Who says gardens can't change the world?

A very talented photographer friend of ours, Barney Wilczak, has a very big plan! He is raising money through crowd funding  to photograph projects run by Botanic Gardens worldwide to restore damaged and endangered habitats across 6 continents. This project will run over the next 10 years and Barney is trying to fund the first stage of his involvement.

Barney is a Natural History and Conservation Photographer, and will cover the project producing exhibitions, books and raising awareness of the importance of the restoration and retention of biodiversity and natural habitats. His work will also be used to fund raise for the continuation of the project.

So if you feel like helping (in any small way) the Botanic Gardens worldwide dream of restoring habitats, then go to Barney's fundraising website:

Worldwide Habitat Restoration Project

And if you would just like to see Barney's lovely photography, go to his website:

Wilczak photography

Another visit to Bosvigo Gardens

Apologies for the silence recently. Now that summer is here, the children are off school and visitors are arriving and departing, time is squeezed even more than usual. Mind you, this is a good time for visiting places - with people to entertain and good weather (it will be back - PLEASE!) we can get out and about and look for inspiration for our autumn plans.


Last week I took a special visitor (SV) to Bosvigo gardens. Now as you know, I was only there a couple of weeks ago so was expecting it to be much the same this time, however this time the hot garden was in full bloom. Wow, what a transformation - gorgeous colours, fabulous textures and contrasts, I was very impressed.

Ligularia and Monarda

Dahlias and Dill

Nautia and Sedum...                                              another Ligularia with gorgeous black leaves.

It was a very successful visit and the SV loved the garden, and I'm now determined to create a hot bed somewhere in my garden. Back to the garden plan with another list of lovely things to plant somewhere. You should never stop changing your garden, the options are endless - that's what I love about them!

The Urban Hedgerow

Walking to work yesterday through the back streets of Camden in the oppressive heat (oh to be back in Cornwall - roll on Friday), I rounded a corner and was enveloped in a lovely scent. It was sweet and quite delicate but it pervaded the whole street as I walked along. I looked around expecting to see a showy flower in a garden somewhere, but there weren't any gardens, just a scruffy hedgerow between the road and a wall on the otherside of which was the railway. Then I noticed the starry sawdust all over the pavement and wall...



...which made me look up, and then I found the source of the smell.



The scrappy and rather bashed Privet that was growing all along the wall was flowering it's heart out!
Interspersed with self sown Elder, Sycamore and Bramble, the Privet and the odd Lilac had obviously once been planted in an attempt at prettifying the area, but it looked like no-one had paid a blind bit of notice since. The ground was rubbish strewn and the shrubs had missing cat notices pinned to them, and large warning signs announcing 'anti climb products in use' in-between them. But despite all this the Privet was soldiering on.

   

Ably assisted by some impressive Buddleia, these hardy and determined plants were colonising and greening an unkempt, unloved and ignored patch of ground, and making it into something lovely to see, smell and hear (the bees loved it to).

All hail pioneering plants - we will never call you nasty weeds again!
(well unless you are in my garden and in my way!)

  

Bosvigo Gardens summer visit

The Daisy duo had a lovely time on Wednesday, with a visit to the Annual Truro Garden Market on Lemon Quay, followed by a visit to the lovely Bosvigo Gardens.

Truro Garden Market had a marquee full of school children's mini gardens and artwork, stalls of lots of local nurseries, landscapers, and garden suppliers, bee keepers and Truro in Bloom stalls. There was lots to look at and plenty to buy!

Once we had escaped with minimal shopping we made our way to Bosvigo. I think we were the only people there so it was very easy to pretend it was all ours. The last time I was there was for the Hellebore Day, (see post 26 February 2013) when the woodland spring garden looked fabulous. This time the other parts of the garden were open, a series of outdoor rooms brimming with beautiful perennials, each on a fantastic scale.

The gardens were overflowing with hardy Geranium, Astrantia, Thelictrum, Roses, Clematis, Phlox and Alchemilla Mollis

This was a perfect spot to stop and sit, shaded by Banana Palms and surrounded by Pelargoniums

Then there was the gorgeous shady garden at the back of the house (not that shady at the moment)

 

...and even the woodland spring garden looked spectacular with fantastic Cornus and interesting Ferns.

And there was the most glorious climbing Nasturtium, romping it's way through a Yew hedge, it's small scarlet flowers zinging against the dark foliage and brightening a rather gloomy corner.

All in all a wonderful visit once again, and there looked to be lots to come over the next month, although parts of the garden were suffering a little in the heat. I shall be trooping visitors along to see it this summer, it's the perfect size for an hour or so visit, so you don't need to be garden obsessive to enjoy it. We definitely recommend it!

Bosvigo Gardens

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Biggest Flower Show in the World!

The RHS Hampton Court Flower Show opened to the public today. Now lots of us (including me) won't be getting there this year but we can still keep up with all thats going on, and be inspired by the best garden designers around. Many of the designers that show at Chelsea start at Hampton Court, and Hampton Court is known for being a bit more adventurous with it's concepts, a little more cutting edge.

So I watched the first BBC 2 coverage last night with interest. I was particularly taken with the Cool Garden which got a gold medal. This garden utilised wavy lines throughout, with a background of Contorted Witch hazel trees, curved walls and wiggly copper rills. Very cool in my opinion!

I was also keen on the Mid Century Modern Garden which made made use of iconic design features and great planting - definitely the garden for those of us who love hot colours and can't get enough of orange! Even the planting has a real retro '70s feel, and I would love to slowly revolve in those bubble chairs, admiring the view.

The BBC has 2 more outings to the show on Thursday and Friday at 8pm on BBC2 so take a look, and if you cant wait that long you can catch up with goings on through the BBC website or the RHS website:

www.bbc.co.uk - Hampton Court Flower Show

www.rhs.org.uk -Hampton-Court Palace Flower Show

And when you have had a good look at all the gardens, you can vote for your favourite - the Peoples Choice award is highly prized and is the only one awarded by public vote. Voting ends at 4pm on Saturday 13th, so there's plenty of time to make your mind up. I shall be catching up with Monty to see what he recommends before finally deciding - vote here:

www.rhs.org.uk-Peoples Choice Award

Huge excitement!

I have my first mange tout to harvest! Now this might not sound very impressive to those of you who are seasoned allotment owners, but to those of us with a 6ft raised veg bed that managed to raise almost nothing last year, it's pretty exciting! Not only do I have one fully formed and ready to harvest mange tout (the variety is Kennedy), but I have lots of flowers, more than enough for a whole bowl full of mange tout pretty soon.

My onions are looking pretty good too, they are pretty near to being ready.

My garlic, broccoli, and green beans (Cobra) are coming on well, and my lettuces (Ice King) are up (but don't tell the slugs).

The only thing I'm not sure about is my Florence fennel, it seems to be growing upwards rather than outwards, perhaps I should harvest one and see what it tastes like. In the end the taste is more important than the look!

Right I'm off to eat my one mange tout in private and savour every nibble!