Fog and Roses

Friday morning found me once again in Portsmouth for another TV segment, outdoors in the fog.  It was probably not the best weather to televise the "after" part of a garden renovation we did for the station, but sometimes you have got to go with what you have been given.  However, the weather was good for photography, unless you were wanting to get a picture across the river of the Norfolk skyline.

One bright spot on the otherwise gray waterfront were these Knockout Roses, which seem to be everywhere these days.

I came across lots of other roses away from the river in Olde Towne (I hate this spelling).  The ones below are more Knockouts and what I think are Graham Thomas, one of the David Austin roses. These were growing behind the Pass House where 150 years ago citizens in Union occupied Portsmouth obtained a pass to travel across the river to Confederate Norfolk.

This is likely Blaze blooming in front of the B.P.O.E hall, a.k.a. Madblood's mansion.

Peace maybe?

I am not sure which one this is, but notice how it matches the window trim.

Here are two more unknown-to-me varieties.

While I was taking the photo below, the homeowner came out and told me they have lived in the house for 40 years, and the white rose has been blooming and climbing into the mulberry tree each of those years.

Roses were not the only blooms in Olde Towne on Friday.  One of my favorite houses had a pomegranate (Punica granatum) in full bloom.

Oenothera speciosa, Pink Evening Primrose

Passiflora caerulea, Passion Vine

Philadelphus coronarius, Mockorange

(You can see the entire set of pictures here on my Flickr page.)

A Small Homage to Derek Jarman's Garden

Years ago while browsing gardening books, I came across the title Derek Jarman's Garden.  Something in the recesses of my brain recognized that name, so I opened the book and was immediately intrigued by the images.  Further prodding of the gray matter helped me remember where that name came from.  I was transported back in time to a film appreciation course I took in college populated with people who enjoyed showing off their vocabulary and fawning over the professor.  Derek Jarman was a talented man primarily known for his films and his unapologetic fight for gay rights. In the final years of his life he created a garden at Prospect Cottage on the south coast of England at Dungeness. The tar covered cottage and its garden are situated in an exposed, stark landscape, within the shadow of a nuclear power station.  What draws me to this spot is its nearly bleak, windswept setting, the tough plants, and especially the use of flotsam (in my world one can never have too many pieces of flotsam, gifts from the sea they are).  While England is a country full of many remarkable and grand gardens, this is the one I want to see most.

(This picture is in the public domain and was copied from Wikipedia Commons)

While I have not deliberately copied ideas from Jarman's garden in my own, there are some similarities.  My friend D. has a cottage in Corova, NC a not easily accessible community in the dunes, just south of the Va. state line, and her wild garden there reminds me of Jarman's.  She and her boyfriend scour the beach and the local dump for material they use in found object sculptures set in the sand.  Gardening in Corova is very difficult, not only because of the sand, the salt and the exposure, but D. also has to contend with hungry wild horses.  She does a lot of her gardening in pots high up on the deck away from those big teeth.

Earlier this month we had some hypertufa pots go half price at work, and I took the opportunity to snatch up the only round planter and filled it with some tough drought tolerant plants.  I put in two varieties of Sempervivum, two different thymes and a blue spruce sedum.  I mulched with seashells and plopped a beach-weathered piece of copper down in the middle.  The final results reminded me of something that would be at home on the steps of Prospect Cottage.

If you would like to get a good feel for what Derek Jarman's garden is like, click here to a Flickr set from Angus Fraser.