Urban renewal; Eastside City Park Birmingham

Bitterly cold and threatening to snow, it wasn’t exactly the ideal weather for a leisurely stroll to soak up the atmosphere of the new park in Birmingham’s Eastside; you had to keep moving to stay warm! The area adjacent to the Millennium Point Science Museum site was full of Easter holidaying parents and children having fun with the experimental gadgets and gizmos, whilst the rest of the park was almost empty, other than the ubiquitous skate boarders who obviously don't feel the cold!

There was plenty of places to sit and throughout the park and I could imagine office workers and commuters stopping to relax in the new uber-cool surroundings on a warmer day. I was impressed with the variety of seating and the consideration that had gone into their design and placement; wooden snaking benches underneath an oversized pergola structure, love seats and recliners, geometric block benches reinforcing the design and secluded benches set in beautiful symmetry;  there was somewhere for everyone to sit!

For me the planting looked slightly municipal – but that is often the case and after all this is a public park which will have to be easily maintained.  However, it’s a shame they didn't take some inspiration from the Olympic Park and incorporate softer areas of wild meadow planting, which is so desperately needed for our endangered bees. Maybe that’s for a later stage?

A geometric theme of clean lines, blocks and pattern repeats ran throughout the park sympathetically reflecting its urban surrounds; A run of black pergola type structures and white oblong stone seating, framing Silver Birch trees, looked like a representation of a railway line, regular block seating combined with square flower beds of mass planting contributing to the graphic grid effect, even the beach hedges and yews were clipped into rectangular blocks...almost Mondrian style!

I absolutely loved the dominating group of block sculptures, cast in rusting iron, with their lacework representation of nature, trees and flower heads. A man-made representation of nature, in materials synonymous with the midlands...very clever. This rusting iron work is also used for the gigantic lighting posts and as decorative railings around the Science Park. There’s a sight worry about the iron leaching into the light grey granite though!

I look forward to a summer visit, when hopefully I will be able to sit a while to people-watch outside the newly refurbished Victorian pub, whilst enjoying an alfresco beer or two!

Feeding the imagination - a Bloomsbury garden flourishes in East Sussex

 Garden torso hortensia: © Charleston Trust.
Photograph Axel Hesslenberg

                                                           

What is it about the Bloomsbury Group that so captivates teenage girls? It can’t just be their infidelities – teenage girls are quite relaxed about affairs, if undying love elsewhere is the ultimate goal. It must be something larger; the whole, messy melange that Bloomsbury represents – the personalities, the atmosphere, the houses, the creativity, the progeny, the privilege and, at least for my teenage self, the indisputable force of the female protagonists.

I was fascinated by Virginia Woolf, with her lugubrious face and confused sexuality. I loved her writing – not just her novels, but her essays and letters too. I loved Vita Sackville-West, and her determination to make Sissinghurst a beautiful and welcoming home, in order to compensate for having lost her family pile through male succession. Katherine Mansfield was the most tragic of all – elfin, racked with TB, stricken with poverty, mistreated by her beloved, producing so few, but such exquisite stories.

But I saved my greatest affection for Vanessa Bell. As the sister of Virginia Woolf, I felt she had a lot to compete with (I say this as the sister of an brilliant, competitive girl), and yet she seemed to make a world entirely for herself, in which her sister and her circle were welcome, but not the centre. 

Studio Mantelpiece © Charleston Trust.
Photograph Axel Hesslenberg

                                         

Frosty February’s Winter Flowering Treats

Snow and hard frosts are still the order of the day in wintery February and we are all desperate to see an end to the cold weather and signs of spring. If you take a look in your garden there are clear signs of new life; trees and shrubs budding and bulbs forging their way through the rock solid earth. Thankfully there are also plenty of specimens putting on a show in the garden this week, despite the snow and cold weather;

Crocus

These Crocii, just popping their lance shaped heads through the ground, are great naturalised in a lawn and a classic sign that spring is on the way!

Rhubarb reminiscences and other stuff about Rheums

We have always had a patch of rhubarb in the garden and I remember, as a small child, being marched down the garden by granddad, who was a keen vegetable gardener, to the rhubarb patch. I used to suffer from terrible all-over heat rashes and he was convinced that a stick of this plant would cure me… “sort your blood out our Mel” he would chunter. Chinese medicine does use rhubarb to purge the system and to encourage the liver to detox, so maybe there was some truth in his traditional country remedy. It became a real treat to go down the garden, break off a stem and dip each mouth-full in the handful of sugar I had been given to sweeten it. At the time I thought It was the best medicine I’d ever had, not sure it cured the rash but I definitely felt better from the experience and attention! 

