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11 nature blog posts for the year 2011

December 20, 2011 By 4 Comments
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As we come to the end of another year, I am sure this one went in a blink of an eye ;)

I thought I would do a roundup post looking at some of my nature blogs that I have posted at my other blogging home – Birds on the Blog.

 

This year some of the things we have looked at are -

All about my love of the snowdrop and where to see this beauty.

 

Well that was a heart wrenching time, when there was the heated debate about our precious woodland. With rumblings still going on in the background, it’s important for us to keep an eye on new policies being lined up for our forests.

 

I  had the privillege of seeing a carpet of thousands of crocuses at Forde Abbey and gardens – I will be definitely be going there again next spring!

 

Blessed by a sea of blue in a gorgeous woodland, enjoyed and treasured by many! Can’t wait to visit again next year!

 

The joys of the National Garden Scheme – the NGS

 

A bizarre plant that doesn’t flower often and smells horrible, but still ends up being a popular plant to see.

 

Getting out there in the summer and enjoying what nature has in store for us.

 

Along the theme of my love of flowers is the language of flowers. This post looks at some suggestions for wedding anniversary ideas!

 

Who knew that hydrangeas were so popular. So many joined in enthusing about their love for the hydrangea :)

 

We look at suggestions of what food we can give to our feathered friends, with a couple of recipes of seed cake and fat balls thrown into the mix.

 

A controversial one … looking at the many benefits of Ivy for wildlife.

 

I hope you will enjoy the posts :)

 

Let me know which posts you particularly enjoyed!

 

Anita :)

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The National Garden Scheme

June 22, 2010 By 1 Comment
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I am a big fan of the National Garden Scheme also known as the NGS!

I love visiting gardens such as the large RHS Gardens, but I also love visiting smaller / personal gardens, loving created by people who love to share their pride and  joy with visitors, whilst raising money for charity.

Over the years I have tried to get to as many gardens operating under the NGS as I can, but there are still many on the list in my area that I am eager to visit.

As I regularly write blog posts about particular flowers, I often recommend particular gardens in the NGS to visit, as not only will it be a great day out, but  it is also good to support our local neighbourhood gardeners. You can learn so much by visiting these gardens, admiring their planting schemes and asking the owners questions.

If you are looking to redesign your garden, or add to your garden and are looking for inspiration, these gardens are ideal! As often we can be a little intimidated by the larger grander gardens that are looked after by teams of gardeners. If you want to know which plants would be suitable in your area, visiting local gardens gives you a great opportunity to see which plants work for your soil conditions.

Last weekend I had the privilege of visiting the Cerne Abbas Open Gardens in Dorset. I had been a few years ago and was looking forward to a return visit.

The weather was perfect :) which always makes a visit to a garden extra special. The Cerne Abbas Village is stunning.

If you want to visit a typical traditional English village, then this is a must visit.

25 gardens took part in the weekend. If you love investigating every crook and cranny of old walls and pathways, you will enjoy visiting this village as there is always some thing interesting to see.

Tickets to this event was £5 for adults and free for children, which was extremely good value. You also receive a small map to help you find the gardens around the village.

The photo on the right was taken as I was looking over an old wall admiring the view. The rose and rose bud was beautiful and I thought it would make a nice photo for this blog post.

We didn’t make it around all of the gardens, but really enjoyed the ones we ‘discovered’ as we walked around the village. As I walked around the streets, down various paths and small alley ways, I was reminded of one of my favourite childhood stories – The Secret Garden. As you looked for the yellow posters and open gates, you were never sure what you would find. The gardens fitted each other like a perfectly made jigsaw puzzle, and if you had a peek over the walls you would get a brief view of the next door garden’s delights. :)

The flowers that were in abundance throughout the gardens was the stunning rose, in gorgeous colours and tones such as white, pink and red. Astrantia was also a popular plant in these gardens and to be honest I can see why. I have a fondness for this lovely flower, the colours and detail complement so many other plants, and when the sun catches their petals they just look stunning!

