Garden
NGS Open Garden
Looking out at the garden I see a bit of a wilderness – it is neglect – untouched by my gardening hands for a while, yet it is busy doing its thing very happily without me. A wild rose has self-seeded and is robustly scampering over everything so beautifully with pink delicate flowers that I’m […]
The Voice of Water
Where the silver wave with sweetness fed the tiny lives of grass I was bent above, my image mirrored in the fleeting glass, And a voice from out the water through my being seemed to pass. These are a few lines from George William Russell’s peom The Voice of the Waters. He’s talking […]
A Meadow of Red Campion
There is a walk I like doing, down the lane and back along a narrow footpath edging the fields surrounding the village. As I join the footpath I’m met with a glorious swathe of pink – a meadow planted with Red Campion – looking so utterly beautiful that I had to go and sit by it. Occasionally there […]
Spring Plant Fair – Scampston
On Sunday I’m at the Spring Plant Fair at Scampston – with these stone pots and a little collection of pieces made in stone for the garden. Spring Plant Fair Sunday 31st May (10am – 4pm) Scampston Hall Malton North Yorkshire YO17 8NG
I didn’t know spiders ate snails
Whilst taking refuge in the greenhouse during this morning’s hail-storm, I noticed this spider. It had snails caught in its web – I’ve never seen this before – do spiders eat snails? I can’t think why the snail would wander into a web – or perhaps it was ambushed and then secured by silk. I wonder […]
Planting in swirls
Stone bowls waiting – at rest in the sunshine after being hollowed and fettled. Waiting for gardening hands to fill them with plants. Planting in swirls.
Swirling
Hollowing out in swirls. Hollowing out by hand. Making swirls in bowl-shaped stone pots.
Cornerstone and Conservation
Not surprisingly, I very much like the Cornerstone garden at RHS Malvern Spring Festival – the delicate alpine planting in the stone troughs, and the clever stone walled seating area with a stone table. The balance, planting and sculpted panel in Constraining Nature designed by Kate Durr Garden Design is both exuberant and elegant. […]
The Rievaulx Terrace
The Rievaulx Terrace was created about 1749-57 by Thomas Duncombe II, to provide a long view of the medieval abbey ruins in the valley below. Duncombe would bring his guests over from nearby Duncombe Park to enjoy the landscape. As they walked along the curving Terrace, a carefully contrived series of thirteen different views of […]
In the Spring sunshine
The warm spring sunshine inspires gardening doesn’t it? I’ve been out with fork and trowel, proddling the soil and planting up little stone pots (partly in readiness for Scampston Spring Plant Fair) to give fresh, pretty colours to celebrate the change of seasons. I like the textures the optimistic new growth bring to the senses. This […]