After the snow its business as normal this week for the Lupin gardening team

This week has seen a full return to garden maintenance work for the Lupin lady gardeners. 

The Lupin Team

Here is a diary of their week maintaining gardens;

Monday

Today we are in Henley-in-Arden, in a garden we have been developing for several years (see photos). It was redesigned and implemented by the usual team - Mel at Gardenplan, Mick at Avalon Landscapes and planted by Lupin. We maintain this garden on a quarterly basis and it seems to have come through the winter. Nice to see the end of the snow, though rain apparently on the way...

Henley-In-Arden Garden in Summer

Viburnum opulus attracts a special winter visitor to the garden – right on cue for ‘Birdwatch’!

It was the RSPB ‘Big Garden Birdwatch’ this weekend and I thought that the contrary birds would, as in previous years, lie low and only visit in small numbers, frustrating the people who were on their annual bird monitoring mission! 

Well, they did this as I predicted, but to compensate we did have a fantastic treat a first time sighting - a new visitor to our garden!

It was early on Saturday morning and the local fox had paid us a visit and gave a bark prompting an early garden viewing. At first, without the binoculars, I thought these birds were pigeons.  However, on closer inspection they were definitely not, as they had a stunning yellow beak and a speckled chest, some of the features of a thrush, a bird that unfortunately eludes us. These birds, four in total, were taking it in turns to feast on the Viburnum opulus berries. (I am now so glad that I was lazy and didn’t remove them earlier to make a jelly). These beautiful birds, still to be identified, were very nervous and moved off at the slightest sound. Out came the bird books and even after much deliberating we still didn’t have a definite identification, but it was a bird clearly form the Thrush family. Thank goodness for Internet images as a positive match was made. The Fieldfare family had paid us a visit on this important day of bird watching! Apparently, according to the RSPB, they will visit gardens if snow covers the countryside. Living in urban Birmingham, we were lucky to catch this winter visitor! Oh! and thank you Mr Fox for your little bark to alert us to looking out on Saturday morning! 

The Fieldfare in our Viburnum, well disguised with its beautiful plumage.

National Trust Gardens to revisit and discover in 2013

I received the new National Trust book and magazine in the post this morning, which is always exciting! After fighting over the car sticker, (I always win!), hub and I scan the book to see what’s new, making a mental list of what properties we should visit this year. I can’t remember how long I have been a member of the National Trust but it’s a very long time and the only regret I have, is that I should have taken the ‘Life Long’ membership for about £400 when it was offered way back when!

I never tire of the Trust’s gardens and regularly visit local properties, which have become like old friends and part of the extended Mel Smith estate!, Hanbury Hall , Packwood House  and Dudmaston are great for walks and garden visits. I have watched with great pleasure and admiration the reconstruction of Hanbury’s laid out parterres, sauntered through Packwood’s clipped yews, which have great presence, so much so that I imagine they might come to life and dance around the garden at night! Dudmaston has so much to offer both inside and out, the great modern art collection and the lovely walks. My first priority for a visit here this year will be the Dingle Snowdrop walk, which is lovely.

I have been truly inspired by the National Trust gardens that I have visited over the years; offering an inordinate variety of historic styles, quirky designs and copious plant collections, that delight the senses. So heavily impressed are they in my subconscious, I’m certain that any garden I design will have a bit of National Trust in there somewhere!

Packwood House Yews 

Here are a few of my favourites;

Winter garden planning - you know it makes sense!

If you haven’t started thinking about your garden for this summer then now is the ideal time to get stuck in! My advice is that preparation and planning is what is crucial, so time spent carefully thinking about what you want from your outdoor space will make your garden the best it has ever been. Winter time is difficult for those of us who love to spend time in our gardens. We try to cheer ourselves up by endlessly flicking through those seed catalogues, which are by now heavily embossed with biro ticks or rushing out to the garden centre the minute the weather starts to pick up to buy trolleys full of plants, which turn out to be wholly unsuitable for the space you don’t really have! 
Hold fire on the quick fix plant buying - it can turn out be a costly mistake; start thinking instead about the structure and functionality of your garden and putting a plan together. Snuggle down on the sofa and start making lists of plants and plant combinations that you would like to include and look at books, other peoples gardens and the internet for inspiration. 

The latest collaborative project from Gardenplan Design and Avalon Landscapes; A two level terrace in Edgbaston

The terrace is finally complete - hurrah! We are waiting for the garden furniture to arrive from Spain and the planters to be filled and put in place. All this along with the maturing planting, will give the clients the outdoor space they're looking for.

