Welcome to this seasons edition of Tales From The Garden as we head towards the Summer Solstice, one of my favourite times of year! On Thursday 20th June the sun will rise around 4.44am and set around 9.50pm giving us a whole 17 hours of daylight (I'm going with daylight rather the sunshine as the sun has been MIA recently).
People have celebrated the Summer Solstice for millenia & one tradition is to light a bonfire to 'boost the sun's strength' for the harvest to come. Weather permitting I plan on celebrating the Solstice by heading to the beach for a bbq & quiet meditation in the evening. Whatever your plans for the longest day, I hope you manage to enjoy some peaceful outdoor time & that the sun makes an appearance wherever you are!
Wedding Season 2024
Wedding season is really upon us now & I'm fully booked for several weeks throughout July & August. The trends that began appearing towards the middle of last season are now taking centre stage with seasonal English flowers in wild, natural, flowing bouquets being a firm favourite. Pastels, nudes, whites & peaches with wispy detailed foliage are a popular choice as are peonies, dahlias & larkspur.
Below are some of the stunning bouquets that I am currently working on preserving. If you are planning a wedding or looking for an unusual wedding gift, click the link below to see what options are available.
National Flower Show 2024 Hylands House
Last month I took a trip down to Essex to enter the Floral Art Competition at The National Flower Show. It's a fantastic show which attracts over 30,000 visitors every year & is filled with displays, competitions and many plant & gardening stalls. This years theme was 'Hollywood' & there were five different competition categories with entries from all over the UK. I entered the miniatures category with a display titled 'Arrietty's Garden' and was awarded 1st place! It was my first competition & I wasn't expecting to win so I did do a little happy dance. Arrietty's Garden will be on display in my studio at Alby Crafts & Gardens from next week.
Sandringham Flower Show is coming up next month on the 31st July & I will be entering the miniatures category with a new display that I am currently working on so I will be bringing you news and photos from Sandringham in next seasons blog post.
Bio-Sonification - listening to plants sing
Have you ever heard of bio-sonification? It sounds like a bizarre science experiment and in a way it is. To explain in basic terms all living entities create electronic pulses; humans, animals & plants alike and these pulses change depending on a multitude of factors including light, dark, hydration, pressure, heat & many more. Bio-sonification is a new music form where electrodes are attached to plants which pick up the electrical impulses and are transformed into sound through a synthesiser. I recently went to visit the walled gardens at National Trust's Blickling House where one of the trusts head gardeners was demonstrating bio-sonification. It was an incredible experience and if you ever get the chance to experience it I would highly recommend it, it's a very relaxing, ethereal sound. I managed to record some on the video below, please excuse the awful video, I was trying to get the best sound recording above all of the other noise!
Workshops
Just a reminder of the workshops that I'm running over the next few months. If there is something you are interested in but the dates aren't suitable then please do get in touch as more dates are being added or there is always the option of 1 to 1 sessions at a time suitable for you.
First Year Growing
Last year I joined a wonderful organisation called Flowers From The Farm that supports UK flower growers, promoting British seasonal flowers grown organically, ethically & sustainably. It offers advice & opportunities to everyone, you don't have to be a professional florist or flower farmer, you just have to have an interest in flowers. Feeling inspired I decided to grow some of my own flowers to dry. I decided to go the whole hog and grow everything from seed. I bought some seeds but others I collected at the end of last season from wild flowers, flowers in friends gardens & from my own garden. I dried the seeds for a few weeks & then stored them in small glass bottles. I have never harvested seeds before so I was keeping my fingers crossed and 10 months later I have a fairly healthy looking flower patch! Below are some photos of the progress from March through to Now.
March 2024 - How it started
June 2024 - How it's going
Alby Gardens
As I'm sure you are aware the weather has been very unseasonal for the last few weeks which has the knock on effect of delaying the usual June blooms. May however did see the bluebells, forget me nots & rhododendrons in full bloom adding some much needed colour to the grey days. If you would like to visit, the gardens are open Tuesday to Sunday 10am - 5pm, picnics are welcome in the gardens as are dogs on leads. The cafe is open Wednesday to Sunday 10am - 5pm. Shops & studios run their own opening hours.
Hopefully we'll be blessed with some warmer weather and sunshine soon. Wishing you all a wonderful summer.
jaide
Wild Ivy Norfolk
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