The last couple of weeks have been really busy at the hospice. We’ve had a new gazebo erected, the BBC have been to film our gardens, and we’ve planted up our part of the of BBC NW Tonight’s “Northern Star” garden prior to the Tatton Flower Show.

Firstly, the gazebo. It has been a long time coming, but definitely worth the wait. In was donated in memory of Tracy by her family and friends, and made by Woodmines, a local company specialising in bespoke gazebos. It arrived two days before the BBC came to film, and was constructed within the day.

The roof is made from sweet chestnut shingles and looks beautiful from both the outside and the inside.

We, and the family, are delighted with the final product.

The BBC came to film our gardens on the Friday. Thankfully the weather held out and they looked fabulous. We were due to have the weather forecast from the gardens, but due to unforeseen circumstances this sadly wasn’t possible.

Over the last couple of days four of us have been at Tatton planting up our garden, with a bit of guidance from The Ninja Gardener. I was surprised at how hard work it was and how long it took. The flower bed is 4m x 1.5m and contains a tree, two large hydrangas, two chairs and about 120 plants! We enjoyed ourselves and are delighted with the final garden, which I can’t show you until after the show opens.

As you can see from the above photo, it was VERY windy on the Friday and Saturday, which proved somewhat challenging. But thankfully we avoided most of the heavy rain showers. I’m so excited about the show opening!

The other thing that has happened in the midst of the gazebo, filming and Tatton, is that we have been judged as part of NW in Bloom. The two judges came on Wednesday and all seemed to go really well. They were both very impressed and one said that it was definitely the nicest garden that he had judged this year! Here are a few photos from this week.

We have had a lot of evening primrose growing this year. They tend to spread rather a lot, but look great and add some height to the flower beds. Another plant that does this are the Crocosmia ‘lucifer’. They have done really well this year, but my phone’s camera seems to struggle caputuring them (red very saturated).

I’m heading off to work now. Tatton starts this Wednesday (19th July) for RHS members, and is open to the general public from Thursday to Sunday. If you are going, come and say hello to me or my team who will be stationed at the BBC’s Northern Star garden.