Thursday 15 September 2011

Sweet Peas and Xmas Decs.


I have never ever picked sweet peas in September, not in decades of gardening. I went out early this morning determined to consign them to the compost heap. I 'm having an early clean up this year so that when I come back from Scotland the garden doesn't look like a dead jungle. As I reached up to drag the first plants away from the trellis the perfume just hit me and for a moment it felt like an early summer's day. Sweet peas are usually over and done with by late July in my windy garden, they've earned a reprieve.
The bizarreness  of sitting in a garden that looks more like high summer rather than autumn was brought home to me as later I sat making Xmas baubles ( thank you Christine for your five minute tutorial).



It's lovely to be sewing something decorative and pretty after the more challenging stuff of the last few weeks.





I also managed to have an hour mindlessly finishing off a sketch from my last Ullapool visit. I remember the day I did it so well. I had been looking across the loch at a line of woodland, the water was inky blue and reflected the image like a mirror. The sky and the mountains merged into one and my doodle / sketch technique came up with this stylized  sketch just waiting to translate into stitch.






Saturday 10 September 2011

Playing Truant


Should be finishing all the backs of my work for Ullapool today, should be making sure all the annotation is ready, should be stretching some final pieces and making sure everything has a means of hanging.
Did anyone else see Carol Klien in the Millenium Garden at Pensthorpe on Gardeners World last night. Couldn't help myself just had to go and see it today.





Pensthorpe is the place that Springwatch used to be broadcast from. Acres of waterland set in conservation farmland in Norfolk. It also contains this wonderful piece of prarie style planting from the master designer Pie Oudolf. What a perfect day to see it - the autumn tints were just starting and the wind was blowing enough to make the grasses and tall plants undulate like huge waves.




I love this style of planting it makes you feel part of the garden instead of just an onlooker.  It's possible to totally immerse yourself in the plants,a wonderful and uplifting experience.





The bonus was the amazing diversity of birdlife in this place. After a good walk and lunch in a lovely restaurant on the site John and I decided to splurge on a guided tour. The guide was fantastic,so interesting and knowledgeable, pointing out many things we would have missed.   The highlight was watching a Marsh Harrier creating havoc in the skies above a forested area and a little Hobby whizzing past us ( a bird we'd never seen before).
The best value and most enjoyable day out for a long time.

I want to dig the garden up now and create a prarie. I want! I want!
Never mind  -  it will pass.