A Eureka Moment with Garden Colour.

Hello!

I give individual gardening lessons and sometimes they can be so rewarding. This week one of my pupils had a Eureka moment.

When we first started our lessons she told me her favourite colours were pale pinks and purples she wanted to fill her garden with these colours. No problem, very nice I thought. We also talked about colours in her clothes and in her house. Again they were pale pastels of pinks, purples and blues and creams. It looked like she knew what she wanted.

Last week our lesson was on designing with colour in the garden. We talked about how society may influence us over our colour choice. For example TV and Magazines selling us a particular lifestyle. Her  homework was to go to an art a gallery and also to look at photos online of gardens online and see which colours and colour combinations really moved, excited her and drew her.

She didn't love Pinks and purples as she thought - what really thrilled and drew her in colours was shades of green, white and silver.  Now she is busy looking at plants with leaves and flowers in this colour range for her garden and her home.

Have a lovely weekend
Caroline
x






To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

choosing plants for a North Facing Shady Patio / courtyard

Anemone Honorine Jobert 

Available from Claire Austin Hardy Plants

https://www.claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk/products/anemone-x-hybrida-honorine-jobert

Hi.


We currently have a paved area surrounded on two sides by walls and on one side by a glass conservatory. It gets some sun in the summer but in the winter its in deep shade.  The paved area is dark and prone to algae and moss. Currently it is a gloomy place apart from in summer when it provides much appreciated shade.

I wanted to make it a more positive space and give it a cottagey feel like the rest of the garden. So I've been doing my homework!

I'm planning to take up some of the paving and replace it with gravel which will look lighter and also allow plants to self seed which I like. I won't be putting a membrane under the gravel. I may live to regret this!

I'll also put in plenty of pots which will I'll allow to spread seed.

I am also going to expand an existing border and make space to plant a climbing rose.

I've noticed that light yellow looks spectacular in this area so my plant list, which has taken me loads of time to do- includes whites, creams and yellows.

Anemone Honorine Jobert
Lemon Zest Marigold
Lysimachia Numulari
Hellebore Niger
Rose Alberic Barbier or Lady of the lake (the latter has some pink but I just love it)
Columbine Nivea or Chrysantha
Narcissus Minnow
Welsh Poppy
Anenome Lipsiensis
Japanese Shield Fern.

As I've just spent loads on making a wildflower lawn this remains a wish list for the moment. Probably not for long though knowing my addiction to buying plants!

Can't wait

Love caroline




To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

So excited about my new short wildflower lawn

Hi
This is a bit of an experiment. I've a large area of gravel surrounded by flower borders in my garden.

As a child we had a lovely lawn full of clover, daisies and buttercups and I wanted to recreate it. .

I phoned the people on wildseed.co.uk for advice. They were very helpful and they recommended mixture EL1 for my clay soil. This can be regularly mown but is still full of flowers which is good as I want it to be a bit tidier than a wildflower meadow so I can still enjoy my existing borders. So I ordered it this morning. Here are the flowers and grasses it contains. Its got Red Clover and Buttercups just as I wanted and lots more besides. I'm planning on leaving the middle of the area a bit longer and mowing a winding patch through it a bit shorter for effect.

I had asked if their mix included daisies but was told that its too difficult to collect Daisy Seed but if I steal a plant from somewhere and plant it in the lawn that it will rapidly self seed.

https://wildseed.co.uk/mixtures/view/56


I then got quotes for the topsoil I need but they were coming in at around £700! I really needed poor quality soil as this is what wildflowers need but that was even more expensive at around £850. This is too much for frugal nature I'm afraid.

So I'm trying a compromise of my own invention. I'm going to remove the membrane under the gravel, spike the underlying clay soil with a fork to loosen. Then mix the good top soil I've ordered with all the gravel that is already there. This brought the price for the top soil down to £220. Much less painful for my purse.

So its a bit of an experiment.

The mix comes with instructions for the whole process and maintenance after - no mention of using up waste gravel though!!

This weekend I'm preparing the site and the new soil arrives on Monday  - so I can sow the seed mixture in early spring.

Wish me luck - I'll let you know how I get on.

Caroline

x



To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

Poppy Garden - a painting by Karen Mathison Schmidt

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Ever since I bought a  lovely floral/garden print by Rachel Vollerthun I've been on the look out for more garden prints I can put up at home. Bringing the pleasure of flowers indoors. Cottage garden or flower paintings can be a little twee I feel but this one is not. It reminds me of the Californian poppies in my front garden in the height of summer.

