Plant Love: Some Sensational September Smells.

Favorite smells from my garden this month...

Pictured top to bottom:

Rose geranium

Lemon Verbena; smells like lemon sherbert

Corsican mint

Heliotrope; smells like cherry pie.

Sniff them out!

and for some bad smells...
http://www.independent.co.uk/property/gardening/titans-penis-why-are-the-french-flocking-in-thousands-to-see-and-smell-this-plant-9577359.html

Tyre garden by Jerónimo Hagerman

Recycled tyres containing ponds and lawns and trees. An installation by Jerónimo Hagerman in Mexico City.

http://www.lugarcero.com/index.php/archives/1319

Karl Blossfeldt's sculptural plant portraits

Beautiful early 20th century photographic portraits by German teacher Karl Blossfeldt.

Yesterday in the garden

Top to bottom:

Iceland poppy (Papaver Nudicale)

Cyclamen seedlings

Regal Pelargonium 'Lord Bute'

Iris Ensata

Boy & pumpkin

Carex 'frosted curls'

Pilotus & watering can.

The view from the back door: Choisya, Cotoneaster, summer flowering Jasmine, yellow roses, Iris Ensata, Sedums, Cyclamen, alpine Viola, Succulents and Iceland Poppies in pots.

Behind the Choisya: Flowering Rush, ferns, Weigela, Primula Denticulata (drumstick primulas), Black Zantedeschia & Corsican Mint. Salvaged chunky terracotta quarry tiles are in the foreground, a contorted hazel that has just been planted should grow across to break up that big expanse of bricks in the next few years.

A visit to my M&D's garden

and a new instagram account: search for you_dig_gardens

Top to bottom:

Plume poppies

Contorted Hazel

Japanese Horsetail & Hydrangea 'Blue Wave'

Echinacea 'White Swan' & ophiopogon

Colchicum a.k.a. naked ladies.

All photos taken be me in Lincolnshire on Tuesday.

Tres Birds

An 'outdoor office' installation by Tres Birds

Very Important Moss

Moss is a prized asset in many Japanese gardens, such as the garden of the Ginkakuji Temple in Kyoto, where these (very usefully translated) signs are found:

Here's the very important moss (like VIP) in action at Ginkakuji:

Plant love: Restios

Recently came across the Restio family of plants, and in particular Rhodocoma Capensis: incredible 8 ft tall plumes like a giant silky soft horsetail. It combines the architectural structure of bamboo with an amazing feathery, tactile texture.

 

Top & middle: Restio Elegia Capensis

Bottom: Restio Rhodocoma Capensis

Apparently you don't see these Restios that often in the UK because they're complicated to propagate; the seeds need smoking to encourage germination, which would happen naturally during scrub fires in their native South African landscape.

My own plant arrived in the post this week, looking more like a couple of tiny bits of green wiggly wire than the majestic specimens above. Hopefully in a couple of years it'll turn into an impressive plant.

Gardening and conflict

Some fantastic reportage on gardens created in conflict zones by photographer/journalist Lalage Snow here

Ruined palace of peace, Kabul, Afghanistan.

You can read the article she wrote for The Garden magazine here, or see her talk about the project at the Garden Museum in London on the 15th October 2014 (link here)

Another meaningful garden created in a conflict zone is this one:

A garden of tiny, jewel-like flowers sprouting from the waste products of destruction. Started by Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahma's mother, after he was killed by a teargas grenade. For the last 8 years, local villagers have protested every Friday about the Israeli settlements taking over their land. The planters are empty teargas grenade cases, thrown at demonstrators by Israeli soldiers.

More info here

These gardens are shows of resilience and creativity under the harshest of conditions.

Wayward Plants

Wayward Plants create exciting horticultural projects such as this 'pop-up' community garden, with an emphasis on recycling and community inclusion. Inspiring stuff.

They also created this riverside recycled temporary allotments:

Fritz Haeg's edible estates

Artist Fritz Haeg, alongside his many other fantastic garden based projects, has been encouraging people to replace their front lawns with vegetables since 2005. 15 have been converted so far. And he lives in a geodesic dome...

Cybergardening!

A futuristic algae garden by EcoLogicStudio...

Gardens of Gladstone Street pt.1

As proponents of community gardening have long recognised, gardening can be a fantastic way for people to make connections, encouraging people to bond over a shared love of green things.

 I saw this happening in a big way on my last allotment, where people from all walks of life & a huge range of cultural backgrounds would while away hours discussing the merits of different sweetcorn varieties, swapping cooking tips for the different veg they grew & having a laugh together in the morning sunshine. Of course, there were also some snide mutterings about the weeds on plot 34 etc, but in general it brought people together in a way I haven't witnessed elsewhere.

With this in mind, I've decided to write a set of posts on the rather lovely gardens in my local community, starting off on my street.
It's a street of terraced houses, so we all have limited space. The first garden I'm posting about is Katherine's, who has crammed in a shrubbery, box-edged fruit & veg beds, espalier apple trees, a shady fern garden under an ivy-clad pergola, a greenhouse and a summer house all in a space roughly 12 meters by 4 meters.

looking down the lush & leafy garden from the house

Looking towards the house with the blackcurrants & redcurrants on the left. The box bushes edging the bed give them a touch of formality.

You can see the zig-zag layout of the beds & the grapevine on the right. Behind me there's a little greenhouse with a flourishing kiwi vine growing over it.

Thank you Katherine!

Local greenery

A nottingham duo making the city a greener place:

I especially liked this wildflower bed:

http://www.creativequarter.com/community/projects/196687-2/
https://www.facebook.com/#!/ArticultureCQ