Yesterday, I went with some friends to see Vera Sackville-West’s  spectacular gardens at Sissinghurst Castle, about an hour’s drive from my place. I took a lot of photographs and hope to publish a blog about the day later this week. Before that though, I thought I’d show you my little Lewes garden before it gets totally upstaged by the sensational display at Sissinghurst.

As you can see, all my roses have finally made it into bloom and I rather liked it out there this morning.

As I’ve written before, all my roses are David Austin varieties and they were all planted seven years ago as small stems when I completely redesigned the garden. I think they’ve now declared my small town garden their home. If you want to find out more about them, I’ll introduce them to you by name.

It seemed a good idea to take my coffee out there to enjoy the view. Look out for the Sissinghurst photos coming later. I had a wonderful day there – you should catch the Sissinghurst roses while their at the very best.

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It is a glorious day here in Lewes in Southern England but tonight we are promised our first frost. My roses don’t want to know this so I am keeping quiet  about it but just in case, I thought I would take a photograph of my small town garden that really doesn’t want to stop flowering yet. It will be especially sad seeing my beautiful Falstaff rose wither on the branch. So I shall enjoy it whilst it lasts.

So here is that song, The Last Rose Of Summer – sung by the American soprano Renee Fleming. It is very beautiful and, of course, sad, as it is used by the German composer Friedrich von Flotow (1812-1883) in his opera Martha (1847):

I would have played Joan Sutherland’s 1961 performance of this song before now if she hadn’t always done it without the last verse but now I have said that, I can hardly leave the great soprano out of this blog (I try to include her wherever I can because I have never been able to hear too much of her) so here she is with that incomparable accompanist Gerald Moore.

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After the hottest April since records began here in England 350 years ago, our spring has been galloping away and now my tulips have taken on that petrified horror movie look which has its own weird splendour. If my tulips and irises have said goodbye then there is plenty more out in my small Lewes garden

It is the turn of my first clematis plants with their luxuriantly large petaled flowers…..

…they have established the new colour scheme for this period in the garden….with purples, white and magenta….

…and Falstaff, the richly perfumed and exotic climber is the first of my roses to bloom though the others are all about to burst their buds……

…my small daisies have arrived….sitting on the steps and welcoming me whenever I go outside – they will flower now until the Autumn…..

……I have the first signs too of my fruit crops…..the espalier Bramley cooking apple tree is covered in fruitlets……

…and my gooseberry bush is already in fruit……

…so it is  looking good out there and I will take a moment to stand and stare wondering at just how many wonderful plants can be packed into a tiny space.

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