Not Another Plant Fair!!

Oh no, another plant fair?? Oh yes!!

I did mention on my previous post that last weekend was a free weekend but the Chenies Manor Plant Fair last Sunday was etched on our diary anyway. It is a big fair but the best bit about it for us is that it is within our area and only half an hour drive away. Quite convenient!

So we agreed that if it's nice and sunny we'll stay put and not go but if it's rainy again then we'll pop round for a quick visit. Well, it turned out to be a sunny day anyway and we still went! It is a pleasant fair (we went last year) and thought it would be nice to start the day by visiting and checking out whatever goodies the nurseries have bought with them.

Queue! Ten minutes early...

but twenty minutes to get in!

So off we went, nice and early at the very start of the fair. And of course everyone was thinking the same as there were long queues forming already, and to think we were ten minutes early! I suppose all regular plant fair attendees have the same mental wavelength with regards to arriving early (especially if you're after rarer plants).

Nice!

For a one day fair it is rather large and the nearly all of the nurseries we saw this year were in the exact same spot as they were last year, de ja vu! But at least it made navigation quicker and we went straight to the stands of the nurseries we are likely to buy plants from like Edulis Nursery and Roseland House Nursery (which specialises on Clematis and other climbers).

Kniphofia rufa

Veratrum album - First time I've ever seen some being sold whilst in flower!

I quite like those wooden flowers! Maybe next time

After that special climber? Then this nursery is for you - Roseland House

Love the foliage of this one - Salvia argentea

Fatsia japonica 'Spider's Web' - looks like tissue culture has been very successful!

But saying that we didn't buy any climbers this time and came home with just four select plants. Plant buying for us wanes as the season progresses but possibly peaks again if there are good sales around in the autumn (and then almost none in the winter).

We stayed at the fair for an hour and a half before heading home, back by noon and spent the rest of the day gardening. The highlight of our visit though was this large wooden spider, we had to have this beast the moment we saw it.

This beauty (or should I say beast) came home with us

Now, I wonder if there will be any more fairs we'll go to before the end of the summer?? Maybe...

Mark :-)

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A Look Back at 2012 RHS Hampton Court Flower Show

We had such a fantastic, action packed time last Saturday at the recently concluded RHS Hampton Court Flower Show, so much so that it took us almost all Sunday to recover from our visit!

It is such a colossal show, there's so much to see and do in such a grand setting that if you're well into plants and want to see everything at a leisurely pace then a one day visit is not enough, it's more like a two day affair. We could have easily spent the entire day just in the Floral Marquee alone (where the stands of most of the specialist nurseries are, and where you can do most of your plant shopping). It's do-able with just one day of course, even just one afternoon but be prepared to whizz through some of the sections (which we did) or even bypass them altogether.

The Floral Marquee - this section is huge and could easily spend the day just browsing here. I think I took this photo a third of the way down, so just imagine the scale of it...

An outstanding display of Eremurus inside the Floral Marquee (by Jacques Amand - Silver Gilt)

Inside the much smaller Rose Marquee, which is about...Roses!

This 'floral arrangement' won gold, which is deserving especially compared to the others in the Rose Marquee!

A moment of naffness....

Garlic mania! One of the stands inside the Growing for Taste Marquee

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A Day at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2012

The Chelsea Flower Show opened to the public today and we were invited to attend by Flemings Nursery from Australia who have created one of the large show gardens. Flemings have become well known at Chelsea over the last few years, often creating exotic styled gardens with an Australian twist.

As Chelsea is such a big event and so many fantastic gardens and displays to check out we had a full day there. The highlight being allowed to look round the Flemings garden and meeting the designer Jason Hodges - which was a lovely experience as the public are not allowed into the gardens themselves. We were able to look at the details, whilst the public was kept behind the ropes, it was like being in a shop window! We loved this garden, although the judges didn't award it the coveted Gold Medal, instead awarding the garden a Silver Gilt.

Flemings Garden (Photo taken by the Flemings Team before the public were allowed in)

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Shopping, Swapping, Building and Gardening

What a hectic weekend!

