Author: greenbenchramblings

A retired primary school head teacher, I now spend much of my time gardening in our quarter acre plot in rural Shropshire south of Shrewsbury. I share my garden with Jude my wife a newly retired teacher , eight assorted chickens and a plethora of wildlife. Jude does all the heavy work as I have a damaged spine and right leg. We also garden on an allotment nearby. We are interested in all things related to gardens, green issues and wildlife.

The Gardens of the RHS Part 2 – Sculpture at Wisley

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 29, 2013
4 Comments on The Gardens of the RHS Part 2 – Sculpture at Wisley

We were in luck when we visited Wisley – a sculpture exhibition was taking place throughout the gardens, with sculptures of all styles positioned with great sensitivity. We didn’t like them all but that is what art is all about. If we all liked the same pieces it would be a boring art world.

Here is a selection of those we enjoyed.

First figures ……………….

Then couples ……………..

The simple and amazingly beautiful!

And last but far from least the downright cute!

Tags garden photography, garden sculpture, gardening, outdoor sculpture, RHS, RHS Wisley, sculpture, Surrey, Wisley

garden design garden photography gardening gardens open to the public hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs photography RHS

The Gardens of the RHS Part 1 – A Tour of Wisley

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 28, 2013
8 Comments on The Gardens of the RHS Part 1 – A Tour of Wisley

The Royal Horticultural Society is probably the most important, most well known and most influential gardening society in the world. We are lucky to live in the UK where we have access to their own gardens and to their recommended list of gardens open to the public.

Last Year we enjoyed visits to three of their four gardens, Rosemoor in Devon, Harlow Carr in Yorkshire and their main garden Wisley in Surrey. The one we didn’t get around to seeing was Hyde Hall in Essex – maybe later this year.

In this series of posts I shall share our visits with you. We naturally begin with their main garden, Wisley. There is so much of interest to gardeners that I shall post a blog each day this week based on different aspects of Wisley. Hopefully these will provide a little respite from the cold and wet. So please enjoy my Wisley Week.

Perhaps we had better start with one of the classic Wisley views. Then I shall share a few views to give a feeling for this special place.

These huge sloping double borders were designed by the great Piet Oudolf. We saw them first just as they were planted when it was mostly soil dotted with little young plants all raring to go. Every visit we make to Wisley we head for these borders to see how they have developed. Over time they have been altered with some plants replaced with more effective, more appropriate ones. They are now at their peak. See more of Piet Oudolf’s borders in a future post “Meadows and Prairies at Wisley”.

The recently built Centenary Glasshouse is a work of art in itself, one of the finest examples of garden architecture to be seen anywhere at anytime. Look out for the future posts, “Orchids at Wisley” and “The Centenary Glasshouse at Wisley”, to see what is going on under all that glass. What would a visit to Wisley be without a gallery of plants?

In my next Wisley blog I invite you to share a selection of sculpture which was displayed around the grounds at the time of our visit.

Tags garden photography, garden sculpture, gardening, greenhouse gardening, greenhouses, ornamental trees, outdoor sculpture, RHS, sculpture, Wisley

garden photography gardening photography roses winter gardens

Melting

Snow is a bit of a novelty when it arrives and I always enjoy watching it change the atmosphere, character and look of the garden. But after five days I have had enough of it so got excited when the sun came out for an hour or two this afternoon and the snow and ice started a steady drip, drip, drip – melting gently.

A new challenge for me and my camera! See what you think.

Poor old Matilda has melting snow running down her forehead and she does not look pleased!

As the sun gives a rare January appearance, the snow begins to melt and for a while takes on a transparent look and glows.

The greenhouse begins to lose its duvet of snow.

The tallest stems away from shadows melt first. This pair of rosebuds is clear of snow and ice but their yellow petals, exposed where the bud has tried to open, have suffered from this attack of January weather.

Tags garden photography, gardening, greenhouses, January, roses, snow, winter, winter gardens

bird watching birds garden wildlife wildlife

Garden Birds in the Snow

Today the snow came! We had hoped for a snow-free winter but the weather defied us. We woke at 7:00 expecting a covering but we were gladdened to see not an iota of white stuff. Half an hour later it started and by mid-morning we were under a 3 inch layer.

The birds arrived in force queueing up at each feeding post. A flock of Fieldfare and Redwing dropped in as did the first Siskins of the winter.

The garden was alive with Titmice, Blue, Great, Coal and Long Tailed and mixed flocks of finches, Green, Gold and Chaffinch. The Great Spotted Woodpeckers made regular forays from the old oak in the paddock onto our peanut feeders.

The picture below was the best of a bad bunch – I have decided that trying to take a photo of a Blue Tit within the fine filigree of Birch branches is not easy!

