Sunshine?

Looking out of the window the sky is overcast and it is 'mizzling' as we used to call it. That rain that soaks you through without noticing..... not quite drizzle, and once it is set in, it tends to stay for the day. So to brighten up the day and start the week on a positive note, I thought I would post a picture of some Red Campion (Silene dioica) and the beautiful bluebells (hyacinthoides non-scripta)that are

peppering our banks and woods at the moment. The origin of the name of Red (or White) Campion delights me on such a day. Silenus was the drunken, happy god of the woodlands in Greek mythology. Entirely appropriate for a flower that creates splashes of colour along the banks of lanes. As for our beautiful bluebell, which is under threat from hybrisation (sounds like an electric car) and/or the Spanish bluebell, they are finally blooming despite dire warnings about an early spring. The miserable April we had has put their flowering back and they are only just carpeting the woods and banks around me, like an inverted sky.

This weekend I also sighted my first Orange-tip butterflies - such pretty butterflies and much less commonly sighted around here than the Peacocks and Red Admirals.

Left field

I was thinking of all the possible titles I could use, and they were all so hackneyed I gave up. Independent Gardening was set up to focus on designing/advising on therapeutic gardens (you could debate that all gardens are therapeutic, and therefore there should be no separation but that discussion is for another day). However, I also 'do' project management for Adrian Fisher who designs the most incredible mazes. I am also fortunate the work with the best contractors I have ever come across (take a bow Wright Landscapes) and we have just completed a wooden panel maze. Now, I have to admit that ridiculous though it is I get chlaustrophobic in mazes.... I know I know. This wooden panel maze is in Liverpool and is simply fantastic. Have a look at the pictures. The guys did sooooooooooo well, right angles all over the place; everything lined up and stunning. It forms part of an adventure area down by the Mersey at Aigburth and is quite quite amazing.

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Updated!

I have to admit to having had a 'fiddle'. Somewhat frustrated at my inability to find pictures to improve a gardening concept I am working on and with my creativity in full flight, I decided to update my blog design. I hope you like it! I would be interested in any feedback you might have about what you would like to see more of on here - or even less of! I will try and get some more pictures put on here, particularly at the moment when the countryside is exploding into fabulous colour; the intensity of the green is mind blowing and the primroses, wood anemones, and violets seem to have lasted for months. The year is cracking on, with Chelsea Flower Show in a couple of weeks time; I will report back on what I have seen there.

We are fashionable!!!

The title is slightly tongue in cheek, but it is nice to see that Cleve West is following in the footsteps of our Combat Stress Therapeutic Garden which was designed and installed at Hampton Court Flower Show two years ago. Cleve is designing Horatio's Garden for the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre in Salisbury and there is a very similar theme developing. Resin-bound gravel paths (they are brilliant and smooth for traversing); amelenchier, box balls, stipa, panicum, acanthus, agastache, echinacea, dry stone walls........ Perhaps, finally the awareness of how important gardens are in the healing process is getting across to the general public, institutions and the like. It would be nice to think so.

Interesting times

If I ever, ever doubted about the importance of the work I do, then the last 4 weeks have shown me the truth of it. I have been lucky enough to have had a new hip replacement, which despite my moans and groans regarding pain, immobility and frustration and not being able to do what I want to do NOW, has gone very well. I was also lucky enough to have had the operation done privately which meant that the room that I came round in after the op had a window which looked out onto the street, and a large plane tree. Subsequently I moved to a friends house where I could look out onto a garden, and my bedroom (downstairs) looked out onto a conifer hedge. The latter became of huge importance when I was lying in bed (for a fair few hours a day) as it harboured several blackbirds and other small birds, who were busy thinking that spring was not far away; cue snow! And now I am home with my stick, enforced 'taking it easy' and the every changing scenario of spring seen through my windows. (Above is one of the spectacular sunsets we have been having seen through one of my windows.

All of which reinforces what I think is so important. Hours spent lying on my back and in pain was made bearable by what I could see out of my window. Clouds, sky, the shifting of branches in the wind enabled me to shift my focus to something else other than my battered body. You can call it what you like (and all sorts of experts put all sorts of fancy names on it) but it seems to me that being able to see outside, to see people, plants, animals and the shifting cloud patterns, shadows, light - all of which when we are healthy we so take for granted - provides a panacea for pain and sickness that is hugely underestimated by health professionals, architects, and planners.

Belated Happy New Year

I, along with I am sure, most other people cannot believe that it is 2012. Where did 2011 go? However, perhaps unlike a lot of other people, I am really excited about this year. It seems to me to be full of 'possibles'; open to excitement and development in a way that I have not come across before. The 'recession' seems to me to be an opportunity to do things differently; to be awake and aware to opportunity. There is no room for 'second best' or 'making do'. At least perhaps not in the way that most people would see this. What is important to me in this time of change and for many people, shrinking circumstances? Friends, joy, appreciation of what is really really important. I am so thankful that I have a roof over my head, a garden that I can look at and see colour, growth, and new life. I have wonderful friends and family who provide a network of support; I have my life in front of me, and behind me. I wake up in the morning and go to bed at night, hopefully knowing that I have done the best I can, and if not, then I can take a breath, forgive myself for that and know that I have another opportunity in the morning to put it right, fix it, or apologise for it. How fortunate is that?

And today, fossicking around in the garden and planting some bulbs - too late I know - I was blinded by the colours of my favourite plant for winter, Cornus Midwinter Fire, whose stems in the gloaming of a subdued sunset were almost too painful to look at. A tall poppy of a plant, unashamedly colourful and upright. Perhaps a good metopher for life!

Mazed

Over the last few months I have been extremely fortunate in working with Adrian Fisher Design on a maze for the National Trust at Speke Hall. This opened on July 8th. What a great learning curve and a fantastic experience to create such a long-term legacy in todays world which seems to focus increasingly on short-term solutions.

I was lucky enough to work with brilliant contractors (Wright Landscapes) who made the journey to Liverpool more than worth while. The project was completed on time and looks fantastic - so a huge thank you guys! We have gates, bridges, puzzles and wind vanes. We overcame archaelogical constraints; the weather (incredibly hot and then cold); planning concerns and all those wonderful bits and pieces that go with working on a project! But I hope that you think, looking at the pictures, it was worth it. Do go and visit Speke Hall - it is a medieval miracle just behind John Lennon Airport in Liverpool. An interesting juxtoposition if ever there was one!