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Gardens To See Snowdrops

January 10, 2011 By 1 Comment
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It may be cold, wet and miserable out there, but I am eagerly awaiting to welcome one of my favourite things- the magnificent snowdrop!

© Nita Joy Design

Snowdrop just a note to say © Nita Joy Design

In the run up to Christmas, when things can be a tad stressful, I think ahead to the little beauty that will soon be growing in their thousands, bravely pushing through the snow and ice, to find their beloved daylight.

This year I have been looking out of the window each day, searching for the first delicate green shoots of this pretty flower in my front garden, but due to the extreme weather we have been having, my freshly laid bulbs I planted last year, may find their first year of growth a little difficult.

If you love snowdrops or don’t know what all the fuss is about, I invite you to check out my latest blog on – Birds On The Blog looking at the lovely snowdrop, giving suggestions of gardens to visit in the UK, to admire their beauty.

You can find the post here – One Of My Favourite Things

If you love snowdrops, we have a selection of greeting cards, kitchen splashback….

If you have a favourite place that you like visiting to see snowdrops, and it isn’t mentioned in the blog post, please leave a comment, as I always love finding new places – and it’s great to share with others.

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Great Gardens and parks to visit this Autumn

October 7, 2010 By 1 Comment
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My two favourite seasons are spring and autumn. I love autumn! Not only do I like wandering through woods, with the sunlight twinkling on the dew of freshly fallen leaves, but I also love the feeling of rejoicing in another season that has so much to offer.

Here is a list of my top  places to visit for autumn colour, the UK’s version of leaf peeping :)

  • Visit your local wood, you won’t be disappointed.

The New Forest in Hampshire is a favourite place of mine to admire gorgeous trees such as oak and beech, this lovely forest looks spectacular in autumn and a great place to see wild deer during the rut.

  • Westonbirt Arboretum in Wiltshire is lovely, it is very well set up with a café to enjoy a yummy hot chocolate after your walk.  We are hoping to make a return visit this autumn.
  • Exbury in Hampshire. Don’t miss their wonderful exhibition of nerines, running through October.
  • RHS Gardens – particularly Rosemoor in North Devon.
  • Epping Forest in Essex – if you like fungi, this forest has a large collection to explore.
  • Sheffield Park Garden in East Sussex, owned by the National Trust originally created by Capability Brown and Humphrey Repton.
  • Trevarno Estate and Gardens in Cornwall. Their woodland is beautiful! I saw this garden covered in bluebells and know that it will be stunning throughout autumn.
  • Bicton Park Botanical Gardens in Devon. We visited last week and they have a wonderful collection of trees, which are just beginning to show their Autumn colours. Keep an eye out for their maple collection.

Many of the National Trust Gardens are charming to visit! So check their website to see if there is a garden near you.

Don’t forget to look in magazines for ideas, for example Countryfile mentions Grizedale in Cumbria, Elan valley in Powys Wales and in the north of Scotland Carbisdale Castle.

October’s Country Living has a run down of their 25 favourite woods to visit in autumn.

Where do you like to visit for autumn colour?

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Bluebells – Choosing a flower for a business

April 30, 2010 By 5 Comments
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It’s bluebell time!!!!

Can you tell I’m excited! Well I am, because I look forward to seeing this stunning flower every year!

In a mini series we looked at various businesses to see what flower would best describe them.

We looked at -  A flower for Arrow light Haulage

In order to choose an appropriate flower for a business we need to look at the business objectives.

Arrow Light Haulage -

  • Is a professional Essex Same Day Courier and Van Delivery company.
  • Their objective is to collect and deliver time critical goods and deliver them anywhere in the UK.
  • Their drivers are polite and well trained; they know that your reputation is in their hands.
  • They do the job right the first time, – a professional courier.

I have chosen the beautiful bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) to describe Arrow Light Haulage.

In the language of flowers the bluebell stands for 3 key aims and objectives for their business.

 

  • ConstancyA flower - the bluebell for Arrow Light Haulage
  • Reliability
  • Dependability


The bluebell is a favourite of mine, as soon as the New Year begins I look for snowdrops, then I count the days until bluebell season. I have a favourite wood near by that I simply must visit every year.

Bluebells grow and grow searching for any dappled sunlight, as the leaf coverage on trees are not at their full capacity. When the trees finally catch up, bluebells finally begin to drift off back to sleep to regain their strength for another year.

