Thursday, December 24, 2009

Leather floral designs






plates_fruit.jpgEntering the RHS summer fruit and vegetable competition marquee is like walking into a village show. It's modest in size and the exhibits are displayed on white plates arranged on wooden tables. As in most village shows, the same names dominate the winners cards. I was surprised to see that a lot of them were from as far away as Plymouth and Essex, but this is a national competition and rather early in the season for northern growers.

Alongside the plates of beetroots and carrots are handy tips for the aspiring exhibitor. Advice like '..to get good colour in your beetroots, water the row with a solution of 10ml of salt in a gallon of water 2 weeks before harvest' or 'after washing your carrots, wrap them in damp kitchen paper and keep them cool - good colour is worth 3 or 4 points', could make all the difference.

flat_peaches.jpgThe fruit exhibits impressed me most - it was painful looking at huge, luscious black cherries 'Summer Sun' and not being able to taste them. I've never tried the strange looking 'doughnut' peaches, but was assured they are very sweet, have white flesh and a very small stone, 'Saturn' was the variety on show. One allotment society from Yealmhampton near Plymouth had a fantastic display that included a pineapple!

Very helpful fruit enthusiasts from the Northern Fruit Group (www.northernfruitgroup.com ) are on hand to give advice and answer questions. I found out how to prune a reluctant gooseberry and Clifford from Fruitscape told me there was no excuse for not growing lots of fruit in my small London garden.


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Garden espresso






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Flower Flower - 211.jpg


poet_in_hermitage.jpgOn second thoughts - almost forgot we had the rest of the week to go! (by the way I am writing this from the Tatton tent which is at present being deluged by the tail end of a passing storm - however, we are close to a flower bed containing Noah's Ark so there is an escape route!).

The garden has been a great success with the public. It's also been enhanced this week by the presence of the Cheshire Poet Laureate, W. Terry Fox, reading landscape inspired poetry: his own, some from local school Manor Park Primary in Knutsford and even poems from would-be bards among Tatton staff!

toby_and_team.jpgMingling in and out of the crowds all week have been many gardening celebrities, including two 'bits of lads' I knew when they were students: namely Joe Swift and Toby Buckland. It was good to catch up on old times - though they reckon they are not so old.

Finally we met up with Gilly, chief blogger for this event!

So all it remains is to dismantle everything early next week, put everything in store and continue to plan for next year. See you then!


Asim Shah posted a photo:

bee


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Honey Bee - IMG_1124.jpg

Honey Bee on Flower



atheana

atheana's photo


Exotic flower

Exotic flower



atheana
DCF 1.0

DCF 1.0


Purple.jpg
Flower - Purple.jpg


plates_fruit.jpgEntering the RHS summer fruit and vegetable competition marquee is like walking into a village show. It's modest in size and the exhibits are d isplayed on white plates arranged on wooden tables. As in most village shows, the same names dominate the winners cards. I was surprised to see that a lot of them were from as far away as Plymouth and Essex, but this is a national competition and rather early in the season for northern growers.

Alongside the plates of beetroots and carrots are handy tips for the aspiring exhibitor. Advice like '..to get good colour in your beetroots, water the row with a solution of 10ml of salt in a gallon of water 2 weeks before harvest' or 'after washing your carrots, wrap them in damp kitchen paper and keep them cool - good colour is worth 3 or 4 points', could make all the difference.

flat_peaches.jpgThe fruit exhibits impressed me most - it was painful looking at huge, luscious black cherries 'Summer Sun' and not being able to taste them. I've never tried the strange looking 'doughnut' peaches, but was assured they are very sweet, have white flesh and a very small stone, 'Saturn' was the variety on show. One allotment society from Yealmhampton near Plymouth had a fantastic display that included a pineapple!

Very helpful fruit enthusiasts from the Northern Fruit Group (www.northernfruitgroup.com ) are on hand to give advice and answer questions. I found out how to prune a reluctant gooseberry and Clifford from Fruitscape told me there was no excuse for not growing lots of fruit in my small London garden.


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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Theories of learning proposed by bloom





Nice violete flowers

Nice violete flowers


White and ample flower

White and ample flower


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flower - 114777.jpg


Robert Nyman
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atheana

atheana's photo


atheana

atheana's photo



pollen-flowers posted a photo

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sun shine - lucked out with the weather in December - 011-14.jpg


pollen-flowers posted a photo

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spectacular vase display @ South Lodge Hotel - 069-1.jpg


When I was a child I had no interest in gardening - it was an activity that kept my parents away from me for hours on end and so I resented it. I was amazed recently talking to two horticulturist friends of mine when they agreed that, as boys, the highlight of their week was watching Gardeners' World! It also seemed the influence of their grandparents was the important thing. I hear that my fellow blogger, Sam Youd, Head Gardener at Tatton Park has seven grandchildren under the age of six, I wonder how many of them will catch the bug?

