Herbs, Roses and Notebook Twenty-Eight

I mentioned in my last post about visiting Herbs for Healing which was interesting. It is on a plot of land behind Barnsley House the gardens there were designed by Rosemary Verey the mother of the Davina who has created the herb garden from a field. I came away wanting to grow more herbs and different ones. A few photographs of the garden.

When I was a child my Grandparents retired and moved to the village near us and had a property built. Just up the road was a typical village house side onto the road with the most amazing rose on the end wall. Once I had my own garden I was given a few roses from that plant and I managed to get one to grow. I have a couple of smaller ones coming along. It has been such a good year generally for roses. I wanted to share some photographs of my special rose. The son of the house, who must be retired now was a gardener for an Oxford college. The vegetables that he grew for his family were wonderful.

Some other plants have not done so well, this is the first dahlia in flower. I planted them in good time, but I think the conditions have affected so much this year.

A house leek, we had lots of these at the farm growing along the tops of the dry stone walls. It is the first time I have had any in my garden.

Notebook twenty-eight is a concertina one taken from my new book on making books. The front cover was inspired by these beautiful roses that Alex of Under A Topaz Sky makes from silk ribbons. I used some torn cotton fabric and pulled it quite tight.