Dining room delights

I’ll let you into a secret, which there is no point keeping until the end of this post as you’ll guess by the number of photos. This room was my favourite of the whole Giant Houseplant Takeover. It wasn’t MOH’s though, and in another spoiler, I’ve not shared that room yet (and there’s only one more to go after this post).

In truth, I was captivated by this room as soon as I saw it. Lots of people were, and I had to push my patience levels to the edge to take photos without hands and heads appearing, waiting patiently (which is unlike me) for people to move on, so I could nab their spot. But it was worth it.

Even on the day I’d toyed with putting my vote token against one of the other rooms, but deep down I knew which one had captured my heart. Not the kitchen with it’s cleverness, or the room that’s to come which was spectacular.

Maybe it was the drinks trolley, maybe the details - it was another room where looking up paid off. The light fitting though is very similar to the one we have in our dining room - clearly I was meant to like this room. Our light has five arms and bulbs, this one only 3 and apart from the length of the chain - and the plants for lightbulbs - it’s exactly the same. Spooky hey?

It was the detail as well as the plants. The ivy pattern on the cups and saucers, the frothy plant spilling out of the champagne bottle. We spent quite some time trying to work out what was in the glasses, but failed. Either way, we weren’t about to find out by having a taste (even if we could have got close).

It wasn’t even the “drinks globe” although that’s a classic that absolutely fits with the brown furniture.

Apart from the plants on the chairs, and the dodgy green liquid in the glasses, wouldn’t it be fun to have dinner here?

Kitchen houseplants with bite

After the colourful bedroom the exhibition led us into another room, this time not full with colour, instead carnivorous and tropical plants. I wasn’t expecting to see a kitchen included, and while this room was impressive, it didn’t get my vote. I think the plants used here were clever, the plants here looked great in the bright room - the sun on our visit, was also welcome.

The traditional scales were the highlight of the room. Carefully weighing the carnivorous plants, as you would. But don’t miss the succulents that are positioned as plates in the drying rack. Or just behind the rack, the copper saucepan planted up.

The rack too has some extra additions to the copper utensils. Overall it’s a very clever room and I can see why it’s here - for a while, I though this would be my favourite, but it was knocked off top spot by the room I was about to walk into…

[Sorry for the cliff hanger!]

A winter visit to the Wisley veg plot

Whenever we go to RHS Wisley there’s always a couple of places that are on my “must visit” list. The first of these is the vegetable garden for some inspiration, but also to marvel at how ordered and orderly their vegetables grow. For a long time I’ve hankered over growing brassicas in rows, but of course it never quite works out that way. Usually I beat myself up about it for a bit, then I remember that I’m growing vegetables on a much smaller scale, both in terms of space and time and likely number of seedlings too - though at times I think I can out-rival anyone on that!

So I end up forgiving myself, but the admiration rightly remains. So when we visited the Giant Houseplants Takeover at the start of February, I also engineered our route around the garden to include a stop off here. MOH now feigns mock surprise, which of course is no surprise at all.

The artichoke leaves and plants are always so structural and dramatic, but they take up a lot of room. We always had plans to move the one on our now-given-up allotment plot, but never got to it before it started growing, up and through the crab apple tree. They’d make a great ‘screening’ plant if you had a plot large enough in your garden, as they’d be a great way to transition from your garden to veg plot, working well in both areas of the garden. I must remember this for when/if I get the opportunity for a veg plot in the garden.

Do you see what I mean about the orderliness? But also the size. The colours of the ruby and yellow chard were welcome though. They’re also great plants to grow, though MOH isn’t so keen on eating them which is a bit of a downside. Because really, if you’re not going to eat what you grow there’s really very little point, and if there’s only one of you eating your way through a glut that could be quite dull indeed.

I always like to peer into the greenhouses and netted cages as much as I can. This time I remembered that camera trick, which I learnt on my visit to the Orbit in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park - yes the one where I went down the huge, huge slide and actually wondered if I’d survive. The ‘trick’ which makes a lot of sense is to put your phone (all my photos on the blog now days are taken with my phone camera) right up against the netting, and the result is a pretty clear picture, like the sprouts above.

I hadn’t actually got into the netted cage, which with a proper camera might have been my only option, and one that probably would have got me thrown out. Now imagine having to explain that.

This final picture is a great burst of colour, but also a reminder to me to not be bound by ‘norms’ on what can be grown in pots and containers. There were several different shaped pots with radicchio in, which looked great and I’m sure, when they get to the table, will taste great too. The options should be endless, and it’s good to remind myself of these as I’ve those new pots around the greenhouse which i plan on making work hard this year, I’m just not sure with what!