Basil and borage

This is a photo of some basil ice cream I made last week and borage iced-water. Yes, really - ice cream made with basil. I saw that Sarah Raven had posted a recipe for it, and I thought I would make it, since I've been growing basil but don't enjoy cooking. Basil ice cream does sound odd, but then mint chocolate ice cream is well established (I once saw a little boy cry, "But I wanted mint chocolate!" when he was mistakenly given chocolate ice cream at Marrocco's in Hove). Basil isn't so very different from mint, is it? Although in flower language, mint means "warmth" and basil means "hate" - which is why I never use basil in arrangements.

I've never made ice cream before and I don't have a churner, or common sense. I used a liquidiser to blend the ingredients, and probably should have used an electric mixer instead. But I took it out and mixed it after an hour in the freezer, and after another couple of hours it was ice cream. And it was delicious - honestly! I used a quarter of the recipe; I don't entertain much and ice cream isn't exactly the sort of thing I can take to a friend's on overheated London trains.

I've also been making borage ice cubes, which gives water a lovely cucumber taste. I think borage is the most versatile flower I've grown - it looks great in arrangements, the bees love it, it's edible, and it looks pretty decorating food. If you've never used it, consider growing it next year. I got my seeds from Higgledy Garden. I have so many borage plants, I gave some to a friend who needs to attract bees to her garden for some of her vegetables to fruit.

And those of you who are still unsure about using basil in ice cream may be relieved to know that I used homegrown basil, tomatoes and a red pepper to make soup. Does that sound a bit better?

Firework flowers

Lots of things are flowering or about to flower now - Nicotiana 'Lime Green' and borage (from Higgledy), Panicum 'Frosted Explosion' and spring-sown cornflowers (from Sarah Raven's), zinnias, jasmine, sweet peas, roses and phlox. The panicum above and below looks like fireworks or fairies, depending on whether you prefer fairytales or Guy Fawkes' Night.

Sweet peas and roses fill rooms and gardens with scent in the day, but nicotiana and jasmine release their scent at night. Early in the morning, you can smell all of them.

I caved in and cut some panicum and nicotiana, but I'm holding out a bit longer for the beautiful blue borage, phlox and Jude the Obscure roses (which I thought would never flower this year!). 

I love the lime green of the nicotiana - it's the perfect partner for bright zinnias and sweet peas.

Parent plants

The last few years, whenever I've been to gardens with my dad and we've seen lupins, he's always asked me, "Aren't you going to grow lupins?" I wasn't keen on them at first, but eventually I was won over by them and tried to grow them. Sadly, my 'Sunrise' lupins didn't want to grow, so in the end I bought some seedlings from Shannon's Garden Centre (which is celebrating its silver anniversary this month). They have grown up a treat, but I am not cutting them - they seem so big and beautiful, it wouldn't feel right. Maybe I'll buy more next year and then I can happily cut away.

Last year, I tried to grow zinnias from seed, but outdoor sowing doesn't have a high success rate here. None of them germinated. But this year I started them off in the greenhouse, and now they are flourishing! They were another 'parent plant' - I grew them because I liked the look of them but also because my mum used to have them in her family's garden in Sri Lanka. I thought I could give her a posy or two to remind her of her childhood home.

So here are a few zinnia posies. I love the boldness and bright colours of the flowers. The second one is mixed with a 'Genova' dahlia from Shannon's Garden Centre and Nicotiana 'Lime Green' from Higgledy, and the last posy is mixed with sweet peas, lemon balm (melissa) and flowering thyme.

Here Comes the Sun

The mildest winter I can remember seems to be coming to an end...although, this being Britain, there could be a late freeze on the way! In my optimism, I have begun to sow some zinnias, fountain grass, and cleome in the greenhouse.

In the first half of February, there were still roses and juicy-red rosehips, sage and viburnum.

The crocuses almost drowned in the swamp of a winter garden, but there were enough to add some colour to the grey and brown, and to cut for a tiny vase.

Now they've gone, and the narcissi and hyacinths are about to take their place. The hyacinths have lasted three years and several moves.

My muscari looked like they were going to flower months ago, but there has just been a lot of leaves. Now the narcissi and tulips have caught up, and many of them look on the cusp of flowering. I'm hoping the Bridal Crown narcissi (front row, middle) flower - I saw them at Chelsea in 2012 and they looked beautiful, but mine didn't flower last year...probably because I tried to force them indoors in a freezing cold flat!

The Honeymoon tulips didn't flower last year, so I'm ever so excited to see this now. And the beautiful, variegated foliage of the Chinatown tulips offered so much promise last year, so I am hoping they deliver flowers this year! Most of the bulbs were bought at the RHS Wisley show in 2012, from Bridgend-based Pheasant Acre Plants.

In other news, the Moody Blues nigella (from Sarah Raven) are still looking good, and in the last week, the Higgledy Garden Nora Barlow aquilegia have grown a little more. The cornflowers are looking decidedly ill though. so I don't think I'll get any flowers from my autumn-sown seedlings. I'll have to try my luck with spring sowings instead.

The autumn-sown sweet peas are looking ok, and hopefully they will fare better than the spring sowings I attempted with no joy last year. I know it's too early to move them outside, but I got impatient looking at my sweet pea pots, which are all ready for new plants, so I planted a couple. I'm just curious to see what will happen!

There are two hanging baskets filled with forget-me-nots - blue in one and pink in the other. They are from the wonderful Shannon's Garden Centre in Forest Hill, and the idea of forget-me-not hanging baskets came from Seedball.

I bought a few pots of bluebells to see how they grow - one pot of English bluebells and one pot of pink Spanish bluebells. The Penny's Pink hellebores are still doing well. And finally, I spotted lots of new growth in the garden, including these sedums. Come on, springtime!