It was a bank holiday in the UK on Monday, so we were grateful for the extra day off from work! I sure could get used to three day weekends.

Our good friends Lucien and Laura had organised a get together for a group of like minded exotic gardening fans on Saturday. We started off meeting at Akamba Garden centre near Birmingham. Akamba genuinely is a Garden centre like no other, with so many accessories and statues, as well as exotic plants. As well as shopping we also had a plant swap in the car park.

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Exotic Shopping in London

Something for a lush, leafy, and tropical themed garden!

And in relation to my recent post, on a particularly very wet and dreary Saturday morning we made our annual spring pilgrimage to Camden Town in London, to check out the myriads of boheme and alternative shops within Camden Market. For amongst the hundreds of shops there are several stalls specialising in exotic fabrics and accessories sourced from far flung places such as India, South East Asia, and Africa. 

The boheme Camden Market!

Exotic accessories for an exotic garden, that's what we need! And we could do with a few new pieces this year just to vary the tone a bit in our garden as well as something new for us to look at. Variety is a fantastic spice, why not drizzle some in your garden too?

Fabulous array of brightly coloured fabrics, throws, and cushions evoking of exotic places!

That's one way of announcing 'There's an Asian fabric shop here!!'

Exotic gardening is a relative term, and can vary depending what area of the world you live at to begin with. But more likely it would mean adapting a style of garden that you would normally not find in your local setting (even if you use 'not so' exotic plants as backbones), conveying a sense of a place from far flung regions of the world, miles away from your own. And you can do that, not just with carefully selected plants but by also using the right accessories.

Masks and other sundries...I quite like the carved Indonesian wooden panel at the top end of this photo

The quintessential Buddha statues for that oriental look!

African masks galore!

A trio of bronze Indian gods (or goddesses??). I think they look superb grouped like that, very nice pieces!

Most of the areas of our garden that we accessorise has a lush, leafy, tropical theme to it so it would be fitting to look for accessories that convey warm, tropical areas where this sort of planting is more associated with. So the items sold in these specialist shops would be perfect for what we're trying to do. A treasure trove of exotic delights to help stage dress our garden!

A dazzling selection of exotic sundries!!

I love these two Southeast Asian wooden chairs, gorgeous! Too gorgeous to be exposed to the elements though!

Exotic accessory heaven!

From Asian to African in one corner...

More African wooden masks and sculptures...

Distinctively Indonesian!

So what did we come home with? A couple of brightly coloured throws, boxes of incense sticks, and a couple of statues which will no doubt feature on one of our future posts.

Now all we need is the ultimate garden accessory of all: the sun!

Mark :-)

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The Garden is a Stage

A bit of our own 'Stage Dressing' 

Stage Dressing...

Are two words I seldom encounter in the world of gardeners despite them playing a major role in setting the scene, atmosphere, and emphasising which particular style a garden is trying to achieve. 

You certainly hear these two words in theatrics, homes, and interiors but rarely when it comes to exteriors and garden spaces. And if you do hear them it's usually within the domains of garden designers and landscapers, rarely extending to the amateur gardener.

It doesn't mean it isn't there, it's actually there, all around and present in every well looked after garden. It seems to be the sort of thing that just 'happens' without even thinking about it, but rarely mentioned or talked about as a subject on its own. 

An eclectic mix of garden accessories are available, as was seen on a previous shopping trip...

Some lovely, some tacky, some classy, some trashy. And then there are the plain quirky...

Choose what's appropriate for your garden.....

But more importantly, choose what YOU like!

Yet it's one of the most fun things you can do to your garden. Done sympathetically with the overall planting scheme and style of the garden, some careful design and planning, and a touch of the owner's personal style and taste, it can do wonders to the overall feel of ones garden.

You can accessorise using with unique looking furniture 

A statement piece of accessory!

Nice or not?

The garden is a stage, dress it up! There may be no performers in it but it certainly makes the place more fun, and a more enjoyable place to spend time in. And it helps make the place 'your own' too. Accessorise it! Sometimes gardening is not just about the plants you grow in it, but also the items you put in it.

Mark :-)

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