 

In Britain we have three types –

  • Native (which can also include the white bluebell)
  • Spanish
  • Hybrid ( a mix of the above 2)

Bluebells flower from April – June.

The English bluebell is a delight to see, but due to the spread of the Spanish bluebell, true English bluebells are becoming quite rare.

If you would like to learn how to identify a native bluebell, the Natural History museum has provided a description and drawings to help you – identifying bluebells.

For some recommended places to see this beauty –

Do you have a favourite place to see bluebells?

Please share with us so that our blog readers know the best places to visit.


I am sure there are many other wonderful gardens to see the magnificent bluebell, check the RHS or the National Trust to see some suggestions in your area.

The Good gifts catalogue has a great gift available for someone who loves bluebells. You can help protect a bluebell wood for £50 through the Tree council.

If you want to fill your garden with bluebells, the process from seed can take a couple of years to flower; here is a video by Gardener’s World on how to grow bluebells from seed. Bulbs are available through most garden centres. Please make sure that you buy native bluebells, and that they haven’t been taken from woodland as they are a protected species.

So plan a trip to your local bluebell woods and enjoy the stunning colour and smell of the gorgeous bluebell.

Enjoy!

Note: if you would like us to look at a flower for your business please contact us, we can provide a package of choosing a flower that best describes your business and a framed print of your flower that you can display in your office.

Please contact us for further information and we will let you know our package prices.

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Tulips

April 25, 2010 By 6 Comments
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Today we are looking at the lovely tulip.

Words to describe tulips could be –

  • Cheerful
  • Elegant
  • Showy
  • Colourful

What words would you use to describe this flower?

In the language of flowers, the tulip means –

  • Beautiful eyes
  • Fame
  • Love

Interesting facts:

  • There are over 109 species, with approximately 3,000 different varieties in the tulip family the Liliaceae.
  • If you buy tulips as cut flowers, they will continue to grow in a vase.
  • The first tulips originated as a wildflower in Central Asia. It was in the 17th century that tulips was introduced to Europe. Tulips were so popular in Holland that some special varieties became very expensive to buy; it could quite easily cost the same as buying a house!
  • The Flower Design Institute have provided a useful video on how to care and arrange tulips. Please visit their website for further tips and hints for arranging beautiful displays of flowers.

There are 3 flowering times –

  • Early flowering – March – April
  • Mid season flowering – April -May
  • Late flowering – May
  • There are 12 viruses that can affect tulips, causing problems with the flowers and leaves, as well as problems with growth. The RHS provide a useful information page to help you notice symptoms and give advice on how you can help improve the health of your tulips – Tulips Viruses
  • This bulbous plant is lovely to see in spring, with its amazing range of colours and patterns at various heights from the tall and elegant, to the striking compact variety.
  • Tulips can often be seen in our local parks and roundabout displays as well as a garden favourite.

White and Green Tulips Greeting Card

I have been very fortunate to see the wonderful tulip farms and gardens  in Holland when I was a child. It is something I would like to return to and see again, as it left me speechless, admiring the fields of rich colour.

Daffodils and Tulips Holland Tulips Tulips in Holland

Above 3 images of Tulips and daffodils from Holland, are taken by my Dad from one of our trips.

I have been enjoying various gardens in Dorset and Hampshire admiring this beauty. There are so many different varieties it’s hard to choose a favourite, do you have a favourite?

Tulips can be grown successfully in containers and spring borders. They often provide a sense of structure to a garden border, and mixes well with other plants. I have particularly enjoyed gardens that have concentrated on a green and white colour scheme, with white tulips, daffodils and snowflakes dotted around green foliage. This provides a cool restful scene. An example of this can be seen at Apple Court Gardens in Hampshire, which we will be writing a blog post about our visit very soon.

If you would like to visit a garden to admire this lovely varied flower, the following is a small selection of gardens and farms recommended to see tulips.

  • Keukenhof in Holland has some 32 acres of Tulips!
  • Pashley Manor Gardens in Sussex have a tulips festival, running from the 23rd April –  3rd May. They have some 23,000 tulips to admire!

Spring colour at Kew Gardens

Where to buy Tulips

All garden centres sell tulips, but if you are looking for a specialist grower –

At Nita Joy Craft Design we have some special personalised tulip cards for a variety of occasions, or add your personal message.

We will also have some tulip designs available for kitchen splashbacks through My Kitchen Store, which we will be announcing soon!

