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allotments colours community gardening garden photography gardening meadows winter gardens

Lottie Bulbs

A mid-February walk around our lottie site on a dull grey day was much improved by the colour of the earliest bulbs. Each autumn we invite donations of bulbs from members and now we are seeing and appreciating the results of our members’ efforts.

We grow lots of these early bulbs as they provide very early pollen for any bees that come out on mild days. We need to look after our bee friends as they help pollinate our fruit, peas and beans and many more crops.

The gold of crocuses (or should that be croci or perhaps simply just crocus?) brightens the orchard meadow.

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Snowdrops and Winter Aconites go together like chalk and cheese. Together they light up the Winter Garden.

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Even in the Summer Garden spring bulbs have a place. These beautiful blue iris cheer everyone up as they pass by.

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The tiniest and most delicate flowers of February are those of the cyclamen which mingle with the bark and fallen leaves in the Sensory Garden. The leaves have fallen from the nearby old Oak tree.

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Accidental juxtaposition of plants often give the best combinations. These crocus surprised us when they chose to flower above the bronze leaves of a Saxifraga.

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We now eagerly await the masses of Daffodils planted around the site and on the grass verges outside our gates. They will be closely followed by the Tulips in their myriad colours.

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Thanks

I have been nominated for three awards in the last few days so this is a thank you message to The Garden Smallholder for nominating me for the One Lovely Blog Award and the Very Inspiring Blogger Award and to Ariston Organic for nominating my “Echinacea the Coneflower” post for a Very Inspiring Blogger Award.

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As a part of accepting these awards I have to say 7 things about myself and pass on the awards to 10 other bloggers.

So here are 7 things about me –

1 My middle name is Arthur after my Grandad who called me his Little MacGregor.

2 I am building up my Flickr Photostream but it is taking me ages.

3 I am an obsessive seed sower.

4 My Daughter keeps reminding me of the time I dropped her in the snow in order to save my Nikon from falling into it.

5 I became a fisherman when I was 4  and still love fishing 57 years later.

6 I am rekindling my love of painting.

7 I enjoy the work of land artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Richard Long and sculptors who work with nature such as David Nash and Peter Randall-Page.

My 10 blogs I want to nominate for these two awards are

1 thescottishcountrygarden

2 mybeautifulthings

3 allotmental

4 grandparentsplus2

5 the pyjama gardener

6 pbmgarden

7 gettin’ fresh!

8 The Gardening Canuck

9 Penny’s Garden; a harvest beyond my front door

10 Christy’s Cottage Wildlife Garden

I appreciate that not all bloggers like the idea of awards. Please accept my nomination as an appreciation of your blog.

If you accept the awards please follow these “rules”.

1 Thank the person who nominated you.

2 Add the awards to your blog.

3 Share 7 things about yourself.

4 Pass the awards on to 10 nominees.

5 Include this set of rules.

6 Inform your nominees by posting a comment on their blogs.

 

 

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autumn autumn colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens open to the public ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs photography

Looking Back Two – Trentham

In this post in my series featuring looking back at gardens visited in 2012, I will share photographs of an autumn visit to the wonderful Trentham, one of our favourite places to visit.

We took friends Jean and Tony with their granddaughter Lucy to share our enjoyment of this latest of our regular visits to these wonderful gardens designed by favourites, Piet Oudolf and Tom Stuart-Smith.

Perhaps this sign in the first photo is inviting us to get lost in wonder.

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The garden is still full of colourful flowers in October. Each flower colour is enhanced by the gentle neutral shades of the grasses.

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Lucy needs regular re-fuelling! She also needs time to play and enjoy an occasional sit down.

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 Trentham once again provided us a real treat. We’ll be back again soon.

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colours garden design garden photography gardening grasses hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs Winter Gardening winter gardens

A February Bouquet

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Nothing seems to have changed much in the garden since my “Bouquet for January” post. The ever-changing weather, moving from cold to very cold and back again appears to have stagnated growth. The first daffies have just opened and crocus in various colours are appearing around the borders.

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There is a much wider range of Hellebores to enjoy though. I love having to bend down and lift their heads to find the secrets of their hidden beauty. Enjoy my Hellebore gallery.

The Prunus subhirtela autumnalis flowers have been browned by the weather and we have cut down many of the grasses and perennial seed heads. Now the garden is looking empty  but as a result of our tidying up we can appreciate the importance and impact that foliage plays in the February garden. Grasses and Phormium join with shrubs such as Pittosporum to give interesting colours and leaf patterns.

One of my favourite garden plants is the simple and much-maligned Bergenia. At this time of year the leaves take on deep shades of green, red and purple and the first of their flowers start showing colour before being lifted up on strong stems later on.

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Let us finish February off by wishing for signs of spring. Some sunshine perhaps? Blue sky? Just a few degrees more?

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colours garden photography indoor plants photography

Jude’s Orchids

Orchids are by far the Undergardener’s favourite indoor flowering plants. She always has several in flower in every month of the year including February when their wonderful, unusually coloured and uniquely shaped flowers are so welcome.

Photographing them was more of a challenge than I thought. I wanted to show their colours, patterns on their petals, their satin-like texture and above all that special presence they possess. So, please check out my orchid gallery and see what you think.

