Sculptures that sum up January for me

These sculptures made me smile when I saw them at RHS Rosemoor in the autumn, but they also have a touch of January about them, so let’s have a light-hearted look at how they sum up January for me.

This one has clearly reached at least the 44th of the month, and realises that there’s still at least half the month left…

And there’s a mascara mishap or two happening. And it still amuses me how the plant is growing around the sculpture, adding a modesty covering that couldn’t have been better placed.

Further along our jaunt around the garden this small sculpture caught my eye. I’ve said before I’d happily hibernate in January, though with slightly more clothes on that this statue, and hopefully without the ornithological audience.

Clearly time has moved on for the sculpture below, and it’s obviously the 91st of January, which calls for a celebration…

….The only thing though about the end of January, is the start of February - and well, that’s not usually exactly full of Spring.

Roll on March, I say - and when January gets to me (as it often does) then I’ll remember to dig out this post, as it’d have to be pretty bad for these not to make me smile.

Clematis at Chelsea

After yesterday’s greyness, and the colder weather forecast for today I thought i could do with a blast of colour. And where better to pop into, than Chelsea? With a nod to the weather we have at the moment I’ve popped into the Pavilion, which is just huge. I’m sure I read somewhere it’s the size of three football pitches, which gives you an idea of just how big it is.

I tried - and failed - to walk around it all, but it’s size and the magpie-like behaviour it encourages - ooh, look at that over there! - meant that my methodical plan to cover as much as I could went out of the window, or perhaps tent flap, quicker than you could say clematis. And it’s clematis that have the colour I’m after.

All of these photos are from the Raymond Evison display, and they’re wonderful. The display too is imaginative, with a beach theme and waves of colour and scent. But before you scroll down to see more, I also discovered some handy guides on the nursery’s site, for beginners and experts, and with advice for simple pruning through to archways and trees and walls.

I guess it makes sense for nursery’s to provide advice, after all they are the experts on their plants - the photos below are proof of that, but I’ve never thought to consult a specialist grower for growing or pruning advice before. But now I will, and I think it’s well worth remembering.

I told you there was waves didn’t I?

But there was also a seashore on the other side of the boardwalk, complete with lobster pots, sand and some artfully arrange pebbles. And more clematis, of course.

And true to life, there were even some pebbles at the bottom of the sea.

On the stand there was every type of clematis you could imagine. The more usual (I think) open flowers, the one I have in my garden is similar to this but a dark maroon which makes its yellow centre (yeap, the technical approach again) stand out. Somehow the petals look even more velvety in the darker varieties.

Had you asked me what the flowers above were, I’m not sure my first thoughts would have been clematis. But I know they are, or otherwise they wouldn’t have been in this display, but aren’t they different. They were just as vibrant as they look here, and I remember it amused me at the time that they were being restrained by that rope. These must be the rowdy clematis…

The ones above hardly look real do they? But I can assure you they were - it’s the pink ones I think that have an almost hand drawn quality. And I’ve realised I’m a fan of this colour combination, what about you?

Care and hope in the Myeloma UK Garden

For today’s post we’re popping back to last year’s sunny Chelsea Flower Show and into one of the Space to Grow gardens. This one is sponsored by Myeloma UK and designed to raise awareness of the incurable form of blood cancer which is the second most common form of blood cancer.

The blue acrylic structure represents the role of the carer and is certainly one of the most eye catching elements of the garden - it was large, and hard not to notice. It weighed 7.5 tonnes, so now you see what I mean when I said large, and made of layers it was built by the same team as those of the 2012 Olympic cauldron.

The other thing that you’ll notice as you look more closely at the garden is that there’s no path, and this symbolises and mirrors the situations that many patients face. The boulders represent the cancerous cells and have a combined weight of 18 tonnes, so that’s a lot to fight against for this treatable, but not yet curable disease - the planting most definitely softens the space.

But there’s more to the garden than the landscaping, although that is a major element of the garden and which gives it its impact. The yew balls mirror the boulders, but provide a softer and more hopeful outlook, as does the delicate cow parsley. I think the background provides a different perspective of the outside world which I’m sure during many illnesses feels a different world away.

I’m a fan of these show gardens which do much to raise awareness for their charities, because like the garden raising awareness of epilepsy, through a simple flower show (although in reality Chelsea is far from simple!) I’ve learnt - and I’m sure others have too - more, as well as enjoying the space on a more superficial level, as I think you’ll agree the acrylic structure really is the head turner.