Purple Wellies

Today the first flowers started to open on one of my dearest plants – Edgeworthia chrysantha. I’ve had one for seven years now growing against one of the rear house walls, my husband having brought it for me shortly before our son was born for a Valentine’s Day present.

So Christmas is nearly upon us again, and I am sure many have retreated to gardening from their armchairs, browsing the seed catalogues. If you are like me, I’m sure you can expect a sprinkling of gardening presents among all of the usual candidates of socks and chocolates, but just how useful is the garden paraphernalia you get given?

As a child I used to continually dream about being in the jungle, searching the undergrowth for something elusive. I've done a fair bit of travelling in my time to some pretty exotic places, but I’m not the type to go camping or backpacking.

It is always at this time of year, when the trees have lost most of their leaves, that you can truly see the structure of the garden that forms the rigid skeleton the rest of the garden is supported on.

About a year ago, I came across a rose with the promise of large, crimson single flowers with an exceptionally long flowering period - late spring through to the first frosts.