Loved the BBC post, it was fascinating. It's very comforting to think that when I'm dithering over colour schemes for the garden, I'm responding to some kind of primeval need, rather than an inability to make my mind up! Seriously, though, like you I veer from white to bright and back again and always wondered why.
I did enjoy your post on the BBC Gardening Blog - although colour is such a vast subject!
My feelings about which colours I want in the garden are different now than they were 5 years ago - and I always thought my choices were a reflection of what was going on in my life.
You also used my favorite image of yours for the post. :) K
I pressed the red button and enjoyed your post on the subject of colour. A fascinating topic. I have a definite leaning towards blue shades, both in the garden and in what I wear. I recognised the garden in your photo immediately ~ now there's a maestro of colour :)
Karen - I did wonder for a long time if my need for white was because life had been so hectic. And I was thinking of you when I wrote about yellow being bottom of people's list. The image was the first one which popped into my mind when thinking about which one I should use for the post. Keith Wiley's talk and visit last year showed me I shouldn't be afraid of using colour :)
Anna - I hated blue for a long time because it was the colour of my school uniform! One snippet that didn't make my article was blue being the colour preferred by bees.
As a painter I'd say that colour is only one element; it works in tandem with lots of other factors such as composition, tone and format. Artists often use only two or three colours in a painting to achieve a harmony, with perhaps one additional highlight - you might be surprised how many famous paintings work this way.
My neighbour, the great welsh painter John Knapp Fisher, talks of working on the edges of colour - his paintings hint at colour rather than blast it at you. I think gardens can be like that too - indeed, I think the best one's are.
Mark - Thanks :) You've raised some very good points and insights. It's interesting to see the style of people who've come into garden design from the art world. Sarah Price's work on the Olympic Park is worth looking out for. 500 words is tiny for such a vast subject: I wanted to say loads about the influence of light, textures and tones, but couldn't. I read 3 books on the subject whilst thinking about this post, all had completely different pespectives and I know I've only scratched the surface. I loved doing it though and hope to do more :)
Decide to put your house on the market Research thoroughly the best Estate Agent* to get you the swiftest sale and best price for your property Agree to have a For Sale sign placed outside (not everyone does these days) Wait for a blogger with a camera to notice that Scott really does need to use his full Christian name in his advertising Et voila ! * = Realtor if you're reading this over the Pond Gosh, I see it's nearly 5 years since the last How Advertising Works , it's great to be back! NAH and I have a list of examples similar to Scott's e.g. Sue Wellings' signature at the swimming club became S Wellings and he was at school with Terry and Steve Potts (S Potts and T Potts). Do you have any examples to add to the list? 😉
I'm rather taken with Geoffrey, a friendly giraffe used to promote Toys R Us since 1965. I'm even more taken with his bench inside W H Smith in Chippenham. Prior to the chain's sale earlier this year, it was agreed that certain stores would also have a Toys R Us section within them. Geoffrey's bench marks the transition from one of our traditional High Street retailers into something more fun and entertaining, though sadly rather empty when I took this photo. At some point the name W H Smith will morph into its new owner's chosen rebrand name, T G Jones* - rather bland in my opinion which appears to have been made up, unlike the original name which refers to the company's original founder Henry Walton Smith and reaches back to the year 1792. * = it has already in nearby Malmesbury, though they have yet to erase the etched W H Smith from the glass doors. They seem to have retained the corporate blue colour on the shopfront too, for now at least.
The Gromit Unleashed trail in Bristol is providing a lot of free fun and laugher in Bristol this summer and it was the perfect excuse to meet up with my Girls Night Out friends recently. We started off as colleagues 26 years ago, and now are firm friends, though it's rare to find so many of us together these days. Here we are with Wallace providing a stand-in for our one missing group member. This photo makes me so happy! The trail comprises 53 various Wallaces, Gromits, Feathers McGraw and Norbots spread over a wide area in and around Bristol with a few extra surprises along the way such as the roving labybird Gromit and a few items hidden around the Museum. It's great fun and don't we look fab!
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...
