The Palm House at Kew Gardens

On the same day we visited the Orchid exhibition at Kew Gardens, we also strolled around the Kew Garden Palm House.  A lush selection of plants from all over the world awaited us. I must say, the interior of the palm house itself is in need of renovation, as the colour is chipping off the metal frame and in places the glass is heavily stained with patches of moss.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed the super-sized plants, some of which clearly recalled the presence of dinosaurs and prehistoric times.

 

 

 

For more information about the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, visit:
http://www.kew.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Gardening Week – I’m ready, how about you?

Hello!
To take part in the National Gardening Week launched by the Royal Horticultural Society, I pledged to turn an abandoned garden into a little oasis – spending less than £50.
The money was quickly spent: £18 for seeds, £20 for soil, £2.50 for bean netting and  £9.50 for a garden fork. I did a bit of haggling with the owner of my local hardware shop. Mr Bradbury was happy to help me out, so I could stay within the budget – he knows I am a good customer :  )
So, here are the seeds with their package description. All, besides the Hollyhock should hopefully flower this year:

•  Red-flowering Butler Runner Beans (Early and heavy cropping. Sow: Apr-Jul. Harvest Jul-Oct)
• Mixed Sunburst and Evening Sun Sunflowers (Ideal backdrop to summer borders. Sow: Mar-May. Flowers: Jun-Sep. 1.8 mt tall)
• Chaters Double Mixed Hollyhock (Elegant stems at the back of borders. Beautiful, but only flower the year after sowing. Sow: Mar-Jul. Flowers: Jun-Aug. 240cm tall)
• Mixed annuals, nectar rich plants that attract butterflies (Sow: Mar-Jun. Flowers: Jun-Oct. 90cm tall)
• Tall Double African Marigold (Sow: Apr-Jun. Flowering: Jul-Oct. 70cm tall)
• Mixed Dwarf Godetia (Easy for beds, borders and pots. Sow: Mar-May, Sep-Oct. Flowers: Jun-Sep. 30cm tall)
• Five Spot Nemophila (Easily grown unusual dwarf plants. Sow: Mar-May. Flowers: Jun-Oct. 15cm tall)
• Milkmaid Nasturtium (Easy to grow softly coloured flowers that climb or trail. Sow: Apr-Jun. Flowers: Jun-Oct. 1.8 mt tall). 

Here I am ready to go. It’s pretty cold today, but I want to get started.
This is the challenge ahead –  the garden how it is right now: 

As you see, there is a lot of clearing up to do! My attention will mainly be focused on the back left-hand corner. I am planning to cut down the bamboo, ceating a new planting bed with sunflowers to the left along the wooden wall, red flowering runner beans to the back against the brick wall. In front of these tall plants, I’m planning to sow the butterfly attracting wild flowers, marigold and the colourful dwarf plants.
In my head I have a wonderful image of how it will be, but I know there is a lot of work, and a lot of patience required.

For now, the soil has arrived, the garden fork is ready, it is just a matter of unpacking the bean support net….

I hope you will be back to see how it all develops! 

#NationalGardeningWeek #ngw

http://www.nationalgardeningweek.org.uk/

 

 

 

Seedlings on the terrace

Hello! As promised here is the update on the seedlings.

Our terrace wall looked like this before:

Over the last few months I added two flower pots and plants that I bought on different occasions on Columbia Road flower market:

And today I added the Indian cress seedlings I’d grown from scratch:

The Indian cress seedlings are the ones at the front in the container on the left and look a bit rough, I know ; ) I hope they settle in shortly. At the moment they are not the prettiest sight, but I’m proud they made it this far.

I’m curious about you. Have you planted any flowers recently? I’d be delighted to see some pictures. x