It’s such a gardener’s “thing” to blame the weather for almost everything. “Too dry! Too wet! Too windy! Too cold!” But, both this year and last, these complaints were and are absolutely true. The recent rainfall should have helped a little although if there was a class for bindweed and ground elder I know that […]
One of the best things about the annual horticultural show in Rye is the ultra-friendly competitiveness. The overall winner of the Tate Trophy and Banksian Medal together with other awards was Rye resident Pat Wightwick, who produced a stunning display of vegetables, flowers and home baking. But whilst Pat scored highly and won best entry […]
If you’d like to know more about Charles Dickens connection with our horticultural show then you can hear all about it on the brand new podcast at www.ryecast.org We are very excited to have already received dozens of early entries for the 2022 show. It seems that despite the weather, drought, heat etc… we are […]
MARCH IS FULL OF SAINTS The 1st of March brings happily, not only the first day of meteorogical spring but also, St David’s Day the patron saint of Wales. One of the symbols of Wales is the cheerful, golden daffodil, a flower that really signifies the end of winter and the start of a new […]
“The falling leaves, drift by the window, the autumn leaves of red and gold”…………. so sang Nat King Cole. As I sit to write this my leaves are still green and hurtling across the garden with branches still attached. I know many people love Autumn but its not my favourite season at all and this […]
“So good to be back to some sort of normal” was the consensus at this year’s show. Over 200 fabulous entries made their way to the Community Centre on Saturday the 4th September. Ranging from a 27.4kg pumpkin to the tiniest, most perfect dahlia specimen. Impressive onions, sat alongside the funniest shape veg, plates full […]
“Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful in the English language” – Henry James Researching summer time gardening recently I came across this quote by Henry James that struck a chord. A familiar name to those who live in Rye, James came to live in Lamb House in […]
Spring is finally here….. I am writing this on the 1st day of March, a bright, sunny, uplifting sort of day. The 1st of March is recognised as the meteorological start of spring which is fine by me. Those of you who prefer the astrological spring can wait until March the 20th. There are even […]
I have always grown dahlias, and when we moved to Rye I brought a few of my favourites with me. Chat Noir and Rip City from Sarah Raven (deep red almost black), a small orange one named after an old friend of my mother’s and a large pink one nicknamed Aunt Nellie (sadly died in […]
For some reason my husband calls all flowers Nasturtiums. Maybe this is because Nasturtium is a good word to say (which it is), or because he thinks he’s being funny (which he isn’t) or because he doesn’t know the names of flowers well and this “joke” gives him an excuse not to learn. Naturally this […]