New building

There seems to be a sudden rush of gardens built, or to be built, above ground.

In many urban areas this makes a deal of sense since ground space is not only scarce but valuable.

Planning permission has been granted for the latest Maggie's Centre, in Leeds, within an already densely built environment.

Photo courtesy of Heatherwick studios

https://www.maggiescentres.org/ 

The design brief to the Heatherwick studios 

http://www.heatherwick.com/

was to create a "positive environment to calm minds and foster a sense of well being" and to provide "qualities of a garden with shared and private spaces". 

Photo courtesy of Heatherwick studios

These centres offer free support to anyone affected by cancer. Often outside space is important to enable this to be delivered and can be difficult to provide given the physical constraints of the site.

Photo courtesy of Heatherwick studios

Internal spaces, both private and shared, are also important to facilitate year round usage and plants are of proven mental health benefits.

Looking at these images, there seems to be lots of little spaces, tucked away to give maximum privacy, but also larger areas which encourage socialising.

Photo courtesy of Heatherwick studios

The buildings themselves remind me of ancient Arabic dwellings found in dry and arid desert regions. 

But I think the abundant injections of greenery both compliment and soften these organic exteriors.

I hope the gardens will provide the oasis of support needed and can't wait to see the fully built project. What a lovely and worthwhile scheme to be involved with.

Good luck to all concerned.

Peckham coal line

Not exactly a title to make you think of a garden, or even greenery and certainly not a green community space.

But how about this.

Following on the heels and success of the High Line comes a proposal to turn a disused elevated section of rail line in London - in Peckham to be precise - into a linear park. 

Image from www.ianvisits.co.uk

Perhaps not quite the same cachet and certainly not the same length or having as many opportunities as the New York one it is however commendable for a number of reasons. 

Not least that it will provide a desperately needed non concrete environment for locals to enjoy but that they are being involved right from the start. 

image from proposal plan@now-here-this.timeout.com

People have been encouraged to suggest uses and ideas for the project, volunteer practical skills and help and more importantly, to donate funds via crowd funding. 

Image from www.standard.co.uk

Southwark council and the Mayor of London's fund have both promised £10k with Sustrans 

http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ 

pitching in £7k but amazingly the project has already reached its funding target and is now moving forward.

http://peckhamcoalline.strikingly.com/

Image from www.tumblr.com

So many congratulations to the initiators of the scheme. 

Let's hope it encourages other people around the country to look for similiar opportunities to provide city dwellers with green lungs.

Once completed I look forward to visiting, with real photos to show the line in all its glory. 

Until then conceptual computer generated images will have to suffice. 

A new begining?

Did you see the recent announcement about the plant experiment conducted in the International Space station where "the first ever plant flowered in space"?

How beautiful does this little Zinnia look - and what an achievement.

Some of the photos are just amazing.

photos taken from www.universetoday.com

How can a seed grow in zero gravity? 

How does it know to send the roots down and the flower up? Or does it not matter?

So many questions but such a brilliant result. 

Seems the astronauts also managed to grow red romaine lettuce which they ate. Doesn't this open new options for extended space flight?

Not about to pooh on their success but technically the accolade for the first flower grown in space belongs to Don Pettit who in 2012 produced a sunflower.

credit Nasa 

And if I'm being really picky we could go back to 1982 when the Soviet Salyut 7 crew grew some Arabidopsis (rockcress) which flowered and then produced seed.

Although edible I wonder if the Zinnia was grown primarily as an ornamental - on the grounds that food is not the only requirement to sustain a happy existence. 
Is this some acknowledgement that all things green nourish the soul and gladden the heart?
For whatever reason the Zinnia promises wonderful things in space which I can only commend. 
Brilliant!

Happy New Year 2016

So, here we are again at the start of another gardening year.

Lots of seed catalogues to look at, things to order and planning what to grow, to eat and to cut.

My current fave is the Sarah Raven website

https://www.sarahraven.com/

mostly because last year this was the only convenient place for me to obtain Ratte potatoes which are totally our favourites.

Small main crop potatoes with a great buttery and slightly nutty taste these are definitely the pick of the crop.

As usual, planted too many but came in useful to trade with fellow allotmenteers for their surplus goodies. 

Just yummy.

Plus, not wanting to pay further postage costs I wanted to order some annual flower seeds for a cutting garden in the allotment.

These especially were brilliant.

