Friday, February 13, 2009

Aquarium plastic plants




Gerti\'s garten

Gerti\'s garten



Daisy

Crocus - the first flowers of spring 2008

pollen-flowers posted a photo

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7ft tall - our unique candlebras - 039-2.jpg


The back to back gardens are a unique feature of the flower show at Tatton Park and they are arranged in groups of four all over the showground, what I like about this is that as I wa lk around the show I stumble across a square of gardens and keep seeing ones I haven't seen before, also you can get a really good look at them because they're nicely spread out. Out of 27 back to back gardens at the show, five were awarded the coveted gold medal, best in show went to Reaseheath Alumni with '5 a day with hidden play' a garden dedicated to growing and eating plenty of fruit and veg. bees_300x150.jpg 'A garden for bees' (Gold) designed by Ness Botanic Gardens highlights the importance of our buzzy little friends. It's beautiful too and more than dispells the myth that wildlife gardening has to be wild and woolly. 'Butterfly Journey' (Silver-gilt) is another wildlife friendly garden at the show. butterfly_300x150.jpgIt's packed with the sort of plants we could all try to grow more of, to attract native butterfly species into our gardens. I noticed a fair amount of black in the back to back gardens, 'The back to basics garden' uses black to dramatic effect as a backdrop and in the planting with two stunning Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' and a generous sprinkling of Cosmos astrosanguineus, another garden which features this plant heavily is 'Urban retreat' (Silver) which also uses black as a backdrop but mixes acid greens through the dark flowers and foliage, a great combo. suburban_oasis_300x150.jpg 'Reflection' (Silver) uses colour but it's much more gentle here. The decking and fencing is stained a soft grey and is set off by touches of galvanised metal used as edging and in the form of poles used throughout the garden as a suggestion of a boundary. These double up as plant supports too, this is an idea I might well take away with me... scented_wall_300x150.jpg A garden that addresses a very common problem is 'The scented walled garden' (Silver) and it speaks volumes that I had a good long look at the garden, admired it, made notes, took a photograph and still had not realised that it had been designed with wheelchair users in mind, it proves the point that a garden when well designed can fit a specific brief and be gorgeous too.
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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Lyla rose hern





Floral bedding is always something that divides gardeners; they either love it or hate it. There seems to be no half measure. butterflies.jpgWhile I wouldn't do it in my own garden I have to admit I think it looks great at Tatton and the 'Conwy Butterflies' created by Conwy County Borough Council display made of marigolds and sempervivum is a worthy winner of the RHS/ Ball Colegrave National Flower Bed Competition. cyclist_bed.jpgThe displays are always of a very high standard and there are many that stand out for me including the helicopter in the Cheltenham in Bloom display (Silver) and the cyclists on the Bury Borough Council display. There is even a 'Yellow Submarine' (Silver) courtesy of Vale Royal Borough Council, perfectly placed for suitable accompaniment from the bandstand. tank.jpgMany of the displays have interesting stories behind them and a large tank created out of plants was one that stuck out for me. It's been created by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council in honour of Fred Kite, a resident of their borough. It commemorates the two military medals he was awarded while serving with the Royal Tank Regiment in North Africa. A fitting tribute, and certainly an explosion of colour. I've been trying to persuade my colleague Louise to love the flower beds without much success although she did admit that she liked the penguins in the 'Chill Out' display. The RHS are launching Britain's Best Flower Bed Competition for the nation's best flowerbed to rival those at Tatton. The competition is open to any team or individuals working on public bedding displays around the country. If you think you have what it takes, make sure you take a picture of your flowerbed before August 31 and find out how you can enter at the RHS Britain in Bloom site. The winner will have the chance to compete in the National Flower Bed Competition at Tatton 2009.
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Incubation chiliean rose hair trantula





A beautifully shaped lotus bud about a day or two before fully deploying its beautiful lotus blossom.
In album Lotus flower photo - Lotus blossom images - Lotus pond photos

White colour flower... And It's Full Moon...



When take this flower, i just curious in the middle of this flower, it's take couple days to figure out what to name this photo, finally name of "swirl" comes out... flower with combination of white and red, so mehow it may like the flying bird.



