Summer Container Number One

This container is for a shady spot

In this antique cast iron urn Ive combined variegated double pink impatiens, pilea and a hot house parlour palm to create a long lasting display of colour and texture.

If you have a greenhouse this arrangement can easily be moved inside for a winter display.

Summer Container Number Two

Roses and Lavender

A very simple container for a front doorstep.

I've used a standard tree Rose and underplanted it with Lavender for a very simple yet effective summer display.

Spring in the Garden

Sissinghurst Castle

Designed by Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicholson, Sissinghurst Castle is one of my most favourite gardens. No matter what the time of year or how extreme the weather there is always something lovely to see.

A recent visit led me to take this photo of a beautiful display of blue and white flowers with a splash of purple hellebores. Such a simple restrained use of colour and plant material created a lovely sight! Although the garden covers several acres, there is much in the design and in the use of plant material that can be applied to smaller gardens. I highly recommend a visit!

Vita wrote many books on gardening, sharing her knowledge and love of plants in a friendly, simple and sometimes very opinionated way. Below is an extract from Vita Sackville-West's Garden Book, first published by Hollen Street Press in 1968.

From the foreword by Philippa Nicholson here are some of Vita's Principles of Gardening:

• Be Ruthless. 'You must never retain for a second year what displeased you in the first, it must be eradicated,' Vita says.
  
• Never be too tidy. 'Let self-seeded plants grow where they naturally fell; let wild flowers sometimes be allowed to invade the garden; if roses stray over a path, the visitor must duck,' Vita says.
  
• Good Planning. 'There must be a plan-an architectural plan, a colour plan and a seasonal plan,' Vita says.

The garden was given to the National Trust in 1967 and has been meticulously maintained by them ever since.