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.

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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....

Getting ready for the workshops

Just limbering up for the workshop season.  Really looking forward to all of the sessions that we are doing this year with both the University of Bristol Botanic Gardens and the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project.  

We are doing two sessions on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th in the Potting Shed at the Botanic Gardens making fresh traditional Christmas Wreaths.   If ever there was a perfect place to spend an afternoon making something lovely that is it.  And its warm....

New this year is a day at Bristol Zoo making traditional blue spruce swags to decorate fireplaces and staircases on Saturday 10th December.  We are going to make a day of it with a walk on the Downs after lunch with Mandy Leivers, the Education Officer at the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project talking about the history and folklore of the foiliage used for Christmas decoration.  Last year we did that walk after a heavy snowfall the day before and the temperature was well below zero even in the afternoon, so we were very happy to get back for tea and cake after..
 
More details are on the website.  There are a few places left so come and join us if you can....

a warm welcome to our Clifton Life readers

been a great week.  About to take delivery of our first batch of Welsh blue pine to start working on samples and our first order of wreaths  for delivery to The Better Food Company in Clifton later in the month.  The rope for our swags is on order from Neil in Norfolk too so its really starting to feel a lot like Christmas.

The Clifton Life article is out. Jamie Oliver on the cover and greengarland on page 11 with an interview for their regular GreenLife feature, all good stuff.

We are coming to the end of the hydrangea season and they have been selling very quickly. Hopefully we should have a few left for the markets in December but if the frost comes that will be all the hydrangeas until next year.

  the secateurs are being sharpened and we are nearly ready for the season.  Come join us..