• Barn House Garden
  • Blog
  • The House
  • Gallery
    • Summer
    • Spring
    • Autumn
    • Winter
  • Links & Photosets
  • In The Press
  • Garden Plan

Barn House Garden

~ A garden set in the Wye Valley

Barn House Garden

Tag Archives: Diana Grenfell

The pot in the seed raised meadow

23 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by kate@barnhouse in Ornamental grasses, pots

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Deschampsia cespitosa, Diana Grenfell, Hosta 'Prince of Wales', Klong jar, meadow, Molinia caerulea subsp.arundinacea, pots

For the last few months we’ve been circling the new stylised meadow, squinting at it from different angles whilst trying to imagine what focal feature would work in the centre of the access path. Meadow deschampsia and Molina July The planting of seed raised Deschampsia cespitosa and Molinia caerulea subsp.arundinacea has a wild look about it, echoing the tustled look of the adjacent hay meadow. It’s also evocative of where I found my favourite garden ornament : a Thai klong jar.Field view June In South East Asia, klong jars are traditionally used to collect and store water for household use, much in the same way that we gardeners use water butts. In Brockweir, where we live, there was no mains water until the 1950s. We know from local residents that water was harvested from neighbouring wells and streams, then stored in underground tanks. The disused tanks are marked on Ordanance Survey Maps, however, a few, lurking in the beech woodland across the fields behind Barn House, are dangerously uncovered. Recently, Bob, a friend’s black lab strayed onto private land and had to be rescued from one such tank by his intrepid owner. Klong jar blue and purple glaze Klong jars can still be seen in use throughout the Far East, although these days they tend to be made out of plastic. Traditional ceramic or earthenware jars share the same simple shape, wider in the middle than the top with a curving lip.

In Margaret Macmillnan’s fascinating social history ‘Women of The Raj” (Random House Trade 2007) she recounts the trials faced by a newly married wife, a successful member of the autumnal ‘fishing fleet’ of single women that sailed to India in the hopes of catching a husband. Faced with the dilemma of how to ‘bathe’ in a bathless bathroom, the new arrival mistakenly clambered into the water storage jar only to find it home to the house snake. In her panic, she found herself pinned in the jar by its tapering shape. The naive memshab was rescued, much to her mortification, by a manservant. Perhaps, at that precise moment she rued that she’d not been one of the ‘returned empties’, those whose shame it was to sail home still single the following spring?

Antique jars, usually of the wonderfully weathered salt-glazed sort are highly prized, accordingly, they command a high value. We’ve drooled over many such a jar in our time. Equally, the modern reproductions, some with exquisite glazes in a range of delectable colours, are quite sought after too. Some turn up as decorative features in hotel lobbies across Asia, others, no doubt, are scooped up by western interior designers. Dividing a hosta in springThe jar we came home with had far less salubrious beginnings and for the last three years has been the home of the resplendent ‘extra large’ Hosta ‘The Prince of Wales’. This year ‘HRH’, as we fondly call him had inevitably outgrown his quarters and was divided back in March. It was a delicate operation for both the plant and the pot. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the plight of the poor memshab ….

One very nice, and otherwise accurate journalist reported that we hunted for plants in Asia. That made me laugh. We hunted for pots and brought home lots of them. But they weren’t the sort with fancy price tags, we found them in a dusty factory outlet on the outskirts of Kanchanaburi. The luckiest find was abandoned along with other cast-offs in an area of tall snake-ridden grass. Only the shoulders and rim of the pot were visible. Never mind plant hunting off-piste in the wilderness, I wasn’t venturing beyond the path, especially in my silly sandals. The pot was bought, pretty much sight unseen. When it was delivered later that week, we gasped : it was a beauty. Miscanthus geranium obscure the potThe jar, now hiding in the summer planting, was regarded as a complete reject. Imperfections in its celadon glaze caused by the secondary firing to produce the characteristic crackled finish had, as often happens, pitted the surface of the underlying material. Plus, and probably the deciding factor in the manufacturer’s mind, hairline cracks crazed the inner skin of the jar. Although it wouldn’t hold water, it makes a happy home for a handsome hosta. Diana Grenfell’s marvellous and definitive “The New Encyclopedia of Hostas” (Timber Press 2009) suggests lots of hostas that would compliment our beloved pot, many of a more appropriate size, but, while we have the derring-do to excavate it very few years, we’re sentimentally attached to the pairing. Salt glazed pot in meadow Personally, I love the big blue pot all the more for its imperfections, particularly the tactile pitting. I think it gives it character. Without its flaws there’d be no story to tell. And, without it, we wouldn’t have gone hunting in a local garden centres for a second such jar to recreate a scene that reminds me of the day I spied a big blue pot in an oriental meadow.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Garden Journal

