Naomi Slade is getting her garden party-ready!
The tidy-up is on and the lights are out for our garden party
Having been in the new house – or, more importantly, garden – for a year, it’s time to start outdoor living in a far more serious sense. So, we’re breaking out the prosecco, triumphantly marinating some olives with home-grown herbs and celebrating the anniversary with a miniature garden party.
Actually, in some ways, this doubles as a planning exercise. Having a good tidy-up, shoving all the pots to the side and filling the space with people and chairs is a great way to see how the space will be used by people who are not me (and may galumph around with their great clodhoppers breaking stuff and standing on things. But fret not, I’ve turned the new growth on the potted David Austin roses around out of harm’s way. It’s not that I don’t trust them, but… well, I just don’t, OK?). It’s also a good way of seeing, for real, how big the seating areas should be and the optimum width for paths. On which note, it’s clear that I need some of those front-of-border restraining hoop things as the cerinthe has suddenly gone bonkers and is sprawling all over the path and the more wayward Verbena bonariensis is getting bent, for its troubles. But the bit I’m looking forward to is experimenting with lighting. Shrubs and trees festooned with twinkly solarpowered lights (mine are from www. sarahraven.com) always create a sense of excitement and expectation, and I’m dotting tea-lights in little holders around the place as well. Coloured glass candle lanterns can look fab hanging from branches and although mine wandered in the house move, I’ll be acquiring some more as I miss them.
I always think that August is the perfect time for garden parties. Dusk falls sooner than it does in June and July, and the evenings are lovely and usually warmer – ideal for al fresco dining and sitting up late, sipping a chilled beverage. Tucked under the canopy of roses the garden seems less overlooked and more private, scented with the last sweet peas, and a positively sophisticated prospect. Buckingham Palace, eat your heart out!