Musings from the heart of Wiltshire, erm Chippenham actually... Gardening, GYO, Food, Travel & Lifestyle
Things in Unusual Places #3: Pink Umbrellas
Every time we drove through East Rudham village we couldn't miss the bright pink umbrellas outside Brownies tearooms and kitchen/garden shop. They looked like they'd be more at home at a beachside bar in Mallorca* than in a tiny sleepy village in Norfolk. However, we did look out for them every time we passed by!
*= I'm not being snobby about it, just truthful as it's exactly the kind of thing I see when I go out there on my research trips, particularly at my friend's bar in Muro ;)
I think we must be following each other around VP -I was rather taken by them too when I spotted them last month. Perhaps we are both just attracted to very pink things!?
the color certainly attracts the eye! some years back, when i would give directions to the place i worked, all i had to say was 'turn down the road where the pink house is at the corner'. that house was as pink as those umbrellas so everyone knew it.
There was a large pink pub at a junction near our place which was a bit of a landmark. (Had to be careful with directions as it was called The Organ). It was then painted grey, and I think business must have dropped off as within about a year it was repainted and is now a tasteful lemon. Someone somewhere must be an expert in use of colour for marketing...
Ryan - it would be lovely to collaborate, but one of the aims of my research is to ensure it gets handed over so that local scientists are taking responsibility for it.
RO - what an amazing coincidence! You weren't in London on Sunday by any chance?
Juliet - the warning was there in the title - especially for you ;)
Petoskystone - good point. Here a lot of the navigation's via prominent pubs
CIMS - and the rest of the pink decor ;)
PG - yes it is - you can't miss them!
Joanne - no, we didn't sample their fare. There were lots of squeals coming out of the shop when I was taking the photo. I think they may have spotted me!
Neva - welcome back! I think we might another time
SG - that's an interesting point. I don't suppose a shade in keeping with their name (Brownies) would be as effective
Commonweeder - they seem to be pretty popular judging by the search hits I'm getting for a similar picture on my photography blog :) Perhaps I'll get a nice free cup of tea the next time?
From my door to your home, I hope this time is as merry and bright as it can be under the current circumstances. This year's wreath is foraged greenery on a straw base with ornaments saved from previous ones. It's bearing up remarkably well after nearly 3 weeks despite no moss or oasis base to keep the foliage moist. New-to-me greenery used in this way are the Clematis 'Winter Beauty' I pulled from the pergola, plus lots of fragrant rosemary from a friend's garden. I spent a lovely morning at my neighbours recently where we all managed to create something beautiful for our front doors in aid of Dorothy House , a cause dear to her heart as they looked after her late husband so well. Enjoy the turning of the year towards the lighter days again and I'll see you in 2022!
My wild and woolly front lawn has just got a little woollier with the surprise addition of the above beauty. I spotted a strange looking spike emerging a couple of weeks ago and hoped it was what it's turned out to be: a lovely, lovely orchid. This one's a pyramidal orchid ( Anacamptis pyrimidalis ), which according to the link likes a milder climate and chalk or limestone grasslands. It also goes on to say that it's developed a liking for the more artificial kind of environment - such as beside roads and canals - so perhaps a front lawn on a limey clay soil is just the kind of place it likes to be nowadays. I'm delighted it's chosen my front garden! I've asked NAH to refrain from mowing the lawn for a while to enable it to set seed, though he's keen to mow the 'meadow' now No Mow May has finished. Perhaps we now have the perfect compromise, leave the front lawn so there's taller herbiage there with a lower back lawn to offer the shorter grass
Sunday's scarecrow trail over at Pewsham provided the latest unusual front garden in the shape of a vintage lawnmower used as a plantstand. It's quite ironic seeing there's no lawn! ATCO is a century-old* lawnmower manufacturer and judging by its appearance this is a relatively old one. Unusually it's been quite hard to find out much information about it online. According to this guide , my best bet is to go back and see if there are any useful looking numbers on the metalwork. * = just over as the company was founded in 1921
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Veg Plotting 's Blooms Day would be incomplete without the occasional foray into Grow Your Own flowers, so I'm pleased to bring you my 'Just Add Cream' strawberry plants for this month's floral focus. This is a relatively new variety from Thompson & Morgan 's own breeding programme, who also provided me with a few plants to try in 2017. Naturally I've given them a tough time by forgetting them entirely deliberately growing them on in the smallest of trays for a year before I finally planted them out. I'm pleased to say they've passed this test with flying colours. I'm growing these at home instead of on the allotment where VP Gardens demands food plants look attractive as well as being productive. Apparently pink flowered strawberries have proved rather bland and unproductive in the past, but this variety is bucking those particular trends. It's an everbearer strawberry which means the crop is spread over many months in the su
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 gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom: Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Sunshine, spring flowers and the Easter bunnies have been. It's a perfect day. A bunch of British daffodils is my weekly treat from January through to now, they are such happy flowers. This year in an unexpected turn of events NAH has made it two bunches! Have a good Easter everyone 😊
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
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
The gimmick works though?
ReplyDeleteI think maybe we should collaborate on a research project? What you reckon?
Ryan
I think we must be following each other around VP -I was rather taken by them too when I spotted them last month. Perhaps we are both just attracted to very pink things!?
ReplyDeleteEeeek, more p*nk!
ReplyDeletethe color certainly attracts the eye! some years back, when i would give directions to the place i worked, all i had to say was 'turn down the road where the pink house is at the corner'. that house was as pink as those umbrellas so everyone knew it.
ReplyDeleteTies into the pink chalkboard sign....refreshing and fun
ReplyDeleteWhat a clever advertising campaign.
ReplyDeleteWell they clearly caught your eye was the tea nice too or were they not that eye catching enough?
ReplyDeleteit makes for an interesting photo and I would feel inclined to stop in for some tea!
ReplyDeleteThere was a large pink pub at a junction near our place which was a bit of a landmark. (Had to be careful with directions as it was called The Organ). It was then painted grey, and I think business must have dropped off as within about a year it was repainted and is now a tasteful lemon. Someone somewhere must be an expert in use of colour for marketing...
ReplyDeleteRyan - it would be lovely to collaborate, but one of the aims of my research is to ensure it gets handed over so that local scientists are taking responsibility for it.
ReplyDeleteRO - what an amazing coincidence! You weren't in London on Sunday by any chance?
Juliet - the warning was there in the title - especially for you ;)
Petoskystone - good point. Here a lot of the navigation's via prominent pubs
CIMS - and the rest of the pink decor ;)
PG - yes it is - you can't miss them!
Joanne - no, we didn't sample their fare. There were lots of squeals coming out of the shop when I was taking the photo. I think they may have spotted me!
Neva - welcome back! I think we might another time
SG - that's an interesting point. I don't suppose a shade in keeping with their name (Brownies) would be as effective
I love the idea of pink umbrellas (I am a rose person) and the idea of having a lovely tea under one. I hope you did have a lovely tea.
ReplyDeleteCommonweeder - they seem to be pretty popular judging by the search hits I'm getting for a similar picture on my photography blog :) Perhaps I'll get a nice free cup of tea the next time?
ReplyDelete