Crocus - the first flowers of spring 2008

Pink tulips, Ottawa Tulip Festival

atheana

atheana's photo


Asim Shah posted a photo:

yellow


P5270048.jpg
Wild Flower - P5270048.jpg



The poppy bloomed, but it was so heavy it broke the stem ... I had to prop it up to take photos :(

Lupine at Quail Hollow Ranch, CA USA

Robert Nyman
Like, flowers

Like, flowers

Robert Nyman
Like, flowers

Like, flowers

Asim Shah posted a photo:

pretty



Crocus - the first flowers of spring 2008


Keywords:



Crocus - the first flowers of spring 2008

Crazy looking flower

Crazy looking flower


White flowers with blurred background

White flowers with blurred background



Beautiful white lotus flower image. Lotus of Cambodia, Siem Reap.
In album Lotus flower photo - Lotus blossom images - Lotus pond photos

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Flower - Moving_Optical_Fiber_Flowers.jpg


Bee's on Manzanita

From the previous photos more here: A single mother-plant of mini-lotus with several runners, each with blossoms. As the mini-lotus plant grows, more and more runners are added and the total area of the plant grows with the number of runners and blossoms.
The complete small array of mini-lotus in the picture shown here is just a little smaller than the size of my 15.4 inch laptop monitor to give you an idea of the tiny size of the mini-lotus or dwarf lotus found in Cambodia.
Beauty needs no minimum size, beauty comes from within and is in the detail - just as in humans. And just as in human life, it appears that some of the most beautiful creatures arise in some of the dirtiest environments. Hence beauty appears to be inversely proportional to the environment a creature grows. Same in human life on earth: The more difficult a social environment, the more beautiful a soul may become when fully matured by the end of a spiritual learning cycle on earth.
In album Lotus flower photo - Lotus blossom images - Lotus pond photos
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Cutworms in vegetable gardens





Minilotus widescreen wallpaper. The natural environment of this mini-lotus often is a very muddy lotus ponds.
Free widescreen high resolution wallpaper 1920x1200px.
In album Lotus flower photo - Lotus blossom images - Lotus pond photos

atheana
DCF 1.0

DCF 1.0

Crocus - the first flowers of spring 2008


Yellow, flower with bug around...



Show gardens at flower shows are always very subjective, the judges are looking for one thing, the gardening press another, and very often the public are just looking for something they can recreate in their own garden. All too often they don't agree on which should be the winner. beardshaw_300x150.jpg At Tatton Chris Beardshaw's garden, 'Cheshire's Year of Gardens 08', pleased all three and it's easy to see why it was awarded the Best in Show title. Recreating a classic english country house garden with bold herbaceous borders on both sides was a sure fire winner. I loved the predominantly pastel planting and highlights of gold added by the Catalpa at the end. I'm told there are subtle elements from at least 12 Cheshire gardens incorporated into the design, including the famous double borders at Arley Hall. If you're visiting the show and you know your Cheshire gardens see if you can spot them. east_west_300x150.jpg According to my colleague Louise I have 'Boy tastes'when it comes to gardens and some of the other designs i liked typified this. The 'East Meets West' garden (Gold) was created by combining the traditional elements of a relaxing Japanese Zen garden with a contemporary seating area and blocky water feature. adlington_300x150.jpg Angular water features were in evidence in several other gardens i liked, including the 'Adlington Relax and Reflect Garden'(Silver-Gilt), with white walls, red containers and interesting grassy planing scheme and 'Always There' (Silver-Gilt) a garden created to promote the work of the Samaritans. This was just my cup of tea, with green the predominant colour and plants chosen to complement perfectly the stonework and rusted steel used within the design. samaritan_300x150.jpg The judges awarded just two gold medals and four silver gilt at Tatton this year and I'd completely agree with their decision. A number of gardens featured heavy stonework waterfalls including 'Go with the Flow' (Silver), My Little Piece of the Lakes (Bronze) and Natural Distinction (Silver-gilt) and I think all of them could have done with a bit more planting to soften the hard landscaping. brett_300x150.jpg Elsewhere 'Real Life by Brett' (Silver-gilt) brought the traditional northern back garden into the 21st century and was definitely drawing interest from the crowds. 'Hot Dry Days' (Bronze) took a more Mediterranean approach and showed how we can adapt our gardens to the changing climate. Who knows, if the weather continues to be as hot and sunny here as it has been this week maybe bananas will soon catch on in Manchester?
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