Orange tulips and narcissus good luck cardWherever you live, there is sure to be a garden near you where you can enjoy the beautiful tulip.

Enjoy!

We would love to hear your recommended places to see Tulips so we can share them with our blog readers.

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A visit to the Royal Botanical Kew Gardens

April 20, 2010 By 2 Comments
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I visited Kew Gardens many years ago and it has been on my list of must see gardens to visit this year.

As spring is well and truly here, this is a great opportunity to visit this beautiful large garden to admire the spring bulbs, cherry blossom and magnolias.

I visited the 300 acre gardens last week, with my husband, best friend and her children, and had a fabulous day.

If you visit before the 31st April you can join a free guided walk – The darling buds of April to get the most from your visit. Pick up a guide and / or map when you enter the gardens as you will need this.

For children they have a special play area to help run off some steam, but the gardens are so large that there is plenty of space to run around in.

The children enjoyed looking at all the flowers, leaves and also the exquisite peacock!

Kew Gardens Peacock

My husband loved seeing the gardens, but particularly enjoyed the roast pork and apple roll for lunch!

There is plenty to see and do on a day visit, but in order to get the most out of your trip to the gardens, it’s best seen over a few days. It’s definitely a garden to see in each season, to truly benefit from their planting schemes.

I really wanted to visit the Treetop walk but unfortunately the lift wasn’t working, but hoping to visit another time as this looks wonderful.

Favourite areas:

One of the favourite parts of my daytrip was seeing the wonderful fritillary area which can be seen on the Princess walk. This area is fenced off to protect these wonderful delicate flowers, but you can still get a great view of them, as seen in our video clip.

You can also see these flowers alongside the river walk.

Dotted around the gardens are lovely areas of cherry blossom and magnolias. If you visit soon, you will receive a leaflet highlighting areas of the garden to see them. Japanese Garden kew Gardens

The Japanese Garden was a favourite of mine on a previous visit and I have to say I wasn’t disappointed this time. It’s a very peaceful area, with very thoughtful planting, a place to sit and contemplate.

Many of the specialist daffodils have finished for this year, but there is a wonderful area next to the palm house, full with narcissus, tulips etc… don’t miss this!

Planting outside the Palm House Kew Gardens

Due to the wide variety of planting you can see beautiful plants and be up close and personal with nature, keep an eye out for the parakeets! While we were there we had a wonderful sighting of a green woodpecker.

Because the gardens are so large, I wasn’t able to visit the  Palm House, Temperate House or Princess of Wales Conservatory , as I was focussing on spring colour. I hope to visit again soon so that I can see the areas missed.

The Temperate House is in need of funds to restore the beautiful building. If you would like to make a donation please visit -The Temperate House appeal

Kew Gardens Millennium Seed Bank also run an adopt a seed programme, helping to preserve and keep seeds that are becoming rarer. We can make a difference in raising funds for this very important inititive. If you would like to know more about their work please visit – Adopt a seed, save a species website

Have you visited Kew Gardens?  What are your favourite areas?


Prices:

Adult: £13.50

Concessions: £11:30

Children: Free.

Kew Garden offer a yearly or lifetime membership scheme

Accessibility:

Kew Gardens has a very helpful website to help you plan your visit.

If you have a disability / mobility issues, they have a fantastic service where you can hire an electric mobility scooter, which is free, but a donation would help keep this service available. The paths around the gardens are smooth and wide, so using a wheelchair should present no problems.

For more details – Kew Gardens visitor information

To help plan your visit:

Kew Gardens have an interactive map – Explore Kew , to help you decide which areas to concentrate on.

Parking:

Parking is limited, so travelling by public transport is a good idea, especially in busy holiday times.

Video taken by Matt Hunt

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The Flowering Cherry Tree

April 9, 2010 By 4 Comments
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The Flowering Cherry Blossom Tree  is also known as Sukura in Japan.

 

Today we will be looking at the flowering cherry tree blossom.

I have been enjoying the blossom slowly coming into flower, throughout Dorset. The roads always look so much nicer with cherry trees dotted around. I even notice pedestrians stopping and admiring their beauty, with a smile on their faces! Oh I love Spring, don’t you?

The cherry tree typically flowers in April-May.

Tree blossom is just stunning! I love  the beauty of cherry and apple tree blossom.

