Gardens are for sharing

Summer is one of the busiest times of year in the garden yet armies of gardeners up and down the country pile on even more pressure by opening their gardens to the public under the National Gardens Scheme (www.ngs.org.uk) – affectionately known as the Yellow Book Scheme.  They hoover their lawns, give the clematis a shampoo and set, propagate plants and make hundreds of cakes, all to raise money for charity.  Since its foundation, the NGS has raised over £42 million and we are indebted to those dedicated gardeners who generously and bravely share their gardens with the rest of us.

Doc and I toyed with the idea of opening Springfield under NGS scheme and do our bit for the cause.  However, we soon realised that plot is a health and safety disaster waiting to happen.  We have one area known as the Kamikaze drop, another called the Burglar Trap but the real test of courage is to walk along the gravel path that is drifting down an unfenced, steep bank.   We are fine of course (note the cavalier attitude!), because we know where disaster lies but to unsuspecting visitors, some of whom may be elderly and probably wearing normal shoes rather than crampons, they would be vulnerable.  Doc would be called upon to use his medical skills rather than his gardening ones. 

Since we now have a young but very mobile and inquisitive granddaughter and also the fact that I have problems with walking, Doc and I have talked about improving the accessibility of our garden.  But the To Do list grows faster than rosebay willowherb, doesn’t it?   So instead we work to the principle that Visitors Must Be Supervised At All Times.

Still, this does not stop us from supporting the NGS scheme because we visit open gardens whenever and wherever we can.  It is always a joy to wander around someone else’s garden.  We are inspired by new ideas and different plants and love to chat with like-minded people over tea and cake.  It is a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon and we always come home refreshed.

They say that a garden reveals the personality of the gardener or gardeners who tend it and having visited many NGS gardens, we would agree.  There are relaxed’ gardens where the owners allow plants to grow free-form without much pruning.  The result is a natural, informal space, usually full of wildlife.  Conversely, we have felt hedge and lawn envy in many a ‘neat and tidy’ garden.  But nothing is as potent as the passionate gardeners who simply love collecting plants.  They fill every border, pot, and fence with interesting and unusual specimens and they always know the names of all their treasures.  Amazing!

I am not sure what Springfield says about our personalities.  There is considerable evidence of devastation because Doc spends many a weekend chopping his way through jungle-sized shrubs and trees, but being known as ‘slash and burn’ gardeners sounds like a contradiction in terms - and very sad.  Considering the challenging terrain in our plot, maybe I would prefer us being described as ‘risk takers’.  It sounds much edgier.