Archive for December, 2016


This Christmas, the National Trust are hosting over 760 events and celebrations across the country, from winter markets to festive craft workshops and beautiful light displays. To mark the start of the seasonal celebrations, the charity is showcasing 1,000 handcrafted and decorates Christmas trees at Wallington, a stunning 17th century mansion and grounds in Northumberland. […]

via Lighting up the night with Wallington’s 1000 Christmas trees — National Trust Press Office

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In March’s ‘The Opportunist’ we unveiled plans for the development of a new Winter Garden focused around ten West Himalayan birch trees planted in the spring of this year. Following a successful summer in the ground those trees have now begun to establish, and the autumn which followed presented yet another window in which to […]

via A Seasonal Affair — Digging for Dirt

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In the mid-90s, a publisher suggested to the eminent horticulturalists Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd that they write a series of letters on ‘life and gardening’ to be published as a book. ‘Dear Friend and Gardener’ is the result of that suggestion, a cosy fireside delve into the chatty, gossipy, and wholly fascinating missives that […]

via Book Review: ‘Dear Friend and Gardener’ by Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd — Edinburgh Garden Diary

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Many of you in cold climates don’t get excited by a photograph of a deciduous tree turning colors in the fall, but on October 19th we were driving back to Flagstaff from the Grand Canyon when I saw a few yellowing aspens (Populus tremuloides) along Highway 180 and felt compelled, as someone visiting from a […]

via Aspens — Portraits of Wildflowers

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So of all the gardens we saw in the Minneapolis area, this one was absolutely my favorite. It is nestled among the fields and woods of rural northwest Wisconsin, about 40 minutes from the Twin Cities. Here plants and sculpture are combined so bewitchingly that you feel you have entered into a sort of dream.

via A Whimsical Dreamscape of a Garden — gardeninacity

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Narcissus ‘Jenny’

Back to a Thursday morning at Blickling this week, having missed last week. I began at 9am and was soon joined by fellow volunteer Rory. Gardener Rebecca asked us to dig planting holes for a thousand narcissus bulbs in the orangery garden….

Most of the gardeners wer on leave this day, and i was sad to learn that Project Manager Mike had had a resumption of his back problem so was once more on sick leave…speedy recovery Mike!

It turned out that the bulbs- called ‘Jenny’- were to go around the large central tree, naturalised in the grass. They had been chosen to commemorate one of the Thursday gardening volunteers- yes, named Jenny- who had passed away a year or two ago. A nice idea.

The central tree has a circular seat surrounding it and work was underway to repair the base of this which had rotted away somewhat. Near the top of the surrounding grass mound the turf was pretty hard and choked with pieces of old brick, but further down there was more give and the job of cutting out holes with a bulb planter a bit easier. Unfortunately Rory had been given a rather old and ineffective planter which didn’t cut too well, so he was forever clearing it out with odd pieces of stick (and regretfully, my secateurs).

My planter was certainly effective and by the time the ladies had joined us- to plant the bulbs- we had managed to get around half way around the tree.

Well, three hours later and we had managed to dig and plant out around 800 bulbs, with about 100 not being in good condition, so rejected, and the others to be planted in the White Garden near the double borders. They should all make a wonderful display in the spring. As it worked out, just as I had to leave we had just about finished and the heavens opened… I’m not looking forward to stiff shoulders in the morning.

Further Information:

Blickling Hall website

Blickling Hall Facebook page

A 360 degree tour of Blickling Hall

Old School Gardener

Finding Nature

Nature Connectedness Research Blog by Prof. Miles Richardson

Norfolk Green Care Network

Connecting People with Nature

Discover WordPress

A daily selection of the best content published on WordPress, collected for you by humans who love to read.

Susan Rushton

Celebrating gardens, photography and a creative life

Unlocking Landscapes

Writing, photography and more by Daniel Greenwood

Alphabet Ravine

Lydia Rae Bush Poetry

TIME GENTS

Australian Pub Project, Established 2013

Vanha Talo Suomi

The Journey from Finnish Rintamamiestalo to Arboretum & Gardens

Marigolds and Gin

Because even in chaos, there’s always gin and a good story …

Bits & Tidbits

RANDOM BITS & MORE TIDBITS

Rambling in the Garden

.....and nurturing my soul

The Interpretation Game

Cultural Heritage and the Digital Economy

pbmGarden

Sense of place, purpose, rejuvenation and joy

SISSINGHURST GARDEN

Notes from the Gardeners...

Deep Green Permaculture

Connecting People to Nature, Empowering People to Live Sustainably

BloominBootiful

A girl and her garden :)