In the language of flowers the cherry blossom stands for

  • Spiritual beauty
  • Beauty
Cherry blossom best wishes © Nita Joy Designs

Cherry blossom © Nita Joy Designs

There are over 200 varieties of cherry trees growing in Asia, North America and Europe.

The cherry tree belongs to the rosaceae family.

If you need help in identifying a cherry tree, the Natural History Museum have a useful Cherry tree identification guide

In Japan the cherry tree blossom is associated with good fortune and a symbol of love. It is also the unofficial flower for Japan. They hold special cherry tree parties (Hanami) when they are in flower. They also have a special cherry tree festival with tea ceremonies and so on.

Cherry trees flower at different times from January – March in Japan. Nago for example has some 20,000 flowering cherry trees in their park! Here is a guide to cherry tree viewing.

This is on my list of special things Iwould love to see. I would absolutely love to see the cherry tree parties and tea ceremonies, enjoying the thousands of cherry trees in blossom!

In America, Washing DC, they have a national cherry tree festival.

This is to celebrate spring and to honour the cherry tree gifts that were given to them from Japan in 1912.

I have hade the privilege of visiting Batsford Arboretum in Gloucestershire, which holds the national collection of cherry trees.

If you have a small garden, there are smaller varieties of the flowering cherry trees, growing to around 2 meters in height.

The Prunus Triloba a double flowering almond cherry tree has beautiful flowers

I also love the Prunus Shizuka – fragrant cloud Japanese flowering cherry tree

Not only are the flowers beautiful, but some varieties have wonderful autumn colour.

To choose a suitable place to plant your flowering cherry tree, consider an area that receives a lot of sunshine, fairly protected and that has well drained, deep soil. It’s advisable not to plant a tree, where there was previously a tree with a disease. Take into account the expected height of growth of your tree, before you plant it. Some cherry trees require a pollinator, so check the details before you buy one.

The RHS have a guide to show you how to prune your trees.

The Cherry tree is susceptible to black fly, here’s some advice from the RHS.

The RHS have a Cherry Tree Fund as part of their ‘remember a loved one’ fund

Suggestions of where to buy cherry trees

The Ornamental Tree Nursery has some nice small trees

Trees online has some lovely varieties

Mail Order Trees

Gardens to see Cherry tree blossom

Exbury Gardens in Hampshire

Hiller Gardens in Hampshire

Hergest Croft Garden in Herefordshire has a wonderful collection

Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall

Dudmaston Estate in Shropshire

The blossom trail at the Vale of Evesham has some 40 miles ablaze with cherry, apple and plum blossom from mid March- mid May

Many woodland gardens will have this pretty tree in their collection and can often be found growing in church yards.

So get out there and enjoy the lovely blossom!

Update: The National History Museum are running a Cherry Tree survey, if you would like to add the details of where you have seen these beautiful trees, please visit -

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Other places to see snowdrops

March 8, 2010 By 2 Comments
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Last week, I went on my annual trip with my dad, looking for snowdrops.

Snowdrops in the Dorset and Hampshire region have flowered quite late this year and after all the cold windy weather we have been having, some snowdrops which are open to all the elements, have had a rough time holding their delicate heads held high.

In the language of flowers the snowdrop means – A friend in adversity and hope.

If you know someone who is having a hard time, a trip to see the lovely snowdrop is sure to life their spirit.

Now is the time to plant snowdrops ‘in the green.’ Planting them now will give you a fantatstic display next year.

On my day out we decided on visiting 2 areas that we knew would be excellent to see this lovely flower.

Damerham church has the wow factor of several thousand snowdrops planted together in the church grave yard. They often hold special snowdrops days to welcome visitors. It was lovely to see, and just how I remembered.

The snowdrops were beautiful, even though they were a little windswept. If you want to see snowdrops in their thousands, then this is a lovely place to visit next year.

We then moved on to Breamore church.

As we carefully moved around the wonderous display of snowdrops in the pretty church yard, I counted around 5 different varieties growing there. There was probably more, but this was the number I spotted. These snowdrops had a little more protection from the elements than the ones at Damerham, so there was plenty of opportunities to photograph them.

There was also a lovely area of winter aconites.

The yellow of the aconites and white and green of the snowdrops had a really fresh, spring feel.

I watched Countryfile the other week, and the presenter looking at snowdrops in Scotland said he thought snowdrops looked all the same. Well if you view them from a far, you may agree. It’s not really until you examine the detail of each of them, that you will see how different and special they can be. It’s epecially hard to see the differences, due to the fact that they are low to the ground, and the flower heads point downwards.

