Emmetts Day 1

After weeks of chaos and crisis but much joy, I find myself at Emmetts Garden in the freezing cold, feeling like the new girl and a bit homesick.  But an hour or so later after raking twigs, digging and planting Azaleas, the fresh Kentish wind has blown the cobwebs from my brain and I suddenly realise how quiet everything is.

 Pruning the Hydrangea

 Hamamelis mollis in the south garden

Ingenious new plant tags

Emmmetts Garden was the home of Frederick Lubbock, an Edwardian plant hunter who planted many rare and exotic shrubs.  The highest garden in Kent, it has acid soil and a very sharp wind on its exposed south side.  The South Garden is a gallery of these plants and I spent the afternoon here deadheading the Hydrangeas.  The Alpine garden is a quarter its orginal size but still demands the most maintenance.  The meadows contain tulips and the woodland banks bluebells and these enhance Emmetts' reputation as a spring garden.