Not only were the plants beautiful to look at, but also the scent made the whole presentation even better. You could tell that the bees were enjoying their dinner, but I was also mesmerised by the varying scents of the tea roses and honeysuckle. WOW!! If I had a chair and a mug of tea in hand, I wouldn’t have been able to move for hours!

Some of the gardens also had small ponds and fountains, and on a day like we visited with the hot sun fully out, the trickling sound of the water made a welcome addition to the setting.

No garden visit would be complete without a cup of tea of cold drink. We enjoyed an ice cream and an elderflower presse at Abbots Brasserie and Tea Garden. There are a couple of tea rooms and pubs in Cerne Abbas, so plenty of places for a drink and something to eat.

If you would like to visit the Cerne Abbas Open Garden weekend, then they will be holding the next event next year on the 18th- 19th June 2011, so make sure you add it to your diary, as you are sure to have a lovely time.

If you would like to visit a local NGS garden near to you, you can select the county that you live on the NGS website and a detailed list with photographs will be shown. You can also pick up little yellow NGS booklets at various tourist information points, for more information.

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A visit to Apple Court Garden

May 5, 2010 By 2 Comments
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Recently we had the privilege of visiting Apple Court garden again.

When you visit, you feel as though it’s a secret garden, but I want to share this secret with you. Magnolia

I suggest you ask for the garden leaflet for information about the garden, to get the most out of your visit.

This beautiful garden is situated in lymington Hampshire, near to the coast and the majestic New Forest; it ticks all the boxes for me.

The owners and gardeners are Angela and Charles Meads. They took over the garden in 2003, and in a relatively short space of time in gardening terms, they have a garden they can be proud of!

On both occasions we were fortunate to see the garden in lovely spring weather, you feel so at home in the garden that you could quite easily sit and have a cuppa watching the world go by.

Rooster At Apple Court GardensThey also had some amazing chickens with an enormous black velvet rooster, I don’t know the name of these chickens but I had to take a photo to show you how magnificent they are. They are great for pest control, very eco-friendly and a gardeners friend.

Often gardens specialise in particular plants and flowers.

Apple Court Garden’s specialities are – hostas, day lilies, and ferns.

On our visit last year in May, we had a lovely surprise, a beautiful wisteria was found over a lovely little seat at the beginning of the rope walk that I mention on my video below. We will be returning to admire this lovely scented flower again very soon. Angela was sure that the wisteria would be in flower very soon, and you could certainly see the buds about to burst into life.    Wisteria at Apple Court Gardens

The planting scheme is planned very well as it looks natural, but you know that a lot of work has gone into the design. As I mention in the video it’s a restful garden, a garden to visit to let your stresses melt away and feel refreshed once more.

I particularly enjoyed the lovely spring, salmon and peach borders for the spring bulbs, the lovely camellias and magnolias and the hellebores.

If you like gardens with many rooms and little paths to discover new areas, then this is a garden for you.

It’s definitely a garden to see through the spring to the autumn seasons.

The garden is open under the National Garden Scheme (NGS)

Here is the video to give you a little taster of what you can expect from this lovely garden.

When is Apple Court Garden open?

It’s open from the beginning of March to the end of October.

Opening hours - 10-5 pm

Opening Days -  Friday – Sunday and Bank Holidays

Price £4.00. There is a season ticket available for £10.00 well worth it if you are planning to visit a few times in the opening season.

Shop There is a nursery area with a large array of plants available to purchase, to add to your garden. They also have an online shop

Refreshments there is a little area for drinks.

If you want something more substantial we can recommend Braxton Gardens that is about 5-10 mins drive away. Braxton Gardens is definitely worth a visit, especially when the roses are out as they have a rose garden, as well as a tea room.

Mobility if walking is hard for you; there are little sitting areas to admire the garden from. The paths are small, so using a wheelchair may be difficult, as it doesn’t have paved paths. I would suggest contacting the garden before you visit, to see if it is accessible for you.

I hope you enjoyed the video and find the information useful.

We hope that you will add this garden to your list to visit, as you won’t be disappointed.

For more details Apple Court Gardens website is – www.applecourt.com

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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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