Greenhouse Noir

* I was invited to this year’s Gardeners’ World Live preview and provided with a pair of tickets for the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

I do love a contemporary garden, and I do love a black background and so it was no surprise that I was drawn towards this garden, so much so that it was the first one we saw. And I knew then that we would be in for a good show, and I wasn’t wrong. This garden, designed by Matt Bettison really does show how a small space can have impact.

The black backdrops really show off the planting, or as the information board said ‘create a gallery-like setting allowing the planting to stand out’. It also has a real usable feel to it, and could become quite a garden sanctuary for its owners.

I recently saw a social media clip where Frances Tophill was asked her most controversial gardening view, and that turned out to be not liking fences painted soft greens and greys, much preferring the look shown in this garden. Same Frances, same - I’m a big fan of the dark backgrounds too, though I didn’t realise it was so dividing.

This would absolutely be the perfect place for a glass of wine after a busy day, wouldn’t it?

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for once again inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was another great show! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to this year’s show throughout the year - I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Looking back to the first Rutland Flower Show

We’re heading back to the Rutland Flower Show again this year, so ahead of that I thought I’d take a look back at our visit to the first Rutland Flower Show last year. Like this year the weather was very warm, and I’m hoping that this year there will be more shade as with it being a showground, there wasn’t much natural shade.

There were a mix of show gardens and plant stalls, but also there was a homeware section and what appealed to me more was the garden sculptures and vintage garden additions, so I’m hoping there’s a similar mix this year.

What I especially liked about this show garden, along with the obvious inspiration, was the detail on the information board which listed which plants had been used. Not just the plant names, but grouped by type so the trees were listed together, as were shrubs, perennials and the climber - this made it easy to identify which plant was which, which was great for those of us that don’t always know the plant names, and for those of us keen to learn.

GATES SHOW GARDEN

GATES SHOW GARDEN

Surprising myself I managed to not buy my all time favourites, and while our current multiple heatwave summer isn’t the ideal time to be buying plants, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to resist such beauties this year.

I might be better off buying succulents, which really wouldn’t be a hardship at all!

The ‘Turmeric Plants’ are on my wish list though, for the leaf shape as well as the vibrant pink.

And a rusty allium, yes please - this would be great to add interest into a winter border wouldn’t it?

Last year when I saw these I’d recently bought myself some new herb labels, I haven’t yet leapt back into seed sowing, but I’d be very tempted by these this year in readiness - I do like to be prepared.

STAMFORD LANDSCAPES SHOW GARDEN

STAMFORD LANDSCAPES SHOW GARDEN

We had an enjoyable chat with the people on the Stamford Landscapes stall and I liked the feel of their show garden - it always amazes me how show gardens come together so quickly, and can look so established, that’s a real skill.

GARDEN ELEMENTS SHOW GARDEN

I really need to add chives like this to my plant list don’t I?

THE GATHERER FLORIST DISPLAY

As well as the Show Gardens there were also smaller borders to admire and also take inspiration from. I’ve included a couple of my favourite shots here.

THE GRANGE DISPLAY

So after looking back at my photos from last year, I’m ready for this year’s show so watch out for some more photos from there soon.

Post Comment Love 7 - 9 August

Hello there, welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a relaxed, friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they may be removed, and if you see older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

These sheep - not mine - are on the wrong side of side of the fence, which is also thankfully not mine. But it seems they fancied a wander around the village last Sunday afternoon so left their field, wandered up the lane to the main road and at some point encountered the farmer up the road from us who chivvied them out of harms way, and unintentionally into our neighbour’s garden. MOH & I were innocently sitting in the garden and unexpectedly asked, by the farmer, if we were good with sheep.

Intrigued, but no idea if we were qualified at all we set about helping him get the escapees onto the other side of this fence. They weren’t quite ready for their adventure to end so visited another two neighbour’s gardens before the four of us, we’d been joined by another neighbour, spoilt their fun by blocking their path as there was a real chance they’d go for another lap around the village if not.

With experience (now) I’m not sure I am good with sheep - they’re surprisingly fast and nimble when they want to be - let’s hope their exploits don’t reoccur anytime soon!

Have a good week.

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