Sweet Rocket is beautifully perfumed, has edible young flowers and leaves, is loved by butterflies and is a perfect Cottage Garden plant.
It’s May; the month of reckless, exuberant blooming and the time when the air is full of the scent of Sweet Rocket blossom and of so many green things growing. My wildlife friendly Cottage Garden with its meandering paths, relaxed planting and imperfect lawns where chemicals can not be used, suddenly bursts into a carpet of wild flowers and I want to dance at the sight of it. I know that I must soon tidy and clip and mow, but, for today, I just want to stay amongst the Daisies and savour the natural beauty of the garden; made all the more blissfully paradisiacal by its imperfections.
Sweet Cicely in full bloom
A little place to sit, protected from the wind by the granite wall on one side and by Butchers Broom and Lovage on the other.
A nice place to sit.
There is a mirror hanging on the back wall of my summerhouse and it reflects back the changing aspects of the garden.
Daisies and strawberry cup Geums
Daisies and wild flowers in the grass
Strawberry cup Geums
Gillyflowers and Forget-me-nots and Cloud pruning tree in the background
Wild yello Welsh Poppies and Sweet Cicely
Dartmoor Flower Shed 
Karen your garden is a sight to behold.. just beautiful. P x
Thank you so much Pauline x
Karen, this sounds lovely. Thanks for sharing these photos and words with us. Yes, May is exuberant!
Thank you so much Cynthia. It is a fabulous time and then of course there is the Chelsea flower Show over here as well. I have never been but the highlights are televised every evening. Last night the Auricula stands were featured and it was FABULOUS!
Wonderland of beauty x
Thank you Sarah. I hope you watched Chelsea last night? The Auriculas were AMAZING! And the Sweet Rocket was featured too!
A lovely series of photographs.. I’ve been busy in my garden getting ready for summer and this weekend I have two of my most competitive grandchildren to plant out the sweetcorn they sowed couple of weeks back.
Thank you so much. I love to hear that your Grandchildren have already become interested in gardening. I know I do what I do because I saw my parents and Grandparent working the soil.
This is so terribly delicious, Karen. Please tell me that you sit in this garden at least once a day.
There is an old saying which goes something like “Lose control of your garden in May and you have lost control for the whole season”. And it really is true. I try so hard each year to get on top of it all, but I never do. I think a lot of gardeners feel the same way, that they can only sit when everything is done, but of course it is NEVER all done!
Thank you so much for your comment Gretchen. You may not realise it, but you radiate some very powerful energy for me. I really pick up on it and you make me look at what I am doing. My survival strategy has a rather manic defence in place which has working in a very central position.
Replacing this with sitting, just now and then, would open a window allowing a different energy to come in.
Just see what your few words have provoked.
I have noticed that I experience a very strong connection with you also. It is pretty exciting. I really enjoy our communication and love your posts. I developed some chronic illnesses and grew old before I changed my attitude about getting things done. That’s why I wondered whether or not you spent time meditating on the beauty of your garden. I too work hard and at this point in my life I can also give up, relax and breathe in beauty like never before. That for me is the reward. As you say……it will all be there later. And the new energy will make your work much easier. You create so much beauty. Hugs.
I am surprised by the intensity of the connection. I had wondered what it was about. It is as if your responses are so clear, pure? I am struggling to explain this properly, but I think it may well be connected to the fact that you have learned through experience and, sadly, illness what to let go of and what to value. I find it very distressing to have to face that it is often only illness which helps to bring us to this point. Our poor bodies get pushed and abused by us in our drive for perfection and distraction. I think you are a little ahead of me Gretchen in that you can be busy and stop. I think all of this filters through to me in your comments. It is not just your journey that I can sense, but the the joy and the letting go you have done and the difficulties of that experience which I can ‘hear’. All of these things spill through your paintbrush, all of them. It is a very special and powerful thing that you do. And for some reason, thankfully, I can receive it.
It is wonderful! I just wish that you had not had to get sick for this to happen and I do hope that you will be totally well soon. A hug to you too Gretchen! We travellers on life’s path.
We are all teachers for each other. We all give and receive. Struggling is optional. We can’t possibly understand the why of anything. Illness is not sad unless you think that it shouldn’t be. Then you suffer. Life happens while trying to make it better.
AH, your carpet of wild, wild flowers! The perfect place to dance, rain or shine. Karen, what a special place. Daisies have always been my favorite flowers, hands-down. Petal pushers, you can’t beat their bright colors and shape. Gorgeous post! ~Theadora (My grandmother was fond of miniature roses. Sweet memory.)
I am just going to jump into my Time Machine so that I can visit your future garden! Full of Daisies, Miniature Roses and maybe some French Lavender and Vervain to remind you of those wild Parisian days!
I can just imagine it!
Karen
You’re so very right – a wonderfully exuberant time of the year – and your garden reflects that – absolutely lovely, wildflowers, lots of interest and places to sit.
Thank you so much; that is such a compliment coming from someone who creates gardens professionally.
Beautiful, beautiful garden, and overlooking the moors too, if I remember right.
Thank you for your kind words. Yes, the moors are a few fields away. It is a beautiful spot but very wet and windy. But on a beautiful morning, all that is forgotten.
Karen, may i live with you?I will sleep on the floor, tucked into a corner. I want to live among those gardens. They are the gardens of my dreams. How lucky you are to live among all that beauty knowing you created it. A very talented & beautiful person could only create something as magical as what i’ve just seen. Your biggest fan, amy
Oh Amy. I will make a deal with you, I promise to feel special when you do! It is hard, because I think you and I just do what we must do. It comes so naturally to be creative. Perhaps that is the problem, because then we do not value it enough. It’s funny, but I am proud of some of my photography. I never seemed to feel like that about painting and drawing,because I could always do those things.Thank you so much for your lovely words, I am learning to take compliments like that and not just change the subject.
Karen