Postcard from Hampton Court: Saturday

The small garden I'd most like to take home with me: Urban Serenity, by David Neale (Gold).

I surprised myself with how much I liked this one, actually: it was a bit 'boy' for my usual taste what with all those crisp lines and bachelor decking, but it was the planting that won me over. I particularly liked these 'floating' planters in the middle of the water feature, filled with nothing but foliage: but what foliage. Podophyllums, an epimedium and an iris or two: not much colour but some truly subtle contrasts of foliage and texture. Serene, soothing, tranquil. And a lesson in why too much colour (other than green) is bad for the nerves.

Perfect partners #6

Trollius 'Alabaster', Iris sibirica 'Dreaming Yellow', and Rodgersia aesculifolia

as seen in 'Music On The Moors', winner of Best Courtyard Garden Chelsea 2010

Plant of the month - May

Iris "Lothario"

It took a long time to get there, but boy was it worth the wait. I planted this lovely bearded Iris way back in autumn 2004, having bought it from the wonderful iris specialists, Claire Austin Hardy Plants. It had a bad couple of years - too overshadowed by nearby plants in 2005, then took last year to recover - but this year it's come into its own and is producing bloom after fabulous bloom. Palest mauve petals shade down to a lovely dusky purple fall, with that palest yellow beard setting the whole thing off. It's like having a wildly rococo can-can dancer in the garden - and she's stealing the show.

Main border: May 07

Here's my main herbaceous border (the Christopher Lloyd Tribute Border as I now call it - though it's a long way from finished, and as you can see doesn't bear a lot of resemblance to Great Dixter just yet!). It's Californian poppy season, so I've got them in rivers through the other plants - lovely. You can just make out the last of the forget-me-nots (which have slightly taken over this spring) and in the foreground the Phacelia tanacetifolia is making a lovely pale mauve contrast. The cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) is revving up nicely and should be spectacular soon - already the foliage is looking great. The purple dots are alliums, which are dotting the border nicely - I've got Purple Sensation and A. christophii already out, and A. giganteum about to burst into fireworks at the back. You can just about make out the irises, too, at the top left-hand corner: I've got some fairly plain but nice irises, probably sibirica, but the star of the show has been I. Lothario, which you can just about make out in the picture. It's been spectacular this year, and is the first year it's really flowered, though I've had it about three years now - I think I've finally managed to keep it clear of competition from other plants. It's all looking lovely - slightly blowsy but full of interesting things to look at.