and naturally , it being outflow , all the plant looked fresh as a daisy . There was an teemingness of herbs , ferns , outpouring - flowering perennials , auriculas , geranium and irises , as well as a handful of Tree , climber and shrub for those with big gardens or big machine to fill .
There are many factors guaranteed to get me spending , Sunday and the odour of freshly pout grass being two of them , so here ’s the damage :
FromDecoy Nursery , Pevensey , East Sussex :
Saltwood Castle’s imposing gatehouse from the outer bailey
All of the above are destined for our London garden .
FromRingwould Alpines , near Deal , Kent :
FromBean Place Nursery , Headcorn , Kent :
The Gents’ toilets are housed at the bottom of a ruined watch tower
FromRotherview Nursery , Hastings , Kent :
As always the Saltwood Castle Plant Fair was a lovely occasion on which to bid word of farewell to April and lionise the arriver of May . As we debase the car up with industrial plant the sky behind the bastioned walls sprain ominously black . The heavens opened just as we drove away . April was n’t quite ready to call it a day .
The next plant sale at Saltwood Castle is on Sunday September 18th 2016
Dutch iris (Iris×hollandica)
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category : peak , Kentish Gardens , Large Gardens , Other People ’s Gardens , Photography , atmospheric condition
Posted by The Frustrated Gardener
A Lutyens bench,Euphorbia mellifera,Abutilon vitifolium“Album” and Him Indoors, taking the weight off
Abutilon vitifolium“Album” flowering in the shelter of the castle walls
Snake’s head fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris) in Archbishop Courtenay’s Garden
Ringwould Alpines set up beneath the boughs of a tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) planted by The Queen Mother in 1957
Well polished: the spade used by Her Majesty The Queen Mother to plant one of Saltwood Castle’s finest trees.
Tulip “Gavota” emerging from the orchard sward
