Category: 2018
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Ernest Wilson – keeping one eye open
There’s a little gate off the main street in Chipping Camden. You might not even notice it, but step inside, and you’re … not in Wonderland, but almost in China! It’s a memorial garden to the plant hunter, Ernest Wilson who was born in the town in 1876. Here’s his house, just further up the street……
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A visit to The Library of the Birds of London
The complete joy of hearing birdsong again is making up for a stop-start spring this year. And thinking about birds, I had a joyful visit to the Whitechapel Gallery in London last week, mostly to visit the giant aviary created by American artist, Mark Dion. Only four visitors at a time are allowed in the…
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On the anniversary of Lancelot Brown’s death
Lancelot – Capability – Brown is best known as the creator of our current vision of the English landscape, so would it surprise you to know this is where he died? It happened on the 6th February 1783, 235 years ago today. Apparently the night before he’d collapsed on the doorstep of his daughter Bridget Holland’s…
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Gardens. Matters of life and love. And other trivia
As soon as I knew there was a Beguinage at Antwerp, I had to visit it. I’ve been obsessed with them since I first visited one in Bruges. These are communities for women, originally Roman Catholic but not a nunnery, normally wrapped around a garden. These photographs above from my visit have been rather shamefully…
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The last tree…
One of the highlights of the last summer was a trip to the Gothenburg Botanical Garden. There was so much to see that we decided to spread our visit out over two days, which was lucky because on our first trip, we’d completely overlooked the Sophora Toromiro… And why should that matter? It looks like…
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Papermaking in the garden
Back in the summer (remember that far back, when the sun shone and everything?), I went on a day papermaking course at Morley College in London. I was drawn to it by the fact we were going to be using natural plant materials, but what I hadn’t expected was that I would fall in love…