In the Dry Garden at Hyde Hall

The flowers for today’s Flowers on Friday post were taken in the summer last year at the RHS garden in Essex. Usually I head there while MOH does a mad, hundred mile cycle around the Essex countryside, but I didn’t make it this year as after dropping him off, I headed out for lunch. So in a belated attempt to get my Hyde Hall fix, and to remember how warm the sun was on my visit, here’s a selection of photos from the Dry Garden, which shows how plants can cope, or adapt to cope, with less water.

They can also look pretty too. The allium heads, which have gone to seed above echo the heads of the blue agapanthus below. Yes, more agapanthus, they’re taking over on my blog at least, as the replacements for hydrangeas, and they’re lovely too, but I have less opportunities to photograph them these days. Maybe it’s the gardens I’m visiting, or maybe there are fewer of them around following their peak as the plant trend a year or so ago. Who knows.

The yellow fronds of the plants below reaching towards the blue skies make a great photo, but looking at the leaves, I’m pretty sure many of us would give them the weed treatment, I’m certain MOH would!

The grasses which edged - and colour matched - the path which winds its way through this garden. They look, and were, sun baked - and so was I on this visit.

Did you know?

The smaller and thinner the leaves of the plant, the more likely your plant will cope with less water. Think heathers, rosemary, thyme and of course succulents which buck the small, thin leaf advice! Even cistus though are good in coastal and are also drought tolerant, their leaves adapt becoming smaller and more lustrous than they would be in the UK. The ones we saw in Portugal, in the Alentejo region were outstanding, and the fragrance was more concentrated too.

The photo above is one of my all time favourite photos. To me, it just shrieks summer. When I first saw it I thought I could enter it into a photo competition, I forget which now, but in the end the deadline came and went. Maybe another time, or maybe I’ll just keep popping back to this post and “ahhing!”

Post Comment Love: 6-8 September

Hello there and welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo a friendly linky where you can link any post published in the last week. Both Morgan and I know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love.

I’m writing this post on Wednesday evening, and I’m confused about what day it is. That’s nothing new I guess, but the confusion seems to get earlier each week! I’m also struggling with the sheer amount of work that’s finding its way to my desk. It will get done, but I just need a quiet panic about it first before I can get my head around what needs to be done when, spending some time actually at my desk would also help.

I do wonder if the image I’ve chosen this week reflects my work day current chaos. It was the flooring in the Beatles exhibition at the Museum of London, and moving as it was at the time, it’s taking on new meaning at the moment, while I find the headspace to get my working day back under control.

My blog life is slightly more on track, though as usual, I’m still behind on my reading and commenting, but that’s doable, I think. I’ve even got to the point where posts are scheduled in advance, which feels a lot more in control.

Blogger Showcase: Lisa from Handmade in Israel

I’m sure Lisa and her blog will be familiar to regular linkers, but the beauty of the Blogger Showcase feature is that we get to find out a little bit more about the blogger behind the blog. Lisa grew up in Hull and met her British-born husband while living in Israel and has been blogging since 2008. And despite being British-born she doesn’t like the taste or smell of tea - you can read Lisa’s answers to all our questions over on Morgan’s blog.

Before you link up, think about if you would like to be our next Blogger Showcase. It’s simple to do and a great way to get some links back to your blog, just answer the questions and we can sort out a date.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Add your personality with Identity Papers

It’s another archive post today, this time from the 2017 Grand Designs Live show at Excel. It’s crazy, I remember this wallpaper like it was yesterday, and so I was pleased to see that the company, Identity Papers, were still in business.

It’s another one from the Design Arcade, which gives people two or three metres by one metre to display their wares, and share their ideas.

This wordsearch paper was brilliant. Without the white picture frame the random letters wouldn’t have made any sense at all as you wandered by.

Digital wallpaper printing makes it all possible, and it’s completely customisable. At the time, and again now, I thought this would be a fun approach for a downstairs loo, or as an alternative to a blackboard wall in a kitchen, or playroom.

Speaking to the people on the stand at the show, yes it made that much of a mark on me, I remember them saying that it all started with the words. And I can see why.

The wood effect wallpaper on the adjacent wall and on the lampshade are also wallpaper. The woodgrain geometric shapes can be mixed and matched, I think they’re a much more subtle approach, but for me the real star is the word search paper.

The other style that I was keen on was the photo grid wallpaper, which again is entirely customisable and would make a really special memory wall. The wallpaper books below show what a vibrant option this could be.

You can tell I’m a fan, but what do you think?

Would you use customised and very personal wallpaper in your home?

I think the challenge would be, what words to include, what would the theme be, and how much checking you’d need to do to make sure no unintentional rude words crept in by mistake. That could be embarrassing!