It has been a while since I wrote my last post and nearly a year since I left the position of Head Gardener at Trinity college Cambridge. It has been a tough first few months of my new venture but now, hopefully, I’m now beginning to find my feet and slowly starting to get into the swing of working for myself.
It was a tough decision to leave Trinity but one I do not regret making. Although, I did start to question this after having to scrap three cars in a matter of a few weeks (no Volkswagen’s were hurt or involved in this period) and then my health knocked me on my arse again! With the help of my wife and family, I’ve been able to pick myself up, stick two fingers up at all the negative shit and start to pull myself forward.
It ain’t all been bad though. I’ve had the great opportunity to have worked/working in some beautiful private gardens in and around Cambridge, I have met some truly wonderful people and the work has been quite varied too; from the design side to getting my hands dirty again……..great stuff!
So as I see my business moving into a new chapter and seeing the wonderful autumn season from different gardens and places around Cambridge, I’m feeling good about the future. I will stop rabbiting on now, so you can enjoy some of the autumn colours from my part of the world….
I don’t do selfies……too ugly! So here is a shodowie instead.
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Now I told you about the three cars that I had scrapped in a short space of time, well these are the wheels of my new car. Hopefully this one will do better than the last three nightmares. Plus, I thought these colourful wheels reminded me of flowers? My Dad has nicknamed it the ‘Tank’ and suppose he’s Wright, it does have the word ‘Challenger’ in its name.
And finally…………..
Another picture from Welney again – taken by my Mum.
The End……
Until the next time that is…..I feel another ‘Rock Garden’ pending!
Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast for it is a human number,
its number is Six hundred and sixty six.
Revelations CH XIII v. 18
(It is also the introduction to the Iron Maiden song ‘The Number of the Beast’)
This post is not going to be about Iron Maiden, though you may get the video at the end. It is going to be about plants that have a connection in some way with the ‘Devil’, along with a few other nasties that should be in any ‘Devils Garden’. Also, I have included some real nasties from the animal world, just to give the garden more of an edge. It is very similar to the ‘Garden of Death- Welcome to the Darkside!’
‘When Christmas bells are swinging above the fields of snow, we hear sweet voices ringing from lands of long ago, and etched on vacant places are half-forgotten faces of friends we used to cherish, and loves we used to know.’ ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Christmas is here!!!
With it being awhile since I have written a post and even longer since I have done a ‘Rock Garden’ post and I thought with it also being Christmas…… it was time to do another ‘Rock Garden’! If you haven’t seen any of the ‘Rock Garden’ posts (you’ve been lucky), these are a collection of posts where I mix plants with music, by connecting the two by: name of song, band, singer or any other connection I can think of; you’ll soon get the gist! Now with me being self employed, I may now get the chance to design and create my very own re-life ‘Rock Garden’ of course, one that is slightly different to the more traditional type rock garden.
Not all songs within this post will have a Christmas theme and one or two come with an ‘X’ rating, including some of the plants themselves………you have been warned!
The Bat Plant (Tacca chantrieri)
The Bat plant, ugly, beautiful and very unsual. This strange looking plant comes from east asia and can grow to approximately 3ft in height. Their black bat shape like flowers can grow to nearly 12 inches long. This is the sort of strange looking plant I would love in my garden but unfortunately we do not have the right growing conditions for it in this country (not outside anyway).
Now, there is only one way I could go musically with this little beauty….
Mr Ozzy Osbourne, the man who put bat and dove on the menu and who sometimes wore a green dress…….. he could of wore a pink tutu instead!
Fuschia ‘Janie’
This is a small deciduous shrub that has red maroon coloured flowers in the summer. Now I’m not a big fan of the Fuchsia family but they have grown on me in the last few years although I will admit, this one is only in it so I could put the following song in. Sorry it’s a Fuchsia, I struggle to get excited with these but there are a few that have caught my eye in the past; Fuchsia arborescens being one of them.
The music.
From Aerosmiths 1989 Pump album, this is a rather dark song about young girl (called Janie) who Shoots her abusive father.
The Penis Plant (Echinopsis lageniformis)
Right, now, sensible face needed. I could of just put a picture of David Cameron on instead’ or any other member of parliament but I kept to a music link.
The Bolivian torch cactus is it’s other common name, is a tall, erect (sorry), large Cactus that has strong psychedelic properties…. no Viagra needed here then. Had to keep the description short for this one, as it was hard not to litter it full of innuendo’s!
The music.
Quite an easy one this. Kiss, the band that were forever singing about theirs….. and they put about a bit as well!
The Hooker Plant or Hot lips (Psychotria elata)
Very unfortunate name this one. This unusual little cracker comes from the rain forests of Central America and it’s bracts are good for attracting Humming birds and butterflies but it’s flowers are actually white. A very weird looking plant which is unfortunately is quite rare due to deforestation.
As for the music, perhaps they should of named this plant after the lead singer out of this famous band….. I would of done!
Or there is always this one….
Campanula takeimana ‘Elizabeth’
Absolutely beautiful. This Campanula certainly ticks all the boxes with me, one of those ‘must have plants’. A hardy perennial that loves sun or partial shade that has maroon/pink bell shaped flowers and flowers all summer. With a height and spread of approximately 70cm, this is great plant for any garden. I have not grown this one before but it is now on my shopping list.
Not sure this plant is named after our Queen but it being Christmas, this is my alternative to the Queen’s speech.
Cladonia rangiferina (Reindeer lichen)
Reindeer lichen is found in both hot and cold climates but mainly associated with tundra and boreal pine forest areas. A very slow grower only growing a few millimeters per year. Reindeer’s love to munch on this and it also has medicinal properties for us as well, good for curing diarrhea so I have heard.
You can imagine the smile on my face when I found that Motorhead had done a version of this Christmas classic.
Photinia x fraseri ‘Red Robin’
Not every ones cup of tea this one but one I actually really like. We often use to use it for some of the floral displays at Trinity’s May ball’s. A wonderful evergreen shrub that produces striking red leaves when young, that show up wonderfully against the older glossy green leaves. A very large hardy shrub who’s common name is the ‘Christmas Berry’.
I went for the original for this one, as you will find no – Jackson Five songs in any of my posts!
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
The Norway spruce is widely grown for the use of Christmas trees but if allowed to grow fully, they can reach to well over 100ft tall but being quite a fast growing conifer….it doesn’t take long getting there. If I had a garden big enough, I would love to have one of these in it.
With many a Christmas rock song on the net, I thought this had one of the best videos to it.
The next song is not rock and there is no plant connection, it is a gentle number by a singer that has the most beautiful voice in the music industry. The perfect Christmas song to end on….
Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish. Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself. ~ Francis C. Farley
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
A poem written by John McCrae, after a close friend was killed in the Flanders area of Belgium and buried in a grave marked with a plain wooden cross at the second Battle of Ypres in 1915.
John McCrae died of pnuemonia on the 28th January 1918 in Boulogne, France. He was a doctor, soldier…
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