Becky and Don Potts’ Garden, Fondren, Mississippi

Dragonfly above the words 'Welcome! Be Nice or Leave' in a leafy garden
Be nice or leave

Whenever we’re on our way to see Becky and Don Potts, I tell myself firmly, ‘No more pictures!’

It never works.

Their garden is such a fun place to visit. Fewer minutes later than is really courteous after arriving, I’ll find myself drifting off to twist my iPhone over an unusual plant, trying to get a decent angle. A miniature will have cried out for attention, something with variegations, or a new coleus as Becky is fascinated by all of these.

My eye for an interesting plant lures me along paths, under trees, over mossy ground, round corners and beyond fences, through areas of full sun and almost as full shade, one plant leading to the next.

Then I’m tugged back round to see what I’ve missed.

Continue reading “Becky and Don Potts’ Garden, Fondren, Mississippi”

Hebden Bridge’s Tiny Gardens: Pocket Planting as Folkart

Penstemon in a container garden

I hope you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me if I start with a digression.

While I welcome the Royal Horticulture Society spreading its presence in the North of England, I wonder if I am alone in seeing signs of failure to understand and fully celebrate life in the north, especially when I visit the young, still-developing RHS Bridgewater.

Perhaps the RHS’s powers-that-be are too far away or too used to a life of plenty to appreciate the creativity and fun in us – our type of fullness. An old Punch cartoon showing a BBC documentary film crew on location in the north comes to mind (even with the watermark you’ll get the gist).

Terraced house garden with art and bunting

Continue reading “Hebden Bridge’s Tiny Gardens: Pocket Planting as Folkart”