Having glimpsed the garden once a while ago, it was impressive to hear of her upcoming National Garden Scheme (NGS) opening in late June, as the garden I had seen was in reviving-after-building-works rather than showing mode.
But then Michelle gets things done, so it seemed likely there had been a transformation. Indeed there has, including an unusual addition, the Growing Garden.
Stephen Harvey and son Stephen work on The Growing Garden where home schooled children with special needs have a plot and an indoor space to learn about gardening. (Image: Ruth Pavey) The Growing Garden is set up for children with special needs. Paula Harvey is a teacher who runs a group for home-educated children to benefit from fresh air, forest-learning and now, thanks to Michelle’s offer of a plot, gardening.
The former garage has turned into an indoor space for them. When I visited, Paula’s husband and teenage son, both called Stephen, were at work finishing the raised freestanding beds and laying access paths.
In their school or community gardens, most children wait for seeds to come up, and learn that some will fail. But this one will be more encouraging, with radishes, lettuces, strawberries already there, because Michelle has been busy sowing, pricking out, transplanting. And, it seemed, much enjoying it.
There will also be cake, because although this is her first opening for the NGS, she is aware of the centrality of the teas.
Visitors will come in via the entrance to the children’s garden, then turn left into the main one. With a borrowed landscape of mature trees, this area behind the house is now full of colour and interest, with roses, shrubs, herbaceous plants all looking pleased to be there.
Red geums, blue geraniums, yellow roses, silvery cardoons and a pretty pond were particularly noticeable in late May. Things will doubtless have changed by June 22, but weather permitting, there is sure to be a welcoming atmosphere, a jazz trio, some of the children and parents in their garden, teas, and plants for sale.
The concerts in the house and this new garden opening all seem of a piece, the work of an active, generous spirit.
Michele’s garden at 33 Hampstead Lane, Highgate N6 is open on Sunday, June 22 from 12pm to 6pm. For details of concerts, visit michelle@salonmusic.co.uk
Unearthed: The Power of Gardening at The British Library
“Unearthed” as in brought to light, pointing out the previously disregarded.
This is an eclectic show of books, manuscripts, photographs and artworks about gardening, mainly from the British Library. It picks up on current questions about social exclusion and inclusion, who suffered and who benefitted from colonialism, how the continuing consequences need attention.
The show has other stray themes and points of interest, from garden cities, to pollinators, and a yak saddle made from rhododendron wood.
There is a painting of Hampstead Garden Suburb, looking towards St Jude’s from Willifield Way in 1914, by William Ratcliffe, that is remarkable for the smallness of the young hedges. Also a covetable bulb “hedgehog” made by Wedgwood in the late 1700s.
Unearthed: The Power of Gardening runs at the British Library, until August 10.
