Another week of showers, but this time with a little bit of sunshine here in the UK.
I’ve been enjoying following garden designer Jo Thompson‘s build of her show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show via Twitter.
I’m very glad to hear that the weather will be much kinder to Jo and all the garden designers and contractors on site this weekend.
If you’re on Twitter, the hashtag for the show is #rhschelsea and for Jo’s garden, it’s #dorisatchelsea.
Out & about
Last weekend
Last Saturday, my friend Lisa Cox and I attended a fantastic Garden Photography course with Clive Nichols at Wakehurst Place. And here’s a link to my blog post about our day.
Monday
On Bank Holiday Monday, my husband Matty and I went to Polesden Lacey near Dorking, where they were holding a tulip festival. We had a wonderful time there, walking in the gardens and then taking a look inside the house.
I won’t let on too much about the last owner of the property, but I’d highly recommend a visit, as the place is steeped in history…with royalty, Winston Churchill and even Charlie Chaplin paying the house a visit.
Here are a few photos of our time there…
Tuesday
Wrote blog posts and dealt with emails, after a great Zumba class first thing in the morning.
Wednesday
Wrote blog posts and dealt with emails. Then in the evening, Lisa and I went to Petersham Nurseries in Richmond for a launch event for their new Garden Shop.
It was lovely to meet their plant team including Tom Broom who I’d previously connected with on Twitter. And also meet Helen and Carri who had organised the event.
The place is so magical and very photogenic. I’ll be blogging about my visit soon, but here’s a couple of photos from the Garden Shop in the meantime…
Thursday
A whole day spent at home…which is a bit of rarity! But a chance to catch up on correspondence.
Received an email from my friend Laura with images of some very colourful flowers she’d come across on her visit to the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas.
Friday
Travelled into London early to visit the Calumet Photographic shop. I’ve been meaning to buy a tripod for my camera for some time. And after attending Clive’s course, I realise now how important a bit of kit it is.
Went to Collect, an international art fair for contemporary objects, at The Saatchi Gallery. There, I met up with the lovely Louise Gardiner, an embroiderer who I’ll be featuring shortly on Flowerona.
At home
Reading…
- Pro Landscaper Magazine
- Sarah Raven’s Kitchen & Garden catalogue
Listening to…
- Keane’s album, Hopes & Fears
- Noisettes’ album, Wild Young Hearts
Most popular blog post this week on Flowerona
Not surprisingly as it starts on Tuesday week, the most popular blog post this week was Win tickets to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Guest blog posts
For Laura Ashley’s blog, I wrote a blog post called Coming up Roses featuring rose-inspired products, a flower shop inspired by roses, meanings of roses and a link to a video showing you how to make rose water.
On the Heart Home blog, I featured floral-inspired paintings by Cornwall-based artist Stephanie Axtell.
Twitter links
Here’s just a selection. Simply click on the purple hyperlink:
- Lovely blog post about dahlias via Style Serendipity
- Episode 1 – RHS video of show manager Alex Denman at Chelsea
- Beautiful vibrant wedding flowers via Green Wedding Shoes
- Great blog post about relationship between designer & plantsman for Chelsea
- Love this rose pouf by MYK
- Episode 1 – RHS video of garden designer Jo Thompson at Chelsea
- Beautiful floral arrangement including hydrangeas via Fennel & Fern
- Gorgeous pale apricot and pink bridal bouquet via Wedding Chicks
So, I hope you have a lovely weekend and I’ll see you back here on Monday…
(Images : Decor 8/Emilie Guelpa, Rona Wheeldon for Flowerona, Laura)