Hurrah - lots of you have said you're up for the 52 Week Salad Challenge and lo, here we are in week 1! We have people from the UK, France and the USA all eager to have a go, so our salad is fast taking on an international flavour :) Quite a few of you asked questions on how this is going to work, which is where today's kick-off post comes in... The main idea is that we all grow and/or forage some salad leaves to eat every week this year. What and how much is entirely up to you. We're in completely different locations, have different tastes, levels of skill and resources available so devising something more specific to suit everyone would be very hard and might not be what you'd really like to do. Over the year I'll be posting every Friday with ideas of what to grow, techniques to use and anything else I can think of that's salad related. I've already got oodles of ideas, but if there's something you'd particularly like me to post about, t...
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
It looks like it's going to be a bumper plum crop this year, so I was pleased to see my hedgerow 'stash' close by was looking ripe and plentiful a couple of days ago. I'm not sure whether the trees were planted as part of the hedgerow or have sprouted from discarded stones. On closer inspection it looks like there are 3 different plum trees: one looking like an Oullins Gage, one which could be a cherry - though there is a cherry plum - and another bright red variety - about the size of a damson - which fits in between the other two sizewise. I did ponder whether the yellow plum might be a Bullace - a wild plum usually found in hedgerows - but having looked at lots of photos on the 'net, I'm happier with the gage variety. All of these trees are ready for picking early on in the season, so I had a very happy half hour the other evening resulting in 4lbs of them in my bag and still plenty to go! Some were stewed for tea, but I used the bulk of them for jam, ...
It's been great to have some quality time on the patio this week culminating in yesterday's partial eclipse. With the live stream to hand, we had fun with our hastily made pinhole projector (a piece of card pierced with a paper clip), playing with the image on our hands, then NAH decided to carefully take a direct photo of the sun. 'That won't work', I said, and I was right... and wrong, with the sun behind its mackerel sky veil blazing forth as usual, but the camera lens flare revealing a perfect image of the sun bitten by the moon. * = I've had Midnight Oil's Earth and Sun and Moon on the brain all week; especially appropriate for yesterday's celestial event.
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
Loved the BBC post, it was fascinating. It's very comforting to think that when I'm dithering over colour schemes for the garden, I'm responding to some kind of primeval need, rather than an inability to make my mind up! Seriously, though, like you I veer from white to bright and back again and always wondered why.
ReplyDeleteThanks Victoria - I'm glad you enjoyed it. Did you recognise the bit from our conversation on colour?
ReplyDeleteI learnt a lot writing it, not just about colour!
I did enjoy your post on the BBC Gardening Blog - although colour is such a vast subject!
ReplyDeleteMy feelings about which colours I want in the garden are different now than they were 5 years ago - and I always thought my choices were a reflection of what was going on in my life.
You also used my favorite image of yours for the post.
:)
K
I pressed the red button and enjoyed your post on the subject of colour. A fascinating topic. I have a definite leaning towards blue shades, both in the garden and in what I wear. I recognised the garden in your photo immediately ~ now there's a maestro of colour :)
ReplyDeleteKaren - I did wonder for a long time if my need for white was because life had been so hectic. And I was thinking of you when I wrote about yellow being bottom of people's list. The image was the first one which popped into my mind when thinking about which one I should use for the post. Keith Wiley's talk and visit last year showed me I shouldn't be afraid of using colour :)
ReplyDeleteAnna - I hated blue for a long time because it was the colour of my school uniform! One snippet that didn't make my article was blue being the colour preferred by bees.
Your fame is spreading! Great post on the BBC.
ReplyDeleteAs a painter I'd say that colour is only one element; it works in tandem with lots of other factors such as composition, tone and format. Artists often use only two or three colours in a painting to achieve a harmony, with perhaps one additional highlight - you might be surprised how many famous paintings work this way.
My neighbour, the great welsh painter John Knapp Fisher, talks of working on the edges of colour - his paintings hint at colour rather than blast it at you.
I think gardens can be like that too - indeed, I think the best one's are.
Mark - Thanks :) You've raised some very good points and insights. It's interesting to see the style of people who've come into garden design from the art world. Sarah Price's work on the Olympic Park is worth looking out for. 500 words is tiny for such a vast subject: I wanted to say loads about the influence of light, textures and tones, but couldn't. I read 3 books on the subject whilst thinking about this post, all had completely different pespectives and I know I've only scratched the surface. I loved doing it though and hope to do more :)
ReplyDelete