Earlier in the year we collaborated on a wonderful photo shoot with the talented jewellery designer Martina Hamilton on Edenreagh Strand in north Sligo. The photographer Peter Martin took some incredible shots which we are all very proud of and show our side of the country so well. Martina will be showcasing her beautiful work at the craft village at Bloom and to celebrate being there together we have a brilliant
0
“Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are”. Alfred Austin’s very apt quote is a wonderful starting point to consider when thinking about your garden and how you imagine it in the future. Gardens you see, are intensely personal places. These spaces are, much like our homes, where our lives unfold on a day to day basis. Realistically, more often than not however, how our garden
0
There is nothing more satisfying than that first cup of tea in the morning. The process of sleepily brewing, steeping the bags and slowly watching the colour deepen. To many of us tea drinking is a form of ritual, a moment of calm before the days starts. In essence tea is therapy. In many countries tea culture has become a form or ritual where not only the drinking of
0
Considering modern trends what do we think of? Garden rooms, sustainability, green walls, urban greening. The idea of an ‘alpine rockery’ is not one that brings contemporary design to mind. For many of us, the design style of rockeries feels firmly lodged in the style of 1960’s to 1980’s when they featured heavily in show garden circuit and played a strong role in setting garden trends. Often used as a
0
Is it just me or has it been one seriously long Winter? On my morning walk today, the sun broke through the clouds and I was delighted to actually feel some warmth in its rays. It’s safe to say we are more than ready for some Spring sunshine! Thankfully the longer days and brighter conditions also mean it’s finally that time of the year again when garden centres are boasting
1
What plant is more perfect for creating drama than the tulip? This wonderfully elegant plant rises up out of beds and containers in a most theatrical fashion-standing proud and tall above most other bulbs and perennials. I love tulips. They remind me of weekend visits to Holland when I was a child, the saturated fields of colour stretching endlessly to the horizon as we drove through the landscape. They also
0
There is something truly magical about the thought that the plant for this week’s column was around when the dinosaurs were. In fact, the oldest fern fossil records of ferns date back to around 360 million years ago making the fern plant even older than the dinosaurs. It is no wonder so that ferns have an ancient and mythical feel to them. Unfurling slowly like a pre-historic snail, these
0