There cannot be a more jubilant month in the gardener’s calendar than May. The whole garden is full of unstoppable energy. The garden changes daily – almost hourly – with growth and more intense colour from alliums, tulips and the first bearded irises. You can see new flowers opening every time you step outdoors and that fresh greenness of everything.
Thank you so much to everyone who came and who were involved in our big open gardens day on Sunday April 27th all in aid of St. Elizabeth Hospice. Unprecedented numbers of you turned out to support us making it the biggest and busiest open day we have ever had. We are so touched and very grateful.
We are having the time of our lives here at Columbine. The new walled garden is almost complete with the paths now topped with gravel and the statues and urn are now in place. It’s so exciting and I cannot wait to start planting it up. New steel edging is being installed around the driveway, I have given my first talk of the year to a lovely group in Norfolk and the whole garden is rising to a crescendo – with even more to come.
For me, nothing celebrates the glorious month of May more than the wonderful froth of cow parsley. It is, I suppose technically a weed but it is a most beautiful one and at Columbine we love it. We have it growing in our orchards, moat banks and under pleached lime trees planted with white tulips. Cow parsley are umbellifers and are a good thing to have, as they attract a range of beneficial insects such as hoverflies and ladybirds into the garden.
There is a cultivated variety Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’, with purple leaves and brown stems beneath the white, lacy flowers. It cross-pollinates with the wild cow parsley, which means that the offspring quickly loses the intensity of purple leaves, so if it’s purpleness is the main attraction for you then keep it well away from its wild cousin. I confess I do not mind a bit as I am besotted by cow parsley in all its variations.
For a few weeks the gardens here at Columbine are elevated by morning dew and cow parsley, apple and hawthorn blossom, bluebells fully on song and the dawn chorus. I am relishing every hour of it.
Kate Elliott came to Columbine Hall in 1997 when she was sixteen. She is now head gardener but also helps with managing the property generally and in conducting guided tours.