Ammi majus

White Scabiosa

Centaurea cyanus

Cosmos sonata

All of these grew brilliantly.

Have spent some time again looking at heritage and heirloom seed sites. The range and names always bedazzle me and I get totally carried away.

This is one of the more quirky heritage ones, which needless to say appeals to me greatly but it's also extremely informative.

http://thomasetty.co.uk/seeds/veg-flower-2016.pdf

How can anyone not want to grow Spignel Meum?

A member of the carrot family, both roots and leaves can be eaten.

And who could refuse Good King Henry seeds from

https://www.victoriananursery.co.uk

Think the leaves give this one away - similiar to spinach, can do everything spinach can but with the added bonus of the young shoots, tied in bundles when cooked and eaten taste like asparagus. You can even saute the flower buds in butter.

Must stop now.......getting totally carried away!

Magnolia Plantation

September is not the best time to visit a magnolia plantation. 

http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/caneriver/mag.html

But I was so glad we did.

The main flowering period for these plants is Spring or early Summer but since this was part of our holiday trek, and our only chance to visit, we went anyway. 
Just look at the size of the Magnolia grandiflora shown above. 

A bit of imagination was needed to visualise how the whole place would look in full bloom - and that would be stunning, given the size and age of the trees.

A plantation in the original sense of the word there were reminders of slave occupation everywhere.

But there were also plenty of lovely landscape views and sights, with Spanish moss romantically draped everywhere.

Bridges across swampland were not just functional

but beautifully constructed with an artist's eye for the surroundings and strong visual impact.

Not all pretty and peaceful though as in part of the grounds lurked water snakes and alligators in addition to the usual voracious mosquitoes. 

Must have been a tough place to live and work.

Some of the original barrels can still be seen, standing by the wharf waiting to be loaded with cotton and shipped down river to Charleston.

Since I have an inherent dislike of anything that slithers, or bites, I was so glad to get back to the boat in one piece! 

Apart from the bits the bitey things had.

Salem Massachusetts

This was another of our East Coast stopovers.

A delightful town but with an overly heavy emphasis for me on the 1692 Witches trials. 

There's more to Salem than this as it has a wonderful historical and sea faring past which seems to have been sidelined.

http://www.salemweb.com/history/maritime/

The town itself is pretty and compact and thanks to the help of the two lovely ladies of the Tourist board I managed to find two very different but gorgeous gardens to visit.

The first was Ropes Mansion garden.

http://events.salem.org/event/pem_reopening_of_the_ropes_mansion#.VktgE_nhDIU

How elegant does this 1727 building look?

Fronting the street with the garden primarily to the right and rear, the house was sadly closed when we visited (it is now a museum) but it was possible to get into the garden via a pergola to the right hand side. 

A classical formal layout greeted us with plenty of plant interest, some I had never seen before and still cannot identify.

                       

Anyone any ideas?

But the real show stopper of the visit was the garden at the House of the Seven Gables.

http://www.7gables.org/

Can you imagine sitting outside on a lovely summer's day with the backdrop of the whole of Salem harbour at your feet?

And what a joy to garden there. 

The kind of place you would choose to be for all eternity (provided tea and cake or a glass of good wine was thrown in too).

Loved the metal garden furniture which was thoughtfully placed around the garden so you could sit and just look - and I did.

These chairs and tables have a strong French influence but others, shown below, date from the late 1600's and were specially commissioned by the then owners.

Don't go expecting to see rare plants or horticultural supremacy but do go for the sheer delight of the vista and how the garden's traditional layout exudes charm and timelessness.

And the gardeners are happy to chat too! Well done them.

Definitely a place to visit........or re-visit.

Charleston South Carolina

Charleston is beautiful.

 Elegant buildings everywhere, some originally dating from the 18th Century and luckily spared from the devastation of the American Civil War.

Others more modern but with a sense of belonging.

Love the wrought iron work which is so in keeping with this Southern heritage.

Charleston oozes charm, character and history. 
I loved it.

Shame it rained (a lot) when I visited and the humidity was a real shock.

No wonder I had visions of mint juleps - a la Gone with the Wind, until I discovered the main ingredient is bourbon - Yuk!!

But the tiny town gardens made up for my disappointment and were truly  delightful. 

And I love snickets, alleys or ginnels depending on your origins. 
They just beg to be explored.




How romantic and mysterious do these look?

Take a walk down these back in time to long frocks and good old Southern ways.

So atmospheric. 

Or maybe I just got carried away?