Blackbirds were far more amenable as they sat for longer and seemed to ignore this very amateur cameraman.

The only time the garden was quiet today was just after the flypast of a Sparrowhawk, but hunger soon overcame fear. Back they all came.

It is essential that we all feed the birds throughout the year but even more so in the winter and provide fresh water. The birds benefit but so do our gardens as we help maintain the balance of nature. Some of the birds who use our feeding stations are also part of our balanced organic pest control.

Tags birds, blackbirds, feeding birds, fieldfare, garden birds, garden wildlife, organic gardening, redwing, winter, winter gardens

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

A January Bouquet

Think of January in the garden. Could you put together a bouquet? This is my new monthly garden blogging challenge, and starting in January most certainly throws me in at the deep end. But here goes…………………

Here are the first couple of pages of my sketch pad for the new year.

In this cold month colourful flowers can be used to create a bouquet, but you can also experience and enjoy a bouquet of scents.

So firstly what is delighting us with colour?

The rather inappropriately named Prunus x subhirtella autumnalis, with blossom of the palest pink, stunning against a pure blue sky.

The perennial wallflower, Erysium Bowles Mauve flowers in almost every month of the year, but is very special in January.

The first flowering bulb of the year is the Winter Aconite, Hyemalis, with its buttercup flowers close to the ground. The Flowering Quince, Chaenomales greets visitors to “Avocet” with its bright sun-set red flowers giving a warm welcome alongside the gate post at the bottom of the drive. The Cornelian Cherry, properly called Cornus mas dominates the “Freda Border” at the top of the drive. It is covered from head to toe with bunches of acid yellow umbels. They are little nuggets of gold.

White is appreciated more in the dark days of winter. The pussy willow’s furry white blooms huddle along the black stems of our Violet Willow by the wildlife pond. As grasses reach their end, prior to me pruning them back to the ground, their flower heads are white and silver.

And who keeps us warm with their scent in the cold? Sarcoccoca, Witch Hazels, Viburnum and the first Daphne of the year Daphne bhuloa “Jacqueline Postil”. She glows pink, a unique pink with hints of blue and violet. Her scent is mesmerizing.

Jaqueline Postil – what a beauty and what expensive perfume she wears.

But think of January blooms and we must not forget the first Hellebores.

birds colours garden photography garden wildlife gardening natural pest control outdoor sculpture photography Winter Gardening winter gardens

The Garden’s got its hat on, hip hip hip hooray ……

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 21, 2013
18 Comments on The Garden’s got its hat on, hip hip hip hooray ……

The garden has its hat on – a hat of snow.

Plants are sporting their new white headgear.

All sculptures and ornaments are wearing their ermine hats and coats.

The insects are warm in their homes, hopefully hibernating safely, but we will not know until the spring. Each night the little Jenny Wrens queue up to roost in their wicker basket.

Tags birds, garden photography, garden sculpture, garden wildlife, gardening, insects, organic gardening, outdoor sculpture, sculpture, winter, winter gardens

Uncategorized

Do snowmen travel by bus?

Sometimes things happen in life that make you ask hugely important questions, life-changing in fact. Today as we drove to the local garden centre we saw these characters waiting at a bus stop. I had to stop and snap up a photo. And this experience brought one of these massive questions to the fore.

Do snowmen travel by bus?

Sadly, the character on the left got fed up of waiting and fell asleep.

Tags mysteries, outdoor sculpture, sculpture, snow, snowmen, winter

colours conservation garden design garden photography gardening ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs winter gardens

Colourful Stems

In the first few months of each new year the garden treats us to a colourful show of bright and varied coloured stems of shrubs. The most colourful are the dogwoods and willows of which we grow several specially chosen for their coloured stems. They glow in any bright days at this time of year.

This selection of stems cut from our garden include dogwood, Kerria, willow, bamboo and Winter Jasmine.

The first pair of photos shows Cornus, the first is “Midwinter Fire” which we grow alongside our summerhouse just where it gets backlit by the winter sun, the second is “Cardinal” of which we have several specimens around the garden as they look good in any light.

Below is neither a dogwood or willow but an extremely red stemmed Acer called “Sango Kaku”, which we have planted alongside Cornus “Midwinter Fire”. We look forward to seeing them grow together.

The Cardinals in our front garden grow in front of our White-stemmed Birch, Betula utilis “Silver Queen”.

We keep adding shrubs with coloured stems and yesterday I took these cuttings below off gardening friend Pete’s fiery willow.

Sometimes the coloured stems are made even more special with the addition of flowers. The willow below with its black stems glow with the emergence of its white flowers at this time of year.

