Debbie and The Furtive Man....

This must be the latest I have written the monthly diary for quite a while. I went to Devon to attend a baptism for the Bank Holiday and have yet to catch up with all the work.

We had an incident in the middle of last week: I had just finished lunch and was about to return to the yard when I received a strange phonecall from Debbie. She sounded very quiet, but was furious and indignant, whispering that she had just spotted someone stealing plants from ‘her’ Fountain Beds. I couldn’t believe her; I didn’t think people really did that sort of thing. Debbie was insistent and said she’d seen a man with a satchel, looking suspicious. Then she said she’d seen him walking back to his car with paeony leaves sticking out of the satchel. Then she rang to tell me to go and look in the footwell of his car, which I promptly did. Sure enough there were a couple of bare rooted plants in plastic bags. I was still not sure, they could have been there before he arrived at Spetchley.

Debbie continued to ring me with updates, the man repeatedly returned to particular places in the garden, and was constantly watching the other visitors around him. Finally he realised that we were watching him and started to make his way back to his car.

I phoned the gamekeeper for moral support, and when he arrived Debbie confronted the man. After a little waffling he was very embarrassed and admitted everything. His satchel contained a digging tool and plastic bags; he had come equipped! We recovered the plants and cuttings and felt very pleased with ourselves.

Taking plants, cuttings or seeds is theft.

A few days later I received a hand written apology,a promise never to return and an amount of money for buying more plants.

On a more upbeat note, the paeonies are showing their buds, the daffs are almost over but the rhododendrons are just beginning. There is always something new to see at Spetchley.

We have just planted up a new bed in Smokey Hollow called imaginatively ‘Bed 9 copse’, under the wispering pines. It is now full of rhododendrons, lilies and hydrangeas. Rhododendrons particularly like it as they like the needle fall from the pines which turns the soil acidic. The picture is Rhododendron Percy Wiseman.

Best wishes

Kate