  • Wordless Wednesday : Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Pink Glow’ August 16, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Hedychium spicatum from Tibet August 2, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Self-seeded Nasturtiums July 26, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : A Misted Spider’s Web July 19, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Sanguisorbia tenuifolia var. alba July 12, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Clematis ‘Etoile Violette’ July 5, 2017
  • NGS Open Day June 2017 and Plans for 2018 June 30, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : A Bit of Light Relief June 28, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Fascinating Fasciation June 21, 2017
  • ‘Lamprothyrsus hieronymi!’ A Grassy Magic Spell for NGS Day June 19, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Clematis ‘Pangbourne Pink’ June 14, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Paeonia x lemoinei ‘Souvenir de Maxime Cornu’ June 7, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Raindrops on a Favourite Rose May 31, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : A Tiny Teatime Treat May 24, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Iris sibirica ‘Tropic Night’ May 17, 2017
  • The Many Charms of a Fine Old Apple Tree April 30, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Tulip Brown Sugar April 12, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Magnolia x soulangeana ‘Rustica Rubra’ April 5, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Magnolia stellata March 22, 2017
  • A New Look for the National Garden Scheme! March 17, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Greeting the Sun March 8, 2017
  • Sesleria autumnalis : A New Grass for the Little Meadow? February 17, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Fluffy Seed Heads February 15, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : A Little Bit of Cheer February 8, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Hydrangea paniculata ‘Pinky Winky’ February 1, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Frosted Phlomis January 25, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Windswept January 11, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Crystal Flowers January 4, 2017
  • Getting Ready for a Christmas Break December 19, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Sticky Seedheads December 14, 2016
  • Morning Walks in Helsbury Park December 7, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Persicaria vacciniifolia November 23, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Wind Dancers November 16, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Vitis vinifera ‘Rondo’ November 9, 2016
  • Surprisingly Blue Roundhead Mushrooms November 5, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : An acer and its grassy friends November 2, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Something Nasty in the Woodshed October 26, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : The Remains of the Day October 19, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Touched with Fire October 12, 2016
  • Westonbirt Arboretum : Walkies in Silk Wood October 4, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Shadows and Sunlight September 28, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Red Head’ September 21, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Curiouser and Curiouser …. September 14, 2016
  • A Room with a View …. September 6, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Moody Blues August 31, 2016
  • The Chatty Gardener August 27, 2016
  • Exciting News from the BBC August 15, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : A Sleepy Bee August 10, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Stipa gigantea Going for Gold August 3, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Glowing in the Twilight July 27, 2016
  • Nearly Wordless Wednesday : Ladies in Lavender July 19, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Nasturtiums and Summer Showers July 13, 2016
  • NGS Day 2016 July 5, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Papaver somniferum June 29, 2016
  • NGS Day June 26th 2016 : Gates Open Today from 1-5.30pm June 26, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : The Common Spotted Orchid June 22, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Siberian Iris ‘Silver Edge’ June 15, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Hanging by a Thread June 8, 2016
  • Wildlife Wednesday – A Perfect Storm June 2, 2016
  • The Cedar Stump : A Happy Ending May 31, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Happy Wanderers May 25, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : After the Rain May 18, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Coming in to land …. May 11, 2016
  • Springtime Sport in the Meadow May 8, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Tulip ‘Orange Emperor’ May 4, 2016
  • A Walk in a Bluebell Wood May 1, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Anemone nemerosa April 27, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Epimedium pinnatum April 20, 2016
  • April is the sweetest month …. April 16, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Viola odorata April 13, 2016
  • Evergreen grasses : to cut or not to cut? April 8, 2016
  • Replacing the Vine Pergola April 3, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Spot the difference March 30, 2016
  • Bringing In the Sheaves March 24, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Hedgerow Treasures March 23, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Soaking up the spring sunshine March 16, 2016
  • Chionochloa : A Case of Mistaken Identity March 12, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Catkins March 9, 2016
  • The story of the big blue cedar February 27, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Welcome signs of Spring February 24, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : snow drops February 17, 2016
  • The plight of the honey bee February 14, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Cyclamen coum February 10, 2016
  • Pennisetum alopecuroides : a late winter friend February 6, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Yellow crocus February 3, 2016
  • Touches of Frost January 23, 2016
  • Happy New Year January 3, 2016
  • Pinetum Park and Pine Lodge in winter December 21, 2015
  • Eragrostis curvula : African weeping love grass November 28, 2015
  • Tall purple moor-grass : Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea November 7, 2015
  • Autumn musings : Lofty cultivars of Miscanthus sinensis October 30, 2015
  • Filming Barn House garden for BBC Gardeners’ World 2016 October 21, 2015
  • Choosing a dwarf miscanthus October 14, 2015
  • Oudolf Field in Autumn October 7, 2015
  • A Tale of Two Himalayan Fairy Grasses … October 1, 2015
  • Patio pots September 23, 2015
  • Rudbeckia fulgida : flower power September 16, 2015
  • Persicaria great and small September 9, 2015
  • Splendour in the Grass September 2, 2015
  • Pennisetum macrourum : perfect picked, dried or simply left on the plant …. August 26, 2015
  • E.A. Bowles and The Riddle of the Pheasant’s Tail Grass August 19, 2015
  • Hakonechloa macra : Japanese Forest Grass August 13, 2015
  • In search of the perfect pennisetum August 6, 2015
  • A peaceful spot : sitting, staring and drinking tea. July 30, 2015
  • The pot in the seed raised meadow July 23, 2015
  • “A garden isn’t meant to be useful. It’s for joy.” July 16, 2015
  • Misty morning treasure July 10, 2015
  • Learning to love The Pink and Orange Patio July 2, 2015
  • Bamboo : taming the dragon June 26, 2015
  • NGS Day : reasons to be cheerful June 22, 2015
  • NGS open garden day : Sunday 21st June, 2-5.30pm June 6, 2015
  • A seed raised ‘meadow’ May 15, 2015
  • Calamagrostis : a great grass for all seasons May 9, 2015
  • Low maintenance grass-like plants April 19, 2015
  • Miscanthus sinensis : “queen of the grasses” March 14, 2015
  • Easy evergreen grasses February 15, 2015
  • Grasses’ terrace in winter January 26, 2015

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Barn House Garden
    • Join 206 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Barn House Garden
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: