Thursday, February 12, 2009

Iris dauntless




beetography

beetography's photo

I decided to title this flower photo with "fruit flower", because this each little flower, making a form like some fruit, and nice colour too.


sakura1.jpg
FLOWERS - sakura1.jpg


flowers1.gif
Flower - flowers1.gif



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Bright yellow flower

Bright yellow flower



Crocus - the first flowers of spring 2008
Roraima mountain

Asim Shah posted a photo:

the basket


Asim Shah posted a photo:

bee



Orange lillies

Orange lillies

beetography

beetography's photo


Keywords:




Bee's on Manzanita
Show gardens at flower shows are always very subjective, the judges are looking for one thing, the gardening press another, and very often the public are just looking for something they can recreate in their own garden. All too often they don't agree on which should be the winner. beardshaw_300x150.jpg At Tatton Chris Beardshaw's garden, 'Cheshire's Year of Gardens 08', pleased all three and it's easy to see why it was awarded the Best in Show title. Recreating a classic english country house garden with bold herbaceous borders on both sides was a sure fire winner. I loved the predominantly pastel planting and highlights of gold added by the Catalpa at the end. I'm told there are subtle elements from at least 12 Cheshire gardens incorporated into the design, including the famous double borders at Arley Hall. If you're visiting the show and you know your Cheshire gardens see if you can spot them. east_west_300x150.jpg According to my colleague Louise I have 'Boy tastes'when it comes to gardens and some of the other designs i liked typified this. The 'East Meets West' garden (Gold) was created by combining the traditional elements of a relaxing Japanese Zen garden with a contemporary seating area and blocky water feature. adlington_300x150.jpg Angular water features were in evidence in several other gardens i liked, including the 'Adlington Relax and Reflect Garden'(Silver-Gilt), with white walls, red containers and interesting grassy planing scheme and 'Always There' (Silver-Gilt) a garden created to promote the work of the Samaritans. This was just my cup of tea, with green the predominant colour and plants chosen to complement perfectly the stonework and rusted steel used within the design. samaritan_300x150.jpg The judges awarded just two gold medals and four silver gilt at Tatton this year and I'd completely agree with their decision. A number of gardens featured heavy stonework waterfalls including 'Go with the Flow' (Silver), My Little Piece of the Lakes (Bronze) and Natural Distinction (Silver-gilt) and I think all of them could have done with a bit more planting to soften the hard landscaping. brett_300x150.jpg Elsewhere 'Real Life by Brett' (Silver-gilt) brought the traditional northern back garden into the 21st century and was definitely drawing interest from the crowds. 'Hot Dry Days' (Bronze) took a more Mediterranean approach and showed how we can adapt our gardens to the changing climate. Who knows, if the weather continues to be as hot and sunny here as it has been this week maybe bananas will soon catch on in Manchester?
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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Tulip buds and freezing




Robert Nyman
Like, flowers

Like, flowers

Robert Nyman
Like, flowers

Like, flowers

flowers.jpg
flowers.jpg


beetography
Ants on a bird of paradise flower

Ants on a bird of paradise flower


Flower

Another yellow flower

Another yellow flower


pollen-flowers posted a photo

040-1.jpg
040-1.jpg


atheana

atheana's photo
The back to back gardens are a unique feature of the flower show at Tatton Park and they are arranged in groups of four all over the showground, what I like about this is that as I walk around the show I stumble across a square of gardens and keep seeing ones I haven't seen before, also you can get a really good look at them because they're nicely spread out. Out of 27 back to back gardens at the show, five were awarded the coveted gold medal, best in show went to Reaseheath Alumni with '5 a day with hidden play' a garden dedicated to growing and eating plenty of fruit and veg. bees_300x150.jpg 'A garden for bees' (Gold) designed by Ness Botanic Gardens highlights the importance of our buzzy little friends. It's beautiful too and more than dispells the myth that wildlife gardening has to be wild and woolly. 'Butterfly Journey' (Silver-gilt) is another wildlife friendly garden at the show. butterfly_300x150.jpgIt's packed with the sort of plants we could all try to grow more of, to attract native butterfly species into our gardens. I noticed a fair amount of black in the back to back gardens, 'The back to basics garden' uses black to dramatic effect as a backdrop and in the planting with two stunning Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' and a generous sprinkling of Cosmos astrosanguineus, another garden which features this plant heavily is 'Urban retreat' (Silver) which also uses black as a backdrop but mixes acid greens through the dark flowers and foliage, a great combo. suburban_oasis_300x150.jpg 'Reflection' (Silver) uses colour but it's much more gentle here. The decking and fencing is stained a soft grey and is set off by touches of galvanised metal used as edging and in the form of poles used throughout the garden as a suggestion of a boundary. These double up as plant supports too, this is an idea I might well take away with me... scented_wall_300x150.jpg A garden that addresses a very common problem is 'The scented walled garden' (Silver) and it speaks volumes that I had a good long look at the garden, admired it, made notes, took a photograph and still had not realised that it had been designed with wheelchair users in mind, it proves the point that a garden when well designed can fit a specific brief and be gorgeous too.
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Caffeine and peony tea




Bright yellow flower

Bright yellow flower


pollen-flowers posted a photo

031-4.jpg
butterfly nametags - 031-4.jpg


flowers.jpg
Stragier's Sunbright Flowers - flowers.jpg



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pollen-flowers posted a photo

027-5.jpg
ivory ven dela roses between the layers of the cake with starfish and petals - 027-5.jpg


Manzanita flower

Children are always very inventive and their imaginations know no boundaries especially when it comes to gardening. mad_hatter.jpgAs Joe Swift mentioned earlier, the Children's Quirky Container Co mpetition was a great example of this. Schools across the Cheshire area have submitted an amazing range of interesting and unusual containers to be judged by visitors to the show. I had a look through and was really surprised by how good they were, from small scale exhibits like the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, entered by Bexton Primary School, Knutsford to a large scale container made from a Piano. piano.jpgCreated by Park Royal School, Macclesfield, this was entitled Keys to Health and Happiness! (get it!) It looked spectacular although I can't help wondering what the music teacher thought? There is one container that I know will particularly appeal to my colleague Louise. St Anne's Fulshaw, Church of England School created a chest shaped container overflowing with bright nasturtiums and other bedding plants, entitledchest.jpg Ooh Arrgh Pirate's Treasure (She's from Cornwall you know). The RHS are very keen to encourage children to get into gardening and are actively campaigning for it to be added to the school curriculum, with young minds as inventive as this, it can only be a good thing. Also as part of the Tatton tenth anniversary celebrations Children under 15 get into the show free this year.
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Garden city ny high school alumni




flowers-1.jpg
flower - flowers-1.jpg


thwitteroos.gif
Flower - thwitteroos.gif


Asim Shah posted a photo:

yellow


Asim Shah posted a photo:

bee



The poppy bloomed, but it was so heavy it broke the stem ... I had to prop it up to take photos :(

Young and fresh - another 1 or 2 days for these pink lotus buds to fully open and reveal the inner beauty of lotus flowers.
In album Lotus flower photo - Lotus blossom images - Lotus pond photos
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Show gardens at flower shows are always very subjective, the judges are looking for one thing, the gardening press another, and very often the public are just looking for something they can recreate in their own garden. All too often they don't agree on which should be the winner. beardshaw_300x150.jpg At Tatton Chris Beardshaw's garden,
'Cheshire's Year of Gardens 08', pleased all three and it's easy to see why it was awarded the Best in Show title. Recreating a classic english country house garden with bold herbaceous borders on both sides was a sure fire winner. I loved the predominantly pastel planting and highlights of gold added by the Catalpa at the end. I'm told there are subtle elements from at least 12 Cheshire gardens incorporated into the design, including the famous double borders at Arley Hall. If you're visiting the show and you know your Cheshire gardens see if you can spot them. east_west_300x150.jpg According to my colleague Louise I have 'Boy tastes'when it comes to gardens and some of the other designs i liked typified this. The 'East Meets West' garden (Gold) was created by combining the traditional elements of a relaxing Japanese Zen garden with a contemporary seating area and blocky water feature. adlington_300x150.jpg Angular water features were in evidence in several other gardens i liked, including the 'Adlington Relax and Reflect Garden'(Silver-Gilt), with white walls, red containers and interesting grassy planing scheme and 'Always There' (Silver-Gilt) a garden created to promote the work of the Samaritans. This was just my cup of tea, with green the predominant colour and plants chosen to complement perfectly the stonework and rusted steel used within the design. samaritan_300x150.jpg The judges awarded just two gold medals and four silver gilt at Tatton this year and I'd completely agree with their decision. A number of gardens featured heavy stonework waterfalls including 'Go with the Flow' (Silver), My Little Piece of the Lakes (Bronze) and Natural Distinction (Silver-gilt) and I think all of them could have done with a bit more planting to soften the hard landscaping. brett_300x150.jpg Elsewhere 'Real Life by Brett' (Silver-gilt) brought the traditional northern back garden into the 21st century and was definitely drawing interest from the crowds. 'Hot Dry Days' (Bronze) took a more Mediterranean approach and showed how we can adapt our gardens to the changing climate. Who knows, if the weather continues to be as hot and sunny here as it has been this week maybe bananas will soon catch on in Manchester?
Info from: