Flowers to the people!

Grow Wild are distributing wild flower meadow packs; with seeds and more, for free to people across the UK ready for sowing in Spring 2015. Organisations can apply for them here: https://www.growwilduk.com/

Psychedelic Vegetables

Some psychedelic vegetables to perk up a drab autumn day:
romanesco cauliflower
chioggia beetroot,
red cabbage,
borlotti beans,
rainbow chard,
and of course, 'purple haze' carrots.

You can grow all of these veggies right here in the UK

wild formal rockery (if that makes any sense)

some nice contrasts between natural and formal in this space:

Like their take on the rockery, and beehives too.
by Polyform architects.
reblogged from Serafin Outsights

Upcoming gardening events at Hauser and Wirth Somerset

The Hauser & Wirth gallery in Somerset has a rather fine new Piet Oudolf designed garden, and a series of interesting looking garden themed events coming up:
http://www.hauserwirthsomerset.com/events

Bruce Munroe

 Dan Pearson: design for London bridge garden

Karen Guthrie

8th Feb: ART OF THE GARDEN: BRUCE MUNRO, LIGHT AND LANDSCAPE

"Bruce Munro is noted for his immersive site-specific installations that employ light to 
evoke emotional response, often in an outdoor context and on a monumental scale."

19th Feb: ART OF THE GARDEN: TOM STUART-SMITH ON GARDENS AND THE IMAGINATION

"Whether it is a musical motif, molecular cell structure or perhaps a painting that has inspired him, Tom Stuart-Smith – winner of eight gold medals and three times Best in Show at the Chelsea Flower Show – explores the many influences that go into the creation of his gardens"

25th Oct: KAREN GUTHRIE: SOIL CULTURE RESIDENCY TALK

"The aim of Soil Culture is to use the arts to inspire a deeper public understanding of the importance of soil"

22nd Jan: ART OF THE GARDEN: DAN PEARSON, THE GARDEN AS VISION

"Art of the Garden is a celebratory programme that will explore the relationship between gardening, art and the landscape."

San Telmo Museum

An new extension to the historical museum building is designed to reference the landscape it is embedded into. At the foot of a rocky cliff, the architects, Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos, have created planting spaces to allow greenery to colonise the surface of the new building. These same cut-outs create beautiful patterns of light and shade in the interior too.

Rachel Cook Garden Design

A beautiful blog by my very talented friend; gardener & designer Rachel Cook.
http://rachelcookgardendesign.tumblr.com/

Radical Gardening!

Is growing something a revolutionary act?
(In a very gentle way) it can be!

Stickers from Breakfast and Jess

From growing your own food to reduce your reliance on supermarkets, look after your health or take cash away from the capitalist fat cats; to communal growing to bolster your community and help address a myriad of social problems. You can care for the land, create a habitat for nature; or do a spot of guerrilla gardening to reclaim the concrete wasteland. You can starting your own one person recycling scheme by making your own compost, or save seed and propagate & give away to spread the gardening love... gardening can be way to stand up against wastefulness, want & the general decline of western civilisation into a greed-driven consumerist slump. Literally grassroots and from the ground up, constructive instead of destructive, gardeners make places that are often productive and beautiful in a myriad of different ways.

Not a filthy commie dissenter? No problem! Gardening is fun for capitalists & rightwingers too! In fact, one of the major joys of gardening is the way it can bring people together. No matter what your political persuasion, you can have a good old chinwag about how to get rid of peony blight or your new favourite potato variety.

So is gardening revolutionary?
This man:

Ron Findlay
certainly believes it can be. Watch his TED talk (follow the link) and be persuaded.

Plant love...the Katsura tree and more smells.

What's the best smell in the whole wide world?...
Go to Westonbirt Arboretum at this time of year and find this shrub:

It's the Katsura tree (Cercicdiphyllum Japonicum). The smell of toffee apples and candyfloss as you get near it just knocks your socks off. The amazing smell might be something to do with this bush loitering nearby too...

Chinese Spice bush (lindera glauca)

Actually, loads of the trees at Westonbirt smell great. And I haven't even mentioned the autumn colours. Hooray for Westonbirt!

The Caravan Gallery's roundup of traditional English gardens

Some Anti-inspiration courtesy of the brilliant roving photography project:
the caravan gallery

If your garden looks like one of these, drop me an email! I can help you!

More gardens on wheels...

This time by Danish design group SLA:

Love the surprising contrast of the wild looking chunks of landscape in the industrial trailers.