If I were a child today, it would be a different story. I'd be counting the days til my day out at this year's Tatton Park show.

Children are admitted free and the RHS have made sure there are plenty of stimulating and fun ways to introduce them to the world of horticulture.

If your children are very young and you don't want to spend the day buying and then mopping up, ice cream, there's lots of hands-on playing activities to amuse them. They can make animals out of vegetables, do floor puzzles and have fun getting dirty messing about with earth, plus a few worms if they're lucky. Arts About Manchester are planning a circus style tent plus a balloon garden and will be showing a screening of Bee Movie, which might be a welcome chance for a sit down (and a snooze) for tired parents.

One of the show gardens, Edible Trends is giving away pumpkin plants to the first 100 children to visit the garden, so that they can grow them for Halloween. If you miss that and you're feeling peckish, try the Waitrose outdoor kitchen, where your budding Jamie Oliver can have a go at creating a salad lunch.

For teenagers, the floristry tent might offer some unexpected inspiration. The floral jewellery workshops might offer something for even the most disaffected youth - and if you remember the spectacular hats at Chelsea, the results could be amazing.

Artistic teenagers might also be inspired by Jack Dunckley, the 16-year-old, medal-winning, garden designer (silver medal at Hampton Court this year). Take them to have a look at the gardens in the Young Designer of the Year category, you never know, they might want to have a go.



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Rose tattoos on the ankles








flower8.jpg
flower 8 - flower8.jpg



Robert Nyman
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beetography
Ants on a bird of paradise flower

Ants on a bird of paradise flower


pollen-flowers posted a photo

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pollen petals burnt orange - 018-12.jpg




Wild In Washington

Asim Shah posted a photo:

pretty


Jacob's Ladder


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flower - eec717e8.gif


beetography
Hiscuscis flower.

Hiscuscis flower.


beetography
clematis-DSC_3766.jpg

clematis-DSC_3766.jpg



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Flower

flowers.jpg
flowers - flowers.jpg



Keywords:



beetography
dalia-DSC_8944.jpg

dalia-DSC_8944.jpg


beetography
basswood-DSC_4270.jpg

basswood-DSC_4270.jpg


Asim Shah posted a photo:

yellow


beetography
DSC_9186.jpg

DSC_9186.jpg


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Robert Nyman
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pollen-flowers posted a photo

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chair posy decoration - 010-12.jpg


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PurpleWhite Flowers - DSC08753.jpg


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Meaning of Life, the Alphabet

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flowers


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a beautiful autumnal day - 019-12.jpg


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FLOWER - 9f7e667a55588b2c23bfad9fy0.jpg


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One of the things I love about the Tatton show is the way the RHS are so encouraging to young designers. Many young hopefuls have started here with a small back to back garden and have then gone on to bigger and better things, a successful career being one of them.

This year, for the first time, there was a special competition for young designers under 25 from the north-west region. Two finalists were selected and invited to build gardens that were to be judged alongside the other show gardens and awarded RHS medals. Next year the Young Designer of the Year competition goes national and there will be three lucky garden-builders having a go.

Lee Belgrau is a student at Reaseheath College and his design, 'Red Rhythm', was one of the two chosen this year.

I think it's stunning - one of the most accomplished here. Lee says that his inspiration came from the shiny red posts that are the first thing you notice, rising up out of a beautiful raised bed. The five verticals are continued horizontally across a broad path of rough cut blocks of slate - creating a satisfying contrast of textures.

He has carried the red into the planting. It's vibrant and sophisticated; Crocosmia 'Lucifer', Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandaff' and dark Helenium 'Moerheim Beauty' lead the way. On the shadier side of the path, large specimens of Photinia 'Red Robin' and Astilbe 'Burgundy Red' continue the theme. I like the way that Lee has designed the garden with young clients in mind, it's ideal for a smaller, urban space, perfect for socialising.

Lee got a well-deserved Gold medal, a fantastic achievement for his first show garden. He has demonstrated that good design is about scale, function, harmony and, of course, rhythm. I shall be looking out for his name at future shows and I'm also quite tempted to look out for some shiny red posts...


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