Everyone, the client included, is really pleased with the results and the space feels light, bright and airy. The split level paved area, formed in beige sawn sandstone gives a contemporary feel and is a complimentary extension of the client's newly built kitchen/living space.

I am very delighted that the clients have now asked me to design the rest of their garden; I am confident  that adding more interest into the borders and paying careful consideration to the views beyond the patio will enhance their experience of the garden further. 

Wildflowers in Vogue

Wildflowers are truly in vogue and have popped into my world on a number of occasions this year, leaving me both open-mouthed with delight and transported back to my childhood and my fascination with my local flora. As a child I lived in a small Derbyshire Village surrounded by hay meadows. I would spend hours searching out different varieties and identifying them for my pressed flower collection. I also liked to pick small posies of Clover, Penny Moons, Hair Bells, Yarrow, Buttercups and Lady's Smock, to give to my mum. In Summer there was always the ubiquitous bunch of wildflowers on the kitchen window sill spilling its ring of pollen.

I have been constantly surprised by wildflowers this year; not only on account of their sheer beauty and abundance but also encountering them in situations that I would never have imagined. I nearly crashed my car at the end of Broad Street as I craned my neck in disbelief to catch a glimpse of the central reservation full to bursting with the riotous colour of wildflowers. Birmingham City Council, steered by Sarah Raven's campaign to encourage and preserve our wildlife by planting indigenous wildflowers, experimented with the inclusion of meadow planting in this year's 'Birmingham in Bloom', display. I hope they decide to persevere with using wildflowers, as I find them a welcome change to the omnipresent and over-showy bedding plants.

Then there were the Olympics! Never mind the lightning displays of the likes of Usain Bolt, and the mighty achievements of Team GB. What about the Olympic Park itself where the area equivalent to more than ten football fields have been planted with wildflowers from Norfolk. It took two years of experimentation to ensure the best display possible and timed to the minute to produce a ribbon of gold around the stadium. This shows true innovation and showcases the creator’s sustainability and ecology policy while forming the future legacy of the site. This to me is a true British achievement!

 Read more about the Olympic planting to encourage wildlife here in an article from the London News 

Get a buzz from this plant….

My plant of the week is Cirsium rivulare ‘Atropureum’. Although it is from the thistle family it is by no means a weed! It is an ideal plant to attract bees and butterflies into the garden and also a handsome addition to a border. Unlike other thistles you do not need to handle this one with care as this ‘garden friendly’ variety has none of the prickly attributes of its distant cousins.

In my garden bees a plenty are getting drunk on nectar from my plant and at least six varieties of bumble bee are wallowing on the plants perfectly designed landing pads. Totally oblivious of our presence we were able to watch closely as they concentrated on the job in hand and almost getting into a stupefied state, it was fascinating!

About ten years ago this was ’The plant’ at Chelsea Flower Show and I am proud to have been a dedicated follower of floral fashion, as this plant has never let me down!

In design terms this plant is ideal to use at the back of the border as its tall heads proudly stand over one metre high; however in my garden it takes centre stage in my east facing border. Combined with Alliums, Aquilegias, Rosa ‘Iceberg’, Astrantia major and Clematis ‘Henyi’ it is the feature plant in my dark pink and white border.

Hopefully I have tempted you to consider this plant for your garden - and for the bees!

To find out more about this plant click here 

Author Melanie Smith - Gardenplan Design 

I’ve got the Viburnum Beetle Blues!

I have worked hard over the last few years to rid my Viburnum opulus of this dreaded beetle (Pyrrhalta viburni). I have made regular, furtive trips into the garden with the sole mission of ridding my beautiful shrub of this hideous beastie!


It became an obsession to hunt them down; Firstly squashing the larvae with my fingers between the leaves (yuk), then dealing withthe beetle itself, I would spend at least half an hour drowning the blighters, sometimes even mid coitus (which gave me even more pleasure!). All this sounds terrible I know - but I love this beautiful shrub and over the last few years my poor specimen has struggled to produce even just a couple of flowers atop its ravaged lace-like leaves.


Now, at last! my hard work has paid off and this year I have a beautiful shrub with umpteen snowball like flower heads and not a trace of my arch enemy. What shall I do now that I have all that spare time on my hands? Shall I spend time looking with joy at my newly resurrected bush? No! - for I have just spotted a lily beetle demolishing my Lilium superbum – let the killing commence!

For more information about the Viburnum beetle check out these links:

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=556

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/News/Top-10-pests

Author Melanie Smith - Gardenplan Design