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garden design garden photography gardening gardens open to the public National Trust NGS photography Shropshire South Shropshire The National Gardening Scheme" The National Trust trees

Looking Back One – An Hour at Croft Castle

This is the third in the series of posts looking back at garden visits we enjoyed last summer and autumn. Here we shall remember our autumn visit to the grounds of Croft Castle in South Shropshire.

Croft Castle is a favourite National Trust property. We often visit to enjoy a walk around the gardens and take tea in the teashop. On this autumn day we only had a short time but still managed to do both!

Croft is famous for its ancient avenue of Sweet Chestnut trees which are now sadly coming to the end of their lives. Their gnarled, pitted bark shows their great age and makes you imagine just what they would have seen going on under their boughs and all around them over the centuries. If only they could tell.

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arboreta birds fruit and veg garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening grow your own hardy perennials Hardy Plant Society HPS meadows ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire South Shropshire village gardens

Holly Cottage – another garden visit with the HPS

June 16th and we are visiting two gardens with fellow members of the Shropshire Hardy Plant Society. In my previous post I shared our morning visit to “Fairview” and now we move on to Holly Cottage just a few miles away for the afternoon. To get to the cottage we had to drive over a few fields dodging sheep and when we parked up the heavens opened and the temperature plummeted. Bravely we donned waterproofs – it was well worth it. The garden at Holly Cottage ran downhill from the cottage and within its two and a half acres formal and informal plantings of herbaceous plants mingled with mature trees, meadows, a pond and even a small stream.

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Just as we were impressed by the veggie patch at Fairview in the morning, the fruit and veg garden at Holly Cottage impressed too. This veggie patch practised organic principles to produce quality harvests.

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Part of following organic principles is to encourage wildlife to garden with you and here there were nest boxes and bird feeders in evidence as well as a meadow, a small arboretum featuring mostly native and wildlife attracting trees and shrubs. A comfy rustic bench was also positioned where we could appreciate it all.

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We like to find original new ideas or twists on old favourites during our garden visits. At Holly Cottage we came across this wonderful example of high-rise living for plants.

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As with any garden the plants are the stars and on a dull, wet cold day such as this these stars are needed even more. Holly Cottage’s plants did not let us down. They lifted our spirits out of the gloom.

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mybeautfulthings's avatarmybeautfulthings

Once upon a time there was a beautiful island inhabited only by birds……

video

This is not a beautiful video but one that should be seen by everyone in the world and so I have it here to share a bit further.  Please click on the red link and share/ re-blog it as much as possible.

Library of Most Controversial Filess video: This film should be seen by the entire world!

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fruit and veg garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials HPS ornamental trees and shrubs roses Shropshire South Shropshire village gardens

“Sheila’s Cafe” – The Garden of Two Hardy Planters’

We spend many days visiting gardens all over the country, several of them large gardens run by the RHS or the NT, which we enjoy greatly. But we enjoy even more small gardens in our own county of Shropshire or in the neighbouring counties of ~Hereford, Staffordshire and Cheshire, many of them opening under the auspices of the National Garden Scheme. But most of all we enjoy our visits with the Shropshire Branch of the Hardy Plant Society, and in particular gardens tended by fellow members.

On a wet, dull, chilly mid-June day we visited just such a garden a few miles from our home in the Shropshire Hills.

Fairview is the garden of Geoff and Sheila Aston and although not a large garden it has a large heart. It welcomed us with such warmth.

It invited us to follow its paths and discover its secrets hidden behind hedges and around corners.

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When we think back to this garden we think of Sheila’s Café and the tidiest garden shed in the world. I will admit to experiencing a bout of “shed envy” – just how does Geoff keep his work spaces so tidy and well organised? This shed envy was closely followed by “compost heap envy”!

Sheila had turned the garage into a café where we met for a coffee and cakes and a chat about the garden before we had a slow wander. Now that is what I call a welcome!

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DSC_0159 Time for a wander ………………..

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Before finishing our tour we were to be impressed by the veggie patch.

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Off to Holly Cottage now – just a short journey down a maze of Shropshire lanes. (see next post)

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architecture buildings colours landscapes photography the sea the seaside

Pier and Promenade – a day at the seaside.

We both love the sea and we both love wandering along the promenade and walking out to sea along a pier. So what could be a better place to visit on Valentines Day than Llandudno with its promenade and its pier?

14th February – sunshine and blue skies – well, that makes a change! Share our day at the sea in North Wales with words by Jude and photos by me.

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Except in the fairground rides which glow with colour even though they are hibernating for the winter.

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The outdoor cafe seating area hibernates too, but the indoor version provides a welcome respite from the chilly far point of the pier. The effects of the biting wind are done away with. Noses are blown, tears are wiped away as coffees and doughnuts are relished. A few of the cute little stalls remain open whatever the weather, selling typical seaside wares.

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Freedom and wide open spaces

Big skies

Freedom from the rain

Sheer pleasure at feeling the power of the sun return

Children laughing, enjoying being outside

Their parents smile at the joy of simple pleasures

Sitting by the sea, listening to waves lapping the shore

Watching patterns of sunlight playing on distant headlands.

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The wide promenade gives space for aimless wanderings, for children to ride scooters and bikes, and for us all to admire the architecture of the seafront of hotels. We enjoyed our day at the seaside and are hoping the sea air will do us good!

Enjoy my gallery of some of my other photographs of our day in Llandudno.

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