The winter garden often looks drab, unloved and uncared for – the blaze of summer and autumn plants has dried and withered leaving a sorry tale of what came before. Most of us abandon the garden in the winter months in favour of the warmth of the fire inside reading books and endless reality TV programmes! Take a look around you – I think you will find that there is plenty going on in the garden, so don’t just sit and wait for the daffodils to appear take a look at what is already brightening up your garden this winter.
Entries Tagged as 'Plant'
Garden Design | Nothing happening in the winter garden?
January 21st, 2012 No Comments
Tags: Bath · Chippenham · enjoy · garden design · gardening · Plant · snow · striking display · weather · Wiltshire
Garden Design | The winter months
November 14th, 2011 No Comments
Making the most of your garden in winter calls for the expertise of a garden designer. Many gardens seem to lose their appeal as the leaves drop and the perennials fade from their autumnal glory. What can be done to enliven and enrich your outdoor space as the evenings draw in?
Tags: Bath · Chippenham · enjoy · garden design · gardening · lifestyle · low maintenance · Plant · Wiltshire
Gardening | Garden Design | Plants looking good – Verbena bonariensis
August 2nd, 2011 1 Comment
Verbena bonariensis is a design favourite. It fits well in to many types of planting scheme and isn’t too fussy about its position. It prefers a light bright sunny aspect as befits a plant that originates from Buenos Aires (bonariensis – and you thought that plant names were confusing!)
Tags: Bath · Chippenham · garden design · gardening · Inspiration · low maintenance · Plant · striking display · sunshine · Wiltshire
Garden Design | Making more of your borders
July 28th, 2011 No Comments
Do you sometimes look out at the garden and wish for something a bit different but aren’t quite sure what? You are not alone. The garden can become a bit like wallpaper that’s been around for a few years and it is suitably inoffensive and ‘does the job’.
Take a look at your garden – would it cheer you up to see some changes for the better? Feedback from my customers strongly suggests that you would – so don’t leave it any longer – we can start straight away!
Tags: Bath · Chippenham · enjoy · garden design · gardening · imagination · Inspiration · lifestyle · Plant · striking display · Wiltshire
Gardening | Corsham Gardeners’ Question Time
July 6th, 2011 No Comments
t is fair to say we had no real idea what to expect or how to go about our first attempt – what sort of questions were we going to be asked? How could we prepare for every eventuality? How many books would we need to help us? How dry could we stay? Would anyone have any questions for us?
Our fears were soon banished as people braved the weather and came forward with their questions. There were plenty for Michelle on growing vegetables and fruit which is really encouraging – particularly as this was a food festival! Although some were rather unexpected – Can you grow Apples & Pears in Bangladesh? I bet the real Gardeners’ Question Time never had a question like that! We reasoned that it was probably too hot and that they should stick to citrus!
Tags: Bath · Chippenham · Corsham · gardening · Plant · weather · Wiltshire
Gardening | Garden visits | The Laskett Gardens by Sir Roy Strong
July 3rd, 2011 5 Comments
A group of around twenty people brought together by a love of gardens and the phenomenon known as Twitter were welcomed to The Laskett by the head gardener. The introduction was, in some respects, an apology. an apology for all the shortcomings of the gardens we were about to see: That it had been designed and built in stages on a tight budget: That there were only two gardeners working four days a week; That it was changing – implying that the owners weren’t necessarily happy with it; It was almost as if he was saying don’t expect too much of this garden – this of course after we had all paid our £10 entrance fee!
Tags: development · garden design · gardening · imagination · Inspiration · lifestyle · Plant
Gardening | Garden Design | great plants – Campanula sarastro
June 8th, 2011 No Comments
Campanula ‘Sarastro’ – one of many wonderful Campanulas but somehow this is the daddy of all the bells! Large dark purple-blue flowers with a slightly unreal waxy appearance that start to appear from May onwards.
Tags: enjoy · garden design · gardening · Inspiration · low maintenance · Plant · Soil pH · striking display
Gardening | Garden Design | Inspirational Gardens | North Court
April 29th, 2011 No Comments
My family are all keen gardeners which made the decision to earn a living from my gardening knowledge fairly straightforward. Setting up as a Garden Designer on the outskirts of Bath brings back memories of past generations who shared my love of the garden. Last weekend I was lucky enough to return to a garden that probably is the greatest influence on that passion.
The gardens are at North Court in Shorwell on the Isle of Wight.
I hope that I have captured some of the spirit of these wonderful gardens and that it helps explain my passion for gardens and gardening – I feel very lucky and am delighted that they are in such safe hands now. I am already planning a return in the Autumn!
Tags: enjoy · garden design · gardening · Inspiration · Paeonia mlokosewitschii · Plant · Sissinghurst · Soil pH · striking display · Vita Sackville-West
Garden Design | An evening with Dan Hinkley – rocking with laughter!
March 17th, 2011 No Comments
It is perhaps appropriate that tomorrow is Red Nose Day 2011. What better way to get you in the mood than to listen to an American, with a passion for gardening and an almost British sense of humour – his dry wit had clearly missed most of his American audiences but was most definitely not lost on his very english audience tonight.
Though organised by Derry Watkins of Special Plants fame (who was keen to point out that her gardens were now open on Tuesdays) – who is of course american herself, Dan Hinkley drew a large audience to the Bath University Gardening Club to illustrate a talk on two Pacific North West gardens. The climate there seemed pretty similar to Britain with some oddities bought about by its coastal location.
Tags: development · enjoy · garden design · gardening · Inspiration · Plant · weather
Two cakes, a biscuit and a royal garden.
September 2nd, 2010 No Comments
Twitter has a lot to answer for. How else would you get 25 people from around the country to visit a garden on a glorious sunny , early September afternoon.
Meeting before going to the garden it was clear that all was not quite as it might have been! In order that the 25 recognise each other we were invited to wear a button hole in the true spirit of a blind date. All was going swimmingly with assorted flora being sported until one of our number arrived wearing a half eaten digestive biscuit secured with a badly mis-shapen paperclip!
Perhaps I should explain that this gathering was no ordinary outing but a meeting of gardening enthusiasts of various persuasions found loitering with intent on Twitter and the garden we were to visit was Highgrove, the garden of HRH Prince Charles. The biscuit arrived courtesy of James Alexander-Sinclair which somehow saw the topic of conversation move on to cakes.
Tags: blog · garden design · Garden Network · Garden Organic · gardening · networking · Plant · sunshine · sustainable · Twitter