Back in June I shared the first stage of my project to build a wildlife pond in our new garden. We hoped to have our pond up and running this summer, but due to the cost of buying the liner, plants, and other equipment, plus the sheer monumental task of shifting so much concrete and the need to repeatedly dig up reappearing bamboo suckers, it has taken us longer to get everything in place.
We urgently need our leaders to take responsibility and introduce laws and treaties that will protect our environment. There is so much to be done that could help our planet and not enough action being taken. Many of the messages and promises that were shared at COP26 are statements that have been shared many times before but are yet to be acted upon.
Yesterday afternoon when I logged onto Twitter, the first thing I saw was an open letter on the use of peat signed by some well-known professional horticulturists and illustrated with a picture of Peter Seabrook. Earlier this year, I responded to some of the claims Peter Seabrook made about peat in Hort Week; today I’m responding to the claims made by the following professional horticulturists in an open letter, which was published by Garden Trade News.
Peatlands cover just 3% of our planet’s surface, yet these precious areas store more carbon than all the world’s forests and vegetive plants combined. Home to rare plants and wildlife, peatlands support a biodiverse range of plants, insects, birds, and wildlife, including many species that can only survive in these unique habitats. As well as protecting us from climate change and providing us with beautiful open countryside refuges, peatlands offer us many other advantages.
Welcome to the third part of my overview of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021 (see part one here and part two here)……
I’m supporting Peat Free April – a campaign by garden writers, nature writers, and gardeners who want to ban the use of peat in horticulture and protect the planet’s peatlands and peat bogs.
We really need your help to push the government to protect peat bogs and peatlands, so please sign this petition to ask the government to ban the use of peat in horticulture.
If you suffered any gardening disappointments last year, I want to help you improve your growing techniques, so you’ll experience the uplifting joy of gardening success, this year!
Gardening is such a positive hobby, growing plants truly enriches our lives; yet it can be utterly disheartening when seedlings die, our plants decline to flower or fruit, or don’t perform as well as we hoped.
Peatlands are extraordinary environments, which now cover just 2-3% of our planet’s surface. Home to a fascinating range of native plants and wildlife, peatlands form unique ecosystems that support incredible flora and fauna. Many of the plants, insects, birds, and wildlife that have evolved in these boggy, acidic areas can’t survive anywhere else.
If you’re looking for ways to make a positive difference to the environment, why not build a pond? Ponds support a vast range of wildlife, from the bottom to the top of the food chain. Insects, invertebrates, amphibians, and birds, all need ponds. These ecologically important habitats give us the chance to see dazzling dragonflies and get closer to nature. Ponds grant us exciting opportunities to grow waterlilies and aquatic plants!
I’ve always had a great interest in ponds, to me, the underwater world is fascinating. I’ve been interested in aquatic plants since I was a young child. I can still remember the feeling, as my heart leapt and did a little somersault when I discovered a clump of Marsh Marigolds (Caltha palustris) for the very first time, whilst I was out for a walk with my Grandparents; I was utterly captivated by the beauty of this large clump of Caltha palustris.
A highlight of the horticultural calendar, the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show runs from Tuesday 21st May 2019, to Saturday 25th May 2019.
In preparation for the show, over the past three weeks, award winning garden designers, together with their teams, made up of some of the best landscape architects, project managers, builders, technicians, horticulturalists, artists, and crafts people, have been working tirelessly to transform the Royal Hospital’s grounds at Chelsea, into a plant filled oasis.
April is such a magical time of year! It’s quite simply awe inspiring to see the landscape being painted by mother nature in every beautiful shade of green, as more leaves unfurl and the view becomes ever greener each day. I love to be outside, surrounded by the birds singing and bees buzzing.
Every year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, you’ll find a wealth of plant knowledge and expertise inside the Great Pavilion, where specialist nurseries, expert growers, and plants people, come together from all over the world, to showcase some of the special plants they grow and love.
Here’s a look at some of the nurseries and exhibits that were inside The Great Pavilion, at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2016…….
There’s something quite thrilling about carnivorous plants.
Here are some of the Gold Medal winning nurseries from The Royal Horticultural Society’s 2015 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show……….
Fibrex Nurseries Harts Nursery Harperley Farm Hall Nurseries Derbyshire Bonsai Trewidden Nursery David Austin Roses Hampshire Carnivorous Plants The National Dahlia Collection Victorian Violas Roualeyn Fuchsias W. S. Warmenhoven Every Picture Tells A Story Hoyland Plant Centre Hewitt-Cooper Carnivorous Plants Brookfield Plants Blackmore & Langdon Southfield Nurseries Avon Bulbs Eagle Sweet Peas Vacherot & LecoufleOther articles that may interest you…….
The Great Pavilion at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show extends to an area equal in size to three football pitches; during Chelsea week it’s filled with a glorious array of interesting, new, rare and beautiful plants and stunning floral exhibits created by top plant breeders, growers and nurseries. Here are some of the Gold Medal winning nurseries from this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show:
W & S Lockyer – AuriculasBill, Joan, and Simon Lockyer are specialist growers and breeders of Florist Auriculas.
We’re fortunate to benefit from so many beautiful, important, and historic gardens being open for us to enjoy in Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex. We can be inspired by spectacular plant collections, see rare and exotic plants, enjoy beautiful landscapes and learn more about how amazing plants are, without travelling very far at all!
