One week in mid winter

What a week we had! The winter truly came, froze over the garden and by the weekend we are back to spring. I nipped out in the icy morning early in the week

Frosted plants in garden in Bristol designed by DHV Architects

Frosted plants in garden in Bristol designed by DHV Architects

Colourful primulas create an instant spring cheer. DHV Architects

Iris reticulata and mini skimmia by DHV Architects

Cornish Garden in Central Bristol designed by DHV Architects

Garden in Central Bristol designed by DHV Architects

to capture the frozen beauty, but the silver leaved plants did not look that different. I love the deep blue iris reticulata next to the lime green flowers of the mini skimmia. Some more snow drops make their appearance. Today I gave the garden a shave and cut off the long beard like grasses and dried perennials. I enjoy it when the structure of the garden becomes visible without the froth of summer planting. Children are playing in the neighbouring garden and it almost feels if spring is not that far away.

First signs of spring

It is the 2nd of January today and Christmas is sadly over. It is at this time of the year that I scan the gardens and public green spaces for the first sings of spring. Green spearlike shoots which at any other time of the year would go unnoticed suddenly hold promise. The promise that fresh shoots, flowers and foliage will emerge from the rain sodden ground. A new year: a new beginning. I planted a lot of bulbs into the Cornish Garden which is directly visible from our large full height glazing. You don't even have to venture out into the storm or rain the look for glimpses of spring. As the years go by I am getting more excited by the various snowdrop varieties. Galanthus "Ophelia" is already up, while "Nivalis", "S.Arnott" and "Elwesii" are still underground. Snowdrops pop up suddenly. One day they are there: flowers, stems and leaves. Other bulbs like Alliums like to prepare you for their final glory in stages: first appear the light green spear like shoots which unfold a few weeks later. Later in spring the flower shoot appears to reveal its glorious ball of flowers. I grow them in pots which are assembled on the top of the shed where they can bask in the sparse winter sun. Primulas are dotted around the garden. Their leaf rosettes have suddenly appeared, their fresh fleshy foliage contrasting with the brittle foliage of the overwintering perennials. I cant' wait for the flowers to appear. To speed up the spring flowers I have brought some indoors: white hyacinth and amaryllis are dotted around the house. Come on spring, it looks like winter everywhere, but we know that you are just around the corner.

The wrong colour

How do you feel when the wrong coloured flower suddenly pops up in your carefully orchestrated colour scheme? Do you rip it out? Do you admire its brazenness? Personally they make me laugh and I feel reminded that after all it is nature who is in charge and not us little dictators. It is this forth dimension which exists in garden and landscape design which fascinates me. It does not exist in architecture where men designs and executes. Once a building is finished it is truly finished and there are no more surprise in store (apart when the roof starts leaking). Yet after planting is finished a garden only starts to come into its own and develop.

I mostly let the wrong coloured flowers remain where they pop up and only rip them out when they are too vulgar. My colour scheme ranges from white, silver to purple and includes some pink and blue shades. Today this bright red rose suddenly opened up. It is nearly the only plant which survived our extensive building works. It grew where the dining table stands now. The builders ripped it out and it survived for months just sitting soil less and sad in a corner of the garden. I did not know what colour it was and did not have the heart to throw out this survivor plant. So I planted it near the back wall and it rewarded me two years later with a single vibrant bright red flower. Another colour interloper are the yellow Welsh poppies which appear wherever they find a suitable spot. Generally I am not to keen on yellow flowers, but this cheeky opportunist makes me smile. What about flowering brassicas? Vulgar or fun? I eat them as they taste spicy and crunchy. I brought a white foxglove from my old garden: a chance seedling with beautiful white flowers with purple speckles. I took the seeds and scattered in the shaded areas of the garden. They did not come up where I wanted them to grow. In the sunny border amongst the statuesque purple alliums an apricot coloured proudly erected its candle like stem. What did I do? I admired its beauty.

Inspiration from the Eden Project

I love the Eden Project. I have visited it many times over the years. Reading the book about the making of Eden and the visionary people behind it made me feel that anything is possible if you believe it it and work really hard to achieve it. The overall design is breathtaking.  But is not just the mind boggling scale of the whole project whose external design motto was "Picasso meets the Aztecs" and the large structures such as the famous biomes which caught my eye, it is the smaller intimate spaces with striking and innovative plant combinations I enjoy most: a field with hundreds of sparkler like alliums, interspersed with silver leaved plants, a large border full of Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing', a white spring border with foxglove spires with the biomes looming behind a hornbeam hedge. I like the long steps leading to the ice rink tent lined with pleached Platanus acerifolia underplanted with frothy purple cow parsley and lady's mantle. The biomes are beautiful at any time of the year. This month's show plant was the apricot torch ginger for me. Go and see it. It is difficult to beat the exuberant beauty of Cornwall in late spring.

Aquilegias

I just love aquilegias. They are my favourite flowers. These cheeky promiscuous plants pop up everywhere and it is always a surprise to see how they will look like. In my garden are pure white ones (which look fab in the shade when combined with other woodlanders such as ferns), sultry slender dark beauties like "Black Barlow" who look irresistible when combined with golden tinged grasses such anemanthele lessoniana, pretty old fashioned pink columbines which really look like a Jane Austen type granny's bonnet, dark purple ones which are closely related to the wild form and some washed out ones which I can't bring myself out to rip out because they still have such a pretty shape. I can't wait to see their rosette shaped leaves penetrate the soil in early spring. I always count how many plants I will have.

New gardening blog

This is my new gardening blog where I would like to share pictures of my own garden and inspiration from nature, gardens and the build environment.