Old School Garden

The February garden is dominated by the usual seasonal stalwarts, the snowdrops, the witch hazels and, now gradually coming on board, the hellebores. There are too many of each to list the top ten but above are a selection of hellebores, still not yet at their best (‘Double Lime’, ‘White Spotted Lady’ and ‘Harvington Double […]

via Never a Dull Moment: Top Blooms for February — Rambling in the Garden

Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520), simply known as “Raphael” to the world, was an Italian High Renaissance painter and architect. Wikipedia beautifully said, “Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of (the High Renaissance) period.” His art is notable because of its: Clarity of form Ease of composition Expression…

via Artist Raphael Sanzio: “Prince of Painters” — Outside The Lines

When Margaret Nettlefold planned the garden at Winterbourne, daughter Valerie revealed that her mother ‘lived with gardening books for a year or so’. Here, the influence of Gertrude Jekyll is inescapable. Winterbourne is filled with Jekyllian detail inspired by her 1899 classic Wood and Garden. Each month, we follow in Margaret’s footsteps to see how the…

via Now and Then: February — Winterbourne House and Garden

In the last couple of years I have come to appreciate street art. I now go out of my way to see street art and even go on street art walking tours if they are offered. There are so many reasons why people love street art and why it is becoming more popular or important […]

via Reasons Why Street Art is Important — Janaline’s world journey

https://videopress.com/embed/uKUufhzg?hd=0&autoPlay=0&permalink=0&loop=0

Around 1600, the Tokugawa family became the dominant power in feudal Japan. The Emperor was essentially a figurehead. The Tokugawas moved the administrative capital from Kyoto to Edo (Tokyo), while the Imperial Court remained in Kyoto. Nijo Castle, completed in 1628, was built as the Kyoto residence for the head of the Tokugawa family – […]

via Kyoto’s Nijo Castle — gardeninacity

More flower picture indulgence for you all, with thanks to super photographer, Charles Hawes. (and me) (you can play at guessing which is which.) Not from Veddw this time, but from a trip to Ashwood Nurseries. We took a Trip with the Garden Media Group. Working with hellebores.. First stop – the stock! Just…

via Hellebores this time! — Veddw

Where can we start to tell you what a privilege it is to stay at Casa de Sezim in Guimarães? This manor house is the perfect place to experience the glamour of aristocratic life. The house is built around a tower that remounts to 1376. The magnificent salons and the expansive veranda were added in the […]

via An 18th century oasis — Salt of Portugal

For two thousand years, the ‘peaceful undulating country of East Kent’ had pursued ‘an agricultural and seaside existence, perturbed by nothing more agitating than an ephemeral military conquest or so!’ But in 1931, as Patrick Abercrombie noted, a new coalfield seemed destined to change all that: (1) That deep peace is now permanently invaded; for, […]

via Aylesham and the Planning of the East Kent Coalfield, Part I — Municipal Dreams

A chill February wind is enough to send the hardiest gardener indoors, yet people love to gather round a bonfire. Installing a firepit creates the same focal point as a fireplace does in your sitting room, drawing family and friends into a cosy bonhomie round a flame-filled bowl, and extends the use of your garden […]

via Firepits in the Garden — Jardin

Now. that I’m getting on with tidying the borders, it makes sense to apply a mulch at the same time. Leave it much longer and it will be far trickier to spread the mulch amongst the growing plants. But what to use? Bark mulch in the woodland area Strulch on the borders A conversation with…

via Choosing the Right Mulch — The Enduring Gardener