Samantha Willis Garden Design

Samantha Willis Garden Design

Snowdrop Garden Cheltenham

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Spring Flowering Bulbs

Snowdrop Season

I always enjoy Snowdrops in the garden.

Early blooms in the garden add joy to the dark winter months

Did you know snowdrop collectors are called Galanthopiles, taking the name of the snowdrop “Galanthus” meaning milk white flowers.
If you want to see one of the best snowdrop collections I recommend Colesbourne Gardens
near Cheltehenham. You can wander round the grounds and see swathes of snowdrops on the banks. Or for the keener Galanthopile see the collections closer to the house.

This is a garden to enjoy the snowdrops whether en masses or right up close.

When planning a garden these small winter bulbs can be forgotten but it is all year round interest that is exciting, what will be coming out and when if your looking for a Garden Designer please fee free to contact me for a chat.

Malvern Show 2013 – Something for Everyone

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Joe Swift and Mark Diacono entertained us enormously in the Good Life Pavilion;  in just 25 minutes Joe Swift showed us how to transform a  rectangular garden into a lovely garden design,  meanwhile Mark created cocktails using equal amounts of something flat and something fizzy, strawberries and a little grinding of the seed from the Schezuan bush.  We all had a nibble of the seed and it had us all laughing as our tongues went numb and then exploded into a tingling sensation.  My children rushed off to purchase the Stevia herb that was dropped into the cocktail as the leaves taste of sugar, ideal for adding sweetener to cocktails or a pudding, the low fat alternative to sugar.

Little packets seeds of all kinds were there to tempt children and adults.  Pennard Plants packets had lovely illustrations perfect for little presents.

Strolling away from the pavilion we hit the largest vegetables I’ve ever seen, onions the size of dinner plates, cabbages, marrows, leeks etc..  James and the Giant peach came alive at this moment.

The autumn is always stimulating and walking around seeing so much blazing colour is as tempting to me as a sweet shop is to children.  I walked away with my 20 plug plants from Chyrsanthemum direct, a vibrant collection of lime green ‘Green Mist’,   reds ‘Quinty’ and ‘Misty Red’ and orange ‘Lexy’. Whilst I have always thought of Chysanthemums as an old ladies plant or a hospital bouquet this has changed over the years and I must confess I rather enjoy the blousy rush of colour that these plants give us in the autumn.

So inspired from the fabulous show I’m now off to plant my sweet peas, onions sets and garlic bulbs.  My chrysanthemums I’ll pot up and nurture this winter and although they may not be quote as big and bold as the vegetables we saw they should bring me a vibrant autumn bouquet next year.

A quick & easy Christmas table decoration

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As a little preparation for Christmas, go out and buy the Narcissi ‘Paper White’, a multi head narcissi with a delicious scent, and plant then up in a pretty pot and place in a dark area 8-10 weeks you should have a beautiful table decoration.

Sarah Raven sprays some twigs with silver and places these between them for support which will give you an added festive look.

Have children? Make the most of leaves!

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The leaves are turning and soon the winds will be pulling them off the trees, so why not take advantage of this and get the children outdoors and collect as many different types of leaves as possible.  You can then use them for a variety of pictures:-

  1. Simply gluing and sticking the leaves paper, willow leaves make great rabbits ears and oak leaves make reindeer antlers.
  1. Alternatively get some wavy crayons and place the leaves underneath the paper and rub over them, we’ve made some great sea scenes with field maple being coral and different shapes leaves being different fish.

The Allotment in Winter

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As we prepare for warm winter evenings in front of the fire there are just a few jobs you could do to on those lovely clear winter days.

  • In anticipation of frosts and winds, cover your root vegetables with straw or cardboard up to 30cms, to enable you to dig the ground when you want your vegetables. Also stake your sprouts and earth up your cabbages to prevent wind rock.  If we have a hard frost coming you can protect your cauliflowers by wrapping a few of the outer leaves around them.
  • Plant garlic anytime before Christmas in well drained soil; do not plant on freshly manure sites as the garlic is prone to rot.  There are varieties of onions that you can plant now which can be harvested in June.
  • Take hard wood cuttings of currants and gooseberries and indeed any other shrubs.
  • Protect any pots by wrapping them with bubble wrap and then if you think that is not aesthetically beautiful enough add a little hessian to the outside.
  • If you have existing apple and pear trees it is time to get out and prune them. You’re aiming for an open goblet shape, so remove any crossing branches, damaged and horizontal branches and prune to an outward facing bud. Do not prune your soft fruit trees at this time of year as you can damage them.  Also leave trained apple and pear trees alone such as espaliers as these require summer pruning.
  • If you want Rhubarb now is the time to plant it, you may be lucky and get a crown off a neighbour.  When you’re planting Rhubarb dig in a lot of manure around the crown and let the crown peek out and see the light it does not appreciate being buried.
  • Cut leaves from the crowns of kale to encourage side shoots for harvesting in late winter

About

My love for gardening started with my Nan where she nurtured her Cornish garden often rising at 5 to set to before the heat of the summer… MORE

How does it work?

My practice is based in Oxford. I work with small professional teams to develop everything from the tiniest urban hideaway to large country gardens... MORE

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