Friday 30 May 2014

Foxglove fest...or Digitalis delight! ;-)




If I was any good at painting, I would have been sitting here,

 with my watercolours and sketch pad, on Wednesday morning!

There was drizzle in the air, which somehow made it look quite magical,

at a distance!






I do love Foxgloves and this year they seem to be particularly

beautiful and very stately; possibly because they are so at home in their 

woodland setting.



































And the best bit is...

I have two trays, full of Foxglove seedlings, in the greenhouse!

They are so easy to grow from seed...

but do remember that the seeds are poisonous!





Wednesday 28 May 2014

Tavistock Garden Festival






Having been exposed to a very high dose of 'Chelsea' all week, 

you would think that I'd be all gardened out!

But no! The Chelsea Flower Show inspires me, year in, year out!

I do, however, think that the Chelsea Flower Show is far too

'personality heavy' ; that there is a certain level of pretentiousness;

 and also that, over the years, the large gardens have become too 'gimmicky'.


Nevertheless, I do love to see new young designers, such as Hugo Bugg,

shining through and I always look for and love the simple, yet effective,

artisan and cottage garden displays.


Thus, when I read that there was a Garden Festival in

a 'town near us', this weekend, I was keen to take a look.






And so...on Monday, we visited Tavistock Garden Festival, which was held in

 and around the town hall....and it was most definitely a riot of colour!





Visit it with me...oh do!!!




The display above actually won the prize for the people's choice.

This was Wendy Hicks Plants













But it was all very lovely!

At the moment,I'm loving Foxgloves and Primulas!












It was a fine bank holiday morning and Tavistock 

was full of flowers, was bathed in sunshine and was covered in blue sky.

What could be better than that?!

Simply lovely!





Sunday 25 May 2014

First home together !




We're in the middle of yet another bank holiday weekend!

Yesterday, we were invited to see Nich and Lizzie's

flat. They moved there about six months ago,

yet, what with one thing and another, we had not managed to arrange a visit.







We're in Exeter...and Exeter never ceases to amaze me!

Here we are, in the city, yet we are surrounded by nature, beauty

and colour. Lots of colour!

The front garden of the house where they live

is enough to cheer up anyone's day!





In fact the whole road had that extra, special something!





I especially love old walls with plants growing happily out of them

and everywhere you look in South Devon, at the moment, it is Valerian heaven, 

be it the pink or red variety.

Allowing nature to just get on with it's job, with little interfering,

is the right way, especially when it comes to old walls and crevices!


Simply lovely!










I know that Nich and Lizzie very much appreciate nature and all that it offers

and although this is only a temporary place for them to live,

it is their first home together and I'm sure that they will always remember

this beautiful area.