This one is called Poppy Garden by Karen Mathison Schmidt, an artist in Louisiana.
Garden and prints can be bought from e-bay. Link below.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/KMSchmidt-16x12-LTD-Ed-PRINT-fauve-impressionist-POPPY-GARDEN-red-yellow-POPPIES/162513968094?hash=item25d6965bde:g:iHAAAOSwxu5ZFj5G












To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

My Experience of Giving Gardening Lessons To My Baby Sister!

Hi there

I have a sister 16 years younger than me - she was a bit of a surprise for my parents! She has been saying she wants to learn to garden but for ages has not been able to get what she needs from books.

In the past I used to write and deliver courses on computer skills so I asked her what she needed to learn and I set about writing half an hour  lessons for her.

There is some key knowledge she needs and also she needs to gain confidence by doing. So I wrote a list of things to cover and some ideas of how to learn them by doing short easy projects.

For example growing a geranium she can learn about feeding, watering, planting, choosing a plant for a particular situation, deadheading and also taking cuttings and some basic design principles such as grouping identical plants for maximum effect.

So far we've had lessons on parts of a plant and what they do, needs of a plant and how they have adapted for various situations, the general principles of pruning and how to find out how to prune specific plants.

Each week there is a short task to do and we chat about how it went.

Each lesson is written on a template - in the first column is the topic title. In the second is the points to cover - for each I try to involve her by getting her to brainstorm the answers rather than me just telling her things. The third column is for more advanced useful information relating to each point to add interest.

We are both really enjoying the experience. I find she is thinking of many ideas for herself and is now able to cope with reading up and using key gardening books such as Geoff Hamilton's practical gardening course and also RHS pocket guide to pruning.

She is saying that I am filling in essential gaps in her knowledge.

I already have 10 lessons written up and could easily do many at higher levels.

There is so much to learn with gardening, it never stops, but it is such a pleasure to give someone the confidence to learn for themselves!

Take care
Caroline

xxx

The picture above is by Karen Mathison Schmidt and is called Garden of Grace. Prints are available in her ebay store.

http://karenmathisonschmidtgallery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/garden-of-grace-impressionist-painting.html











To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

The secret garden - Morroco - inspiring gardens

Hi

This has to be one of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen. I just had to write about it.  It is the sort of garden that makes me want to recreate it for myself. 

Its in Marakesh, Morocco. Monty describes it as "breathtakingly simple". 

There are some Olive trees around the edges, Rosemary forms a low hedge around each area. The main plant used is a grass - Stipa Tenuissima - each grass plant appears to be clipped individually, and is upright. So it doesn't look like a lawn. 

There are small patches of a pale Lavender and a few patches of Cape Garlic. Both pale violet or blueish in tint which goes with the silver leaves and the tiles on the pavement. 

Why does it work - I think its because of the following. 

It has a very limited palette - Mainly green with some silver mixed in. Some pale greys and blues in the tiles (see below). There are very few types of plants so there is a lot of repeating of plants. Both of these are good design principles. The amount of green in the garden gives it such a relaxing feel. 

I came across it watching a BBC programme called Paradise Gardens presented by Monty Don. 

To see the clip from the programme - go to.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05txncq

The garden was designed by Tom Stuart-Smith who is based in the UK http://www.tomstuartsmith.co.uk/  You can see Tom's own garden - the Barn Garden through the National Gardens Scheme on the 10th June 2018. Its nr St Albans, Hertfordshire, UK

https://www.ngs.org.uk/?bf-garden=11970 Definitely a date for my diary.

The plants
Stipa Tenuissima Link to buy plant - Jacksons Nurseries
Cape Garlic - Tulbaghia Violacea available from Unwins see picture below.
Lavender - Pale Pretender available from Perry Hill Nurseries.
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I hope you love it as much as I do.

Caroline
x


To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

Blackcurrant leaf tea - delicious and free from my garden

Hi there

A while ago I bought a blackcurrant bush - Big Ben - Since then I've made a couple more bushes for free by taking a stem and putting in the ground in autumn and just leaving until its rooted.

I was browsing the web for infusions/teas and found that blackcurrant leaf tea is recommended

I put a few leaves in a teapot and steeped for 10 to 15 minutes and served with sugar in a posh white cup. It helps the flavour - honest!

It is really delicious  and smells gorgeous - all the flavour of blackcurrants with no acidity. Perhaps my favourite ever free tea from my garden.

I use the mature leaves (the young ones don't have much taste) but not from late summer onwards as they lose their flavour again. I pick a few from each stem - usually near the top of the stems. The leaves freeze well and make just as good tea so you can treat yourself throughout the winter .

Hope you try it

Caroline
x


To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/