Chelsea 2016

Yesterday I left Suffolk very early and went to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.  The last time I went was 9 years ago and last year I'd thought about going but by the time I'd stopped dithering the tickets were all gone.  So last Sunday when I saw the first BBC programme I bit the bullet and ordered a (very expensive) last minute ticket.

I didn't have just one favourite garden, I had several:

Cleve West's M & G garden was inspired by Exmoor and had beautiful natural planting and water running through it,

the LG smart garden had delicious, romantic planting,

and I just loved the dark pinks and purples, highlighted with whites and greens, in the Husqvarna garden.

The Modern Apothecary garden, designed by Jekka McVicar was not only beautiful but was full of plants known to be beneficial for health and well-being,

and the Chelsea Barracks garden, designed by Jo Thompson was stunning.

There were also the 300,00 individually crocheted poppies in front of the Chelsea hospital, a tribute to those men and women who have served in all wars, 

and the Modern Slavery garden designed by Juliet Sergeant was really poignant.

The grand marquee was full of all kinds of deliciousness, including a pullman train carriage taking visitors from London to Singapore, but my favourite exhibition was this one celebrating 90 years of allotments - I bought some heritage seeds.

My favourite artisan garden was the  Papworth Trust's Together We Can garden as it included not just beautiful painting, against a very vivid purple, but sound and water too.  It was designed by Peter Eustace, and Dame Evelyn Glennie worked with them as well as and I was lucky enough to see her perform in and with the garden.

My overall impressions of the show were of beautiful planting, lots of native plants and general prettiness.  I took lots more photos, and a video of Dame Evelyn and if you want to see them they're on my flickr stream.  

When I returned to Suffolk I found that this beauty had opened - Ruffled Patty.

She's a bit like Chelsea, beautiful but short lived! I can't wait to go again, who's coming with me?!

Sunshine!

Today the sun came out, little white fluffy clouds danced across the blue sky.

In the garden spring is arriving:

crocuses and grape hyacinths have emerged,

hyacinths are in full flower, 

there are daffodils of all colours and shapes,

and the chaenomeles is in flower.

The pond is full of frogspawn :-)

And I have a new front door.  Gone is the warped, tired, wooden one that needed the postman to lean against it at times in order for me to open it,

replaced with a smart new black, composite one.  Looks like wood but won't warp and swell and doesn't have gaps for the wind to whistle through.

Hope you're all enjoying some sunshine too.

An Easter Stroll

Would you like to join me on a little stroll down my garden?  I'm afraid it's still looking a bit "winter sad" in places but there are some lovely blooms appearing if you look closely.  Shall we go then?

Just outside the back door Clematis Alpina Constance is starting to flower (about 10 days earlier than last year).

On your right you might spot the first bloom of Camellia Tiffany.  You'll have to look hard as the few buds it has seem to be facing the fence not the path!

Now, as we reach the end of this courtyard area, you'll see some Snake's Head Fritilleries (and yes, that is a white one which has appeared in with the red ones!).

Come through into the next area, and hiding in the north facing shade of a large Elaeagnus is this delightful Dicentra Spectabilis (although I've just discovered that it's now had its name changed to Lamprocapnos Spectablis for some reason!).

A little further on, under the Snake Bark Maple the Epimedium is just starting to flower (I don't usually like yellow flowers, but somehow they seem ok if they're pale and flower in the spring).

Come past the pond (no further sightings of Mrs Newt I'm afraid), past the greenhouse and veg beds and through to my secret sitting area where no-one can see me and from where I can't hear the phone or doorbell.  Clematis Macropetala 'Maidwell Hall' was only planted last year and is so very nearly open.

These little white grape hyacinths have appeared down here this year, I didn't plant them so guess I must have disturbed them when I was planting last year.  They look lovely next to the Scillas.

 
I hope you've enjoyed your stroll down the garden with me, as you leave through the front garden keep an eye out for Viola Freckles and a rather confused, self sown Cerinthe which is flowering already!

I hope you all have lovely Easter weekends and maybe the next time that we take a stroll down my garden we should stop for tea and cake, what do you think?

A Whiter Shade of Pale

It's been a glorious day in Suffolk today, blue skies and sunshine - lovely!  Here are some of the white/almost white flowers that are blooming in my garden today, I think they provide a rather calm and cooling atmosphere:

Top row:  Cosmos Purity, Penstemon, Passion Flower (can't remember which variety!)

Middle row:  Rose 'Madame Alfred Carrier', Leucanthemum, Dahlia 'Cafe Au Lait'

Bottom row:  Mint flower, Anenome, Rose (unknown variety)

The penstemon was supposed to be red when I bought it, but I couldn't be bothered to take it back, and the passion flower was only planted this year and is already over 6ft high!  It's supposed to be a fully hardy one so should be ok in the winter as the garden is quite sheltered.

Wherever you are I hope the weather is kind to you this weekend - I plan to be in the garden as much as I can.

Then Came The Jolly Summer

Last week, while I was waiting and generally getting side tracked, I noticed a rather nice pattern had appeared on a piece of fabric I'd placed under some garden fleece I was painting (don't ask!) to catch the excess paint.  The fleece experiment wasn't a success but I fiddled around with that bit of fabric as it seemed to have flowers on.  I cut and stitched, and added some organza.  I painted some handmade paper and stitched the fabric on.  I used my new lumiere paints that I got from my recent visit to Art Van Go. 

Jolly Summer - 17cm x 21cm

  
The text is from The Fairie Queene (Edmund Spenser) because it seemed quite a jolly piece, especially when the sky was grey over the weekend.  I'm not actually sure how much I like it, but my neighbour does so I thought I'd share it anyway! (And is it a textile piece, or is it really mixed media, or doesn't it really matter? It all gets very complicated at times!)

The sun is back now - let's hope it stays awhile this time!

Waiting

While I'm waiting for summer to come back I've been inside fiddling with paints and fabric.  This also involves lots of waiting - waiting for crackle glaze to crackle, waiting for rusting powder to go rusty, waiting for paints to dry etc etc.  The trouble is that while I'm waiting for one thing I start something else and totally forget about the first thing, hence I currently have many half finished projects and a lot of mess!  Guess that's my random brain again!

I've also been waiting to have some time to join in with Gina's sketchbook project, and I've managed to start!  The challenge was to use one main colour and things close to home.  I chose purple, and flowers - obviously!

 

After preparing the background, (I used brusho, rather than watercolour, and clingfilm) I cut out a template of a fuchsia and rubbed round it with white oil pastel and then painted inside.  I then tried using markal paint sticks as well as adding pencil details.  I like the shapes that come from cutting away the page to reveal some of the next.
I also really like the shading that's left on the template!

I didn't do so well with the next bit - using a potato to print with.  I changed my shape to an aquilegia seed head (as the fuchsia was too big for my potato!) and think I got too fiddly.  I quite like them when there's hardly any paint on them though.  This is the area I've picked to enlarge (the next task):

I will show you more, but you'll have to wait as I got side tracked - again!