Inspiration

As I sit here the sun is shining – such a shame that most of yesterday was wet and windy, it cetainly didn’t make for easy photography.  But I hope you enjoy the forthcoming posts and my photographs.

Orange and purple planting was definitely the name of the game.  This is the Sentebale Garden, designed by Matt Keightley and inspired by Sentebale’s Mamohato Children’s Centre.

The garden is designed to raise awareness of Sentebale’s mission to tackle the stigma of HIV in adolescents.

Orange geum were definitely a trend at the show and they looked fabulous.  Orange is my favourite colour, never failing to make me smile.

The Homebase garden featured them in abundance…

The Homebase Garden this year is an Urban Retreat designed by Adam Frost in association with Macmillan Cancer Support.

The garden room at the back of the garden was great.  Behind it were ferns and shady plants, really lovely.

The design aims to demonstrate that it’s possible to create green spaces in urban situations, using modern materials and strong design whilst bringing the softness of nature.

(Images: Lisa Cox)

I spent a rather rainy and cold day at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show today – such a change from last year when I seem to remember getting sunburnt!  But despite the rain I still enjoyed the day and I thought I’d start my coverage with a few of my favourite show gardens. Read more

Yesterday I featured some of the festival gardens at the RHS Malvern Spring festival show which took place last week. Read more

On Friday we visited the RHS Malvern Spring Festival – it’s one of my more local shows so I was curious to pay a visit.  It has a county show feel about it with lots of local crafts and exhibitors as well as the usual amazing floral and horticultural displays and the show gardens of course. Read more

As I write this email, the wind is howling outside and the thought of sitting in the garden isn’t very appealing.  But there have been some glimmers of summer over the last few weeks and it’s always the time we start to think about the garden again. Read more

Over the two weeks of RHS Flower Show Cardiff it was really interesting to travel the same road each day and see the leaves unfold.  Not all the trees are fully out yet around our Welsh hills, but yesterday we took a walk to see if the bluebells were in flower in the local wood. Read more

I went to visit New Wood Trees on Wednesday, a fabulous nursery in Devon specialising in multi-stem trees.  I’ve sourced a few trees from them in the past, but it was great to finally make a trip there to see the extent of their stock and to meet the owner, Philip Nieuwoudt. Read more

I hope you enjoyed the photographs I shared on Wednesday of my trip to Box Hill last Saturday at dawn. Read more

Last Saturday, as it was forecast to be a bright and frosty morning, I got up really early and went to Box Hill to take some photographs. Read more

I’ve recently come across these wonderful fire bowls from The Firepit Company.  What better way to encourage you to spend more time out in the garden after dark, even on a chilly evening when you wouldn’t normally sit outside. Read more