Category Archives: beauty

Eden

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Today for something a little different. I visited the ‘Eden Project’ in Cornwall yesterday with my sister which was really fantastic and made me realise a couple of things; a. I am a complete plant nerd and must have bored her silly 😉 and b. how incredible it is that that is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the uk! people going to look at plants! I love it 🙂

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Hibiscus. lovely!

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This was all over the Mediterranean biome, it has bright pink leaves with a tiny white flower inside – beautiful! I remember seeing it in Andalusia in Spain.

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I know it’s not that unusual, but I was just really enjoying the terrace of yellow flowers; sunflowers, rudbeckias etc. Really eye catching and cheerful!

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I think the dahlias were one of my highlights. Incredible varieties and I have certainly warmed to dahlias over the season and planning which ones to grow next year..

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not a big fan of the pom pom double centered ones; these are so good for bees to get into.

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Enjoyed the sweet pea collection too. Certainly going to be growing more (varieties) and less (plants) next year. My sister is hiding behind them.

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Pitcher plant; the carnivorous flower and sign says ‘please do not put fingers inside the plants’.

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Always a joy; the echinacea. I also really loved their ‘bee area’ which big patch of ‘verbena bonderiensis’, and bronze angelica.. lots of ideas now!

A day in flowers

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On Fridays I begin the day picking buckets of flowers then there is watering, weeding, arranging, more weeding, tidying – a busy flower day always before the weekend rush when people begin arriving for the wedding at the weekend.

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The asters are incredible! late to start, but then they really get going! I think they look a bit like clown flowers though and it has taken me a while to warm to them.

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Also late to start are the scabious; really sweet ‘pin cushion’ flowers that the bees love, but only a small amount made it through that cold spring.

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and here are some jars and bits and pieces;

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putting them together

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and some of the sweet peas are coming back to health after the aphid attack..

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Upon returning…

I have been away at Buddhafield festival for a wonderful 5 days and upon returning today there are some new faces emerging in the flower plot..

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Dahlias! What beauties! These are the single bloom varieties I grew from seed. Now I just need to keep giving them plenty of food and water to keep ’em happy all summer long.

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Zinnias! the most insane coloured flowers and what a great name too.

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Nigella/love in a mist; I think these are my favourites so far, like little jewels and so beautiful and feathery. Can’t believe they are a member of rununculus family!

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and rudbeckia too! if you can spot them in there. Back to work and watering in the morning.

Marigolds and Magpies

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I entered the plot this morning only to discover that there had been an intruder! Plants pulled out the ground (only the flowers of course, all weeds left totally untouched) and all of the name labels pulled up too and strewn across the beds. What would do this? a very careful and mischievous rabbit? a drunken man with something again amaranthus and rudbeckia? all kinds of strange potential solutions went through my mind as I carefully replanted the damage. In the end I settled on the rabbit idea.

It was later reveled to me that without a doubt this intruder was none other than a mischievous magpie (or prehaps two). Here he is..

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The rest of the day passed by without too much more excitment apart from picking the first marigolds for jam jar arrangements. I think calendula/marigolds are seriously under-rated flowers as many people just see them as weeds. They are a first sign of summer, a little beam of joy and light, a flower of the sun! For some reason they have been given the traditional meaning of ‘grief’ in the Victorian language of flowers, which I have never quite understood.

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Medicinally they are incredible too; one of the best anti-fungal, antiseptic and astringent herbs available. Marigold also stimulates circulation, help the body to help fight infection and are said to ward off tumors and cysts. It also aids the digestive system, female reproductive system as well as liver function. To use externally on cuts, burns, sprains, bruises etc it is dead easy to make a simple calendula ointment. The other amazing thing about calendula is that you can eat the flowers which look soo beautiful scattered over salads and just about anything actually!

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They are also all just a little bit different to each other if you look closely! but not the easiest flowers to arrange. Marigold seeds are very amazing too! I remember the first time I saw them thinking they were little bugs or something. Below is a photo of a tray of jam jar arrangements this afternoon with the first marigolds..

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and another in vivid colours..

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that’s it for now, go pick some marigolds and put them in a jar on your windowsill. I think the world would be a much better place if everyone had marigolds and sweet peas on there breakfast table.. xx

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The sweetest sweetpeas

Welcome,

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Here are some little insights and snapshots of my latest career as a cut flower grower. My previous experience is of veg growing and I dont even remember where the idea came from.. a few years ago  i attented a one day course in organic cut flower production and it all started from there. At the beginning of Februrary I didn’t even know a cosmos from a cornflower 🙂

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Since then there have been crash courses in floristry, many seedlings germinated, pricked out and potted on on, puzzling over dahlia tubers and now all of a sudden I have just under a quater of an acre of flower seedings (as well as a whole lot of weeds!) and today my first 7 sweetpeas – the sweetest of course…

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Finally, here are two time lapse footages of sweetpea growth and germination, so beautiful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEoA82K-QPY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krr-UwOa8XE

Till next time xx