Come and make swags with us at the Zoo.....

Christmas comes very early in our house.  We have  taking photos for the website, working on commissions for our retail partners and finalising the 2012 on-line Christmas shop

We are running our Swag making workshop again at Bristol Zoo Gardens on Saturday 15th December, where we will be hosted by the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project.  We are going to be spending the morning making fireplace and staircase swags and then going for a brisk walk on the Downs with Mandy Leivers the Education Officer to discover the folklore surrounding Christmas foliage.  We also eat quite a lot of cake and drink lots of tea, provided by the Project.

blue pine swag 

Blue pine swag 

There are a few places available on this course.  Last year it proved very popular and we had a lovely day making lovely fresh fragrant decorated swags on English handmade rope to take home to decorate our fireplaces and staircases.  Why not join us.  Booking is through Mandy Leivers at the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project.

greengarland goes north of the border

Apple & Cinnamon  Mini Wreath with Tartan Bow

We have been busy working with Country House Interiors in the market town of Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire collaborating on a collection of wreaths and swags to dress Mhairi McPhee's two lovely interior design shops there in Scotland.  Here is a sneak preview of two of the wreaths that we will be supplying Country House Interiors this season along with some lovely fireplace swags.

All these wreaths are handmade and beautifully fragrant, with scents of cinnamon, apple, juniper, pine and rosemary.

Apple & Cinnamon Wreath with Tartan Bow

 
These products are exclusive to Country House Interiors.  They will be stocking the full range of sizes from mini wreaths for tables - right through to our extra large statement wreaths to dress the grand doors of the good folk of Castle Douglas.  All with matching swags on handmade English rope.  Will be available from November 2012.

The changing of the seasons

Hydrangea Wreath

September is here, despite the non-existent summer.  Never mind. We are busy harvesting what did not get eaten by the slugs, rendered catatonic by the cold weather or beaten down by the rain.  Luckily, Hydrangeas love the wet, so hopefully we should have a good crop for our Hydrangea hearts and wreaths.  If you are interested in either of these products, get in touch to reserve yours as they are not yet available and will sell out quickly.

Harvest herb wreath

This year's harvest herb wreaths are lovely too and we will be making more as September moves into October with what is good at the allotment and in the garden.  Of all the seasonal wreaths they are my favourite.

We are moving towards our busy season and now have the dates of the courses we will be running this year.  The University of Bristol Botanic Garden will be hosting us on Saturday 8th December from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.,with our Creating Christmas Wreaths workshop in their fabulous Potting Shed.
On Saturday 15th December we will be at Bristol Zoo Gardens as guests of the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project with our workshop Creating Christmas Garlands, making fireplace and staircase swags in the morning and going for an invigorating walk on the Downs in the afternoon with Mandy Leivers, the Education Officer, to discover the history and folklore surrounding the trees and shrubs used to make seasonal decorations.

Both courses are booking now and places are available.  Follow the links above for further information and booking details, or contact us for further information.

J is also making some nips and tucks to the greengarland website and putting in an on-line payment facility which should be live shortly.  All very exciting....

Spring Herb Wreath

Spring Herb Wreath

It has really been a typical British bank holiday, weather-wise.  Cold, hurling with rain, hail and occasionally between the almost biblical downpours the sun comes out and it is really then quite nice.  Even our May Fair was cancelled on Redland Green due vile weather conditions this year.

However, great growing weather.  The herb garden is coming on fine so ventured out between the showers and got together some nice material to make some spring herb wreaths.  All edible and made with bay, sage flowers, rosemary, lemon balm, bronze fennel and marjoram.

    

   This one is for a gardener who has gone to the potting shed for the last time....    

The best dressed doors of 2011



Greengarland Orange and Cinnamon Wreath on Georgian Farmhouse Door

I thought, although spring is here, to share my  favourite photos of the 2011 Christmass eason.  This one is of a large greengarland Orange and Cinnamon Wreath on possibly one of the nicest doors we dress.   This house is within 200 mtrs of us, and also has some of the best hydrangea bushes, that we use for our hydrangea wreaths.

Heart hydrangea wreath



Standard Holly Tree

              Opposite us also is a beautifully kept standard holly tree, which, this year, had berries like we had never seen before.  This was taken about two weeks before Christmas and was a wonderful sight.  I wandered across the road yesterday to check and there was not a berry to be seen.  Clearly the birds had found it.

We are currently working on making some changes to the website and will be putting some updates on there shortly including details of the 2012 wreath and swag making courses.  We have already confirmed our date with the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project  and will be running a course on Saturday 15th December 2012 making fireplace and staircase swags.  More to come.

 

Creating Christmas Garlands at Bristol Zoo

We were at Bristol Zoo yesterday with the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project running a workshop on Creating Christmas Garlands.  Mandy Leivers, the education officer, kindly hosted this event , and we spent a lovely day making some really beautiful fireplace and staircase swags and walking on the Downs learning about the history and folklore that surrounds the foliage we use at Christmas.l   This is the first time we have run this swag workshop and it was a great success with everyone taking home beautiful work.  It really was a good day.   

This is the third year that greengarland have worked with the Project and we are very proud to be associated with them. The Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project is in its tenth year and is a collaboration funded  by Bristol City Council, Bristol Zoo Gardens, Natural England, University of Bristol, Society of Merchant Venturers, the Downs Committee and the Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation, and work in partnership with the National Trust (phew). Their work celebrates the outstanding wildlife interests of the Avon Gorge and Downs and works to secure its future.



Mandy has inspired almost a whole generation of children (including mine who are now in their mid-teens) to appreciate and enjoy the diversity and uniqueness of the Downs.  My garden is full of insect hides and bird boxes that my boys have made on some of Mandy's courses when they were younger, and we have as a family spent many happy hours listening for birds, hugging trees, hunting for rare moths and identifying some of the unique species that grow there on the wide range of walks, talks and courses that they run all year round.

.

It really was a lovely day.  Thanks again to Mandy..... I even got to pay a visit to my very favourite tree. Here it is..(the snow is from 2010....)  It was merely very chilly yesterday and I did not take the camera.

We are currently looking at dates for 2012 to run this event again at the Zoo, so hopefully some of the folk that we could not fit onto this year's workshop can come next year.  We will put the date on the Events page as soon as we can.   

Blue spruce swags on English handmade rope

English handmade rope

In preparation for the workshop that The Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project are hosting for us at Bristol Zoo on Saturday 10th I bought some really beautiful handmade Manila rope from Neil at the Traditional Rope Company in Norfolk.    Having ordered a whole coil, then had a sleepless night wondering quite how big 220m of rope would be and where quite I would store it.  Never mind.  It is so beautiful that it is currently stored in my sitting room - it is such a lovely thing - if you put a glass top on it it would make a good coffee table.

I am going to take the coil whole to the workshop and we can then cut exact lengths to make our staircase and  fireplace swags.  Will try to get some photos on the day.  This workshop is now fully booked but I am still taking orders for swags for local delivery in North and North West Bristol (until I use up all the rope.. .)  Details are on the website.   

Really looking forward to the day which includes a walk with Mandy Leivers on the Downs.  Just to get a taste for what we are aiming for, here is one I made earlier....