I shall finish with the photo of a bunch of stems cut from our bamboos.

Tags coloured stems, cornus, dogwoods, garden photography, gardening, salix, shrubs, willows, winter, winter gardens

conservation fruit and veg gardening grow your own

Odd Harvests

In the last few weeks of last year we harvested two plants that we have rarely harvested before but for very different reasons.

The first crop came from the greenhouse where the plants had been growing away all summer in growing bags after being sown in the propagator early in the spring. We were given the seeds and having never tried them before we decided to give them a go. Tomatillos – the name sounding somewhat like tomatoes and the plants and fruit ending up looking somewhat like cape gooseberries.

Here is the crop, now we had to decide what to do with them. Chutney seemed to be the only answer, but I decided to turn to Google for ideas and perhaps if we were lucky, recipes.

And here they are closer up, thin pale green papery sheaths around fruit like green tomatoes. They didn’t look ready to harvest but we had heard somewhere that this is the stage to pick them and as the plants were suffering as temperatures cooled down, we went ahead and plucked them from the stems.

O.K. Back from a Googling session and I now knew that the botanic name for tomatillo is Physalis philadelphica, which makes it a relative of the Cape Gooseberry and a member of the Nightshade family. It originates from South America. In Mexico it is a staple food of the diet and is often used to make green sauces. Here they are called “Tomate Verde” and are most appreciated for their green colouring and sharp taste.

I found recipes for soups, stews, salsas and yes, chutney.

The second “odd” crop is bamboo, odd because it doesn’t often seem to be grown in the uk for anything but decorative reasons and because it is the first time we have seriously harvested our bamboo to use as garden canes. We grow three different bamboos for their different stem colours and originally planted them for their ornamental value, tall and graceful, moving gently adding sound to quiet days.

Growing your own garden canes is a good way of helping the environment. Importing them from China seems a terrible waste of resources.

It was mostly the black stemmed variety that was ready this year. Their stems are tough so I struggled with secateurs before turning to a pair of nicely sharpened loppers and getting the job done. The range of colours is very wide as the photos below shows.

Similarly we harvest our prunings, utilising the large shrubby ones for beanpoles and the scrubbier smaller ones for beansticks. We started to harvest these last week and will continue as we sort out the garden in readiness for the coming growing season.

Peas and beans seem to like to twine themselves around these rougher sticks and poles in preference to the bamboos available in garden centres. And of course we must remember they are self-sustaining, so there is no cost to the environment.

Tags bamboo, conservation, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, greenhouse gardening, grown your own, harvest, organic gardening

buildings photography Shropshire

The Architectural Heritage of Shrewsbury – Part 1 From Station to Castle.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 15, 2013
7 Comments on The Architectural Heritage of Shrewsbury – Part 1 From Station to Castle.

Back to some Shropshire architecture for this posting as promised. At the back-end of 2012 I posted a couple of articles based around the market town of Ludlow after being challenged by some followers to feature architecture photos. So here is another batch of posts on the architecture of Shropshire.

Just ten minutes up the road we find the county town of Shropshire. It is not a large town but its ambition is to become a city. Shrewsbury is famous for its historical buildings, for being the birthplace of Charles Darwin and for being the friendliest, most well-mannered town in England.

We don’t go into our shire capital often for the usual reason ie shopping. We avoid shopping whenever we can and try even harder to avoid shopping in town centres. Too much noise, too many people, too much traffic!

But we love Shrewsbury for its buildings and the entertainment it provides for us. Theatre, cinema, jazz club and coffee houses.

This series of posts feature the buildings of our town. They will not follow a chronological order but we shall explore streets, alleys and lanes in bite-sized chunks of town, chunks just the right size to explore in a half day. It would be all too easy and obvious to present the architecture in historical order but I really want to give you the atmosphere of patches of the town. Sometimes the selected areas will seem random but that is how my mind works.

The starting point for today’s random collection of buildings is the coffee shop in Marks and Spencers. After a latte (Malc) and cappuccino (Jude), we are suitably refreshed and warmed up.

First stop is the school attended by Charles Darwin, where we find a big, bronze statue of the great man himself sat outside, while inside on one of the windowsills is the scratched signature of his brother. The building now houses the town’s public library and this famous graffiti is in between the book cases. Darwin is often described as the town’s most famous son, but he is more than that. The most intelligent person ever to have lived for example?

The building displays interesting detail in its stonework and a wonderful big sundial with two faces sits astride the one corner.

The cobbled lane leading to the library is overlooked by an interesting row of town houses and a beautiful gateway.

We walked on down Castle Street towards one of Shrewsbury’s most photographed buildings. It appears in many books about railways and about the Victorian era. The railway station. How can a railway station look so good?