This particular snowdrop wanted the world to see her beauty, as this flower head was pointing outwards. I was so pleased to have spotted this one and capture the image. I have heard of some people using dental mirrors to see the insides of low growing flowers, and I can quite see how useful this would be.

If you like this snowdrop image, it is available to buy as a framed, mounted or canvas print

As I have said before you can see beautiful flowers all over the place. You don’t always need to go to a specific garden to see them, it’s often fun to look into alternative places, such as church yards, roundabouts etc…

Where are your favourite places to go?

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A visit to East Lambrook Manor Gardens

February 23, 2010 By 3 Comments
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Do you like snowdrops?

If your reply was yes, then I recommend a visit to East Lambrook Manor Gardens in Somerset.

As a part of a new series looking at various gardens to visit throughout the seasons of the year, we visited this garden while we were away on holiday last week.

East Lambrook Manor has been a garden that I have wanted to visit for a long time.

Margery Fish’s garden style is seen as a true example of English cottage gardening, with many gardeners eager to learn from her experience and plant expertise, adding to their garden designs.

In her book ‘A Flower For Every Day’ first published in 1964, Graham Rice who wrote the book’s foreword in 2000, described Margery’s gardening style as -

‘She believed that even in gardens of relatively modest size and limited resources, plants should, and could, be chosen to provide flowers and a fascinating garden prospect on every day of the year.’

(Quote from A Flower For Every Day, Author Margery Fish, Foreword by Graham Rice, year 2000,  B.T Batsford)

As our gardens get smaller, we can apply these same principles in our gardens today.

This garden holds a specialist collection of snowdrops and geraniums.

There have been three new varieties of snowdrops discovered since the year 2000 with the wonderfully named –

  • Galanthus Dodo Norton in 2000,
  • Galanthus Lambrook Greensleeves in 2001
  • and last but not least the Galanthus Sir Henry B-C in 2006

Garden details:

Entry price – £4.50.  RHS Members – Free (February, March, September, October)

Opening times – 10 am – 5 pm

Everyday throughout February and May- 17th July

Tuesday – Saturday throughout March – April and 20th July – October

Please check with them before you travel

Disabled Access – It has limited disabled access as it is a small garden with small paths and has a terraced and gravel areas. The area known as the Ditch and woodland area is suitable for wheelchairs and those with limited mobility. They have a detailed disability access statement, for those wishing to know more.

There is also a unisex disabled toilet.

Plant Nursery they have a small plant shop, with a variety of plants grown in the garden.

Parking there is a free car park across a small road in front of the gardens, with some disabled spaces.

Eating facilities there is a small café that offers coffee, fruit juices and cake.

There is a wonderful pub  - The Rose and Crown which is 5 mins walk away which offers a warm, friendly service with a wonderful menu that has options for gluten free, vegetarian and vegan meals.

I had  a yummy cauliflower, broccoli and cheese bake and Matt had what he calls the best steak and kidney pie he has ever had!

Review

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the garden. We were fortunate in that the weather was also lovely after a week of rain and snow. The collection of snowdrops was wonderful to see, and to be able to learn about the many different varieties made the visit even more special.

We loved the Galanthus Nivalis Blewbury Tart

and the pretty Galanthus Primrose Walburg that had yellow ovary (The section at the top of the flower head).

If you want to learn more about snowdrops, then I highly recommend this garden.

It’s not a garden to see thousands of snowdrops, but one that shows these beautiful plants in the best light.  It’s not really a garden for young children as it is a small specialist garden, with small paths.

Due to the cold weather we have been having, snowdrops have been quite late this year, so there is still time to admire this beauty.

There was also a magnificent display of crocuses on the manor’s front lawn, so don’t miss this lovely display surrounding the tree.

As this is a specialist plants garden, this garden deserves a visit throughout the seasons of the year.

They are in the middle of restoring the gardens, so we are looking forward to seeing the changes over time.

We will be back for a return visit.

Garden address:

East Lambrook Manor Gardens,

South Petherton,

Somerset

TA13 5HH

Multi-map


I was recently given a flip video as a birthday present and I will be using it to show highlights of our garden visits.

I have put together a small video to give you a little insight into what you can expect from the garden. I apologise for the video as it’s my first attempt (I got a bit carried away with the word variety LOL, and hoping to improve the quality) but I hope it is useful to you.

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