It is so wonderful to see the flowers appearing everywhere! We have a rather untidy rambling Cottage Garden here which is the inspiration for much of my work. It is home to many different birds and bees, with wild places full of cow parsley and buttercups, the borders packed with traditional perennials and annuals, and lots of weeds! We do have some tidy places; the vegetable garden with its raised beds of strawberries, courgettes, leeks and squashes etc., is more or less under control!
My husband’s father used to breed irises and knew Cedric Morris the artist and plantsman who set up an art school at Benton End in Suffolk. Cedric was a fellow iris breeder and my husband grows some of Cedric’s beautiful old varieties, remembering his visits as a boy, with his father, to Benton End many years ago. Cedric named two of his irises after his cats, ‘Benton Menace’ and ‘Benton Baggage’! Interesting to see a Chelsea garden this year featuring Cedric Morris Irises.
Photo of some of ours flowering here now, not all Morris.