I have a bit of a collecting habit, for plants that is. I love plants almost to the exclusion of all else and consequently find myself seeking out those rarities and commoners that I want to grow, and then adding their friends and other finds along the way. Why grow one colour when you can…
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Plant of the Month – April – Dahlia
Dahlia has become something of a byword for cool of late, bolstered in some measure by flower power gurus, Sarah Raven, Blue Carrot, the fabulous Erin at Floret and a whole slew of other luscious flower champions and I like many have become enamored, nay completely overtaken by an unexpected greed for them in almost…
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Roses
I’m not a Rose aficionado in the same way I am an Iris aficionado despite my name(s) and my Mother’s passion for roses that saw the full length of one garden boundary fence smothered in them, I have avoided them for much of my life due to the often intense fragrance which would set me…
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Iris
It’s usually May that’s my busy month with Iris but this year it’s all been a bit delayed with a sudden cold snap and then the winds and then the next cold snap and, well you get the picture. Happily my lovely collection of Iris have managed to flower really well this year, taking advantage…
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Growing a Cutting Garden – WK4 Arranging
On paper, having grown enough flowers to fill several small shops we now need to know what to do with them. This for me has always been one of the hardest jobs, I love flowers and the house is full of bunches through spring and summer but artfully arranging them?, well that’s quite another thing….
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Growing a Cutting Garden – WK3 Maintenance
The most challenging week of the course so far. Maintenance and planning are crucial to this type of gardening. Miss a sowing period and in some cases you’ve had it for that year. Interesting to find out that most of us start too early, I am guilty of this in my enthusiasm to get going…
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Growing a Cutting Garden – WK2 Plant Palettes
I had forgotten how much time these information packed courses demand if one is to make the absolute most of the teacher and their time. Unplanned interruptions for me in week 2 made it a rush to complete in the given timescale, although Charlie is so charming going over a few days wouldn’t be a…
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Growing a Cutting Garden – WK1 Planning
Week one of the The Cutting Garden course from My-Garden-School went well. I find I am working for myself, out on a freezing morning surveying my current plots. Being a designer is a bit like being the cobblers children (no shoes!). You almost never have time to plan, in entirety, your own plot. Sections yes…
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Keeping to the ‘Slight Edge‘ approach, continual study, expansion of personal experience and knowledge is vital as a designer. This January I’ve been asked to follow, and blog about, another great course from the My Garden School Team Growing a Cutting Garden. I experimented a good deal last year with a dedicated patch for growing…
Continue ReadingInspirations from a Walled Garden – Wimpole Hall
I know I have banged on about Wimpole Hall on several occasions, it is my ‘local’ NT garden after all but it remains an inspiring place to go and is full of ideas to take home and try out, on a somewhat smaller scale of course!. When I say it is inspiring I am not…
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