The return of Monty Don and Gardeners' World

Hoorah to the return of Monty. I have to say (a little old before my time) I was rather excited with Gardeners' World last night.

(pic from Daily Mail.co.uk)

Having read Monty's books I couldn't wait to be allowed to snoop around his beautiful garden.  Half an hour is not long enough  but I guess it will have to do. I'm really looking forward to seeing how his garden changes through the seasons and especially excited to see the Jewel garden in full flower in the summer.
Anyway feeling inspired, I must dash as there is so much I want to get on with in the garden!

Flowers in the house Monday

Well here we are again, Monday! Where has another week gone to?

The sun is shining, it is a beautiful morning with a thick, sparkly frost and I am an early bird today.

I have been watching Flowers in the house Monday, hosted by Jane over at Small But Charming, for a couple of weeks now and I'm afraid to say I have never got my act together in time to get any pics in daylight of the flowers in our home! This week however, I have been Little Miss Organised and so here are the flowers that I couldn't resist and I gave a home to.

 They are stunning Widow Iris, beautiful and dainty, with amazing centres. Popped into glass bottles with a touch of guelder rose on the window sill, that make me smile every time I pass them in the hallway.

How could anyone resist? Unfortunately they must be because these have come from a grower in Cornwall and he has said that it may be the last year he grows them as they are not worthwhile for him! Here's hoping that this will not be the last spring that they will be gracing my window sill.

Wedding Gallery page

Finally some pictures!!!
When I have a little more time (and patience!) I will try and arrange the images in a more friendly viewing manner, for now I'm afraid it is one long page. Hope your fingers don't hurt too much by the time you have scrolled to the bottom (please scroll to the bottom, I fear I may have put people off?!?)

Colours of Spring on a grey day

Despite the grey, a beautiful day was spent at Chippenham Park gardens, admiring the Snowdrops and Hellebores and warming ourselves by the giant fire.

Beautiful selection of Hellebores

Amazing colours of Dogwood and Catkins

and beautifully scented Witch hazel

We became slightly snap happy on our day trip, so pop over to my husbands blog to get his take on the day.

A gardeners life for me

Stylish Blogger Award

A big thank you to Elly.

http://www.ellystuin.com/

Who awarded me with a stylish blogger award, and made my day.

Planting by candle light (well, sort of)

I came home from work last night very excited to discover I had received a delivery of bare root plants and bulbs. Now any normal person would wait till daylight to start planting, however, realising that they would have to sit and sweat in their little plastic bags for a week until I had a day to get outside, I set about rigging up lighting in the polytunnel!

Some might say crazy, I like to say enthusiastic!

Ahh a lovely gin & tonic for Valentine's Day!!

I am sitting back and relaxing with a lovely gin and tonic after a busy day getting ready for Valentine's day in the shop.  We've prepared lots of orders ready for delivery tomorrow; made as much as we could until we ran out of stock, ready for an early morning start with a fresh delivery of flowers and foliage.

In other news, I have been rather chuffed with my new ebay purchase. I am just slightly obsessed with vintage china and glass and this week I purchased a beautiful large wash jug in cream, with a pretty green rose print.

 So this week's creation for my local pub, the Nevill Crest and Gun was created in my new purchase.
(Not a great picture i'm afraid, it was a grey, dreary morning before I delivered it.)

Natural flowers in a vintage jug, perfect for a country pub, come summer they will be home grown, even better!

Happy Valentine's Day everybody.

Dreaming of summer

 It looks as if we are all dreaming of summer in blog world. Sarah over at Modern Country Style is having an English garden party and I want in. We had the best English garden party last summer in the form of our wedding. A lot of hard work went in to the preparations for the big day but we were all thrilled with the final results and we had an amazing day.

And finally the productive part of the garden where I had all the sweet peas growing ready for the big day.

It's still winter but today felt like spring.

Today has been a beautiful clear and sunny day, perfect for getting into the garden to get a few jobs done.  I sowed the next batch of sweet pea seeds, checked over ranunculus and anemones which are sprouting strongly (apart from a few mouldy anemones that smelt pretty rotten!), and watered some poppy seedlings which I had neglected and had gone a bit limp. 

The day culminated with an evening bonfire just as the sun was setting behind the trees.  A day well spent, and now we can sit back and enjoy a glass or two of wine while dinner cooks.

Valentine's Day looming

So the countdown is here, only 2 weeks to go. On a personal level, nothing is obviously ready in the garden to do any bunches to sell, but in The Flower House, where I work, madness will kick in.
So ladies ( and men!) what is your preference, roses or spring flowers?

Personally, spring always wins hands down at Valentine's (come summer, with scented garden roses, well that's another matter!).