RHS Wisley in the Springtime - pt. 2

Way back in April, I visited RHS Wisley with my mum for a little afternoon out - have a look at my previous post here - but we only live about 20 minutes up the M3 from it, so I was appalled that it took me so long to get around to visiting again! Especially since I found out they had a gorgeous glasshouse (you know I love a glasshouse), which is what this post will feature heavily...

The glasshouse is a fairly recent addition and opened in 2012 (Wisley house and gardens were given to the RHS in 1903), with three sections; you can read about the glasshouse at Wisley here, but it really is fantastic. With it's tropical section, filled with giant palms, hanging orchids, and all the ferns a girl could wish for, I could happily spend hours in there. I loved the arid glasshouse too, filled with beautiful cacti and scented flowers, when I visited.

Keep reading for the orchids...!

RHS Wisley in the Springtime - pt. 1

Way back in April, I visited RHS Wisley with my mum for a little afternoon out. Having been several times when I was a little kid, I really couldn't remember it too well, so we decided to refresh my memory.  We only live about 20 minutes up the M3 from it, so I was appalled that it took me so long to get around to visiting, especially since I found out they had a gorgeous glasshouse (you know I love a glasshouse).  

I know that I'm a bit out of season with these pictures - but I had so many to resize and edit, because everything there was so beautiful, that I just hadn't had the time to get around it, and it seemed like such a daunting task - so now I have finally got around to it, I think I'll have to split it into a couple of posts...! 

I particularly loved walking around the initial gardens when you come in, in the spring these are full of magnolia trees, cherry blossoms and acers, all sorts of brightly coloured spring flowers to admire as you walk through to the glass house, which really had my heart.
This pink tree is my absolute favourite - I'm determined to get one for my dad for his garden: it's something like a chinese cedar/mahogany, but the name is 'Flamingo' - which is the most perfect pink with white trunks.

Keep reading to see the bonsai trees...!

ode to an english summer

In the winter I have visions of an English summer, of prancing around in sun-dresses and Birkenstocks, drinking Pimms, and tossing my hair back without a care in the world. But the reality is a humidity that makes you look like lion, hippy sandals that rub, being so sweaty on the train it should be illegal, and I forget that I don't even like Pimms. It's like a crappier sangria.

Sometimes the humidity will break, though, and you get those really excellent, snatched summer moments, when you can smell flowers in the evening and listen to the red kites calling above, whilst drinking chilled white wine in the garden and you feel all pleasantly tired from a long walk somewhere, and the tops of your shoulders and your nose are just a bit too pink but you know it will fade to a soft brown, taking the edge off your year round paleness.

This is how I spent Saturday afternoon - the garden table broke so I just stretched out on the lawn with a bowl of sushi to pick at - my favourite magazine and a glass of iced tea (which turned into white wine as the sun set). The rose-bush in my parents garden is in full swing - I'm trying to persuade my dad he needs a peony bush - it began to feel like a good English summer, not a smidgen of humidity could be felt.

autumn's swan song

I took these pictures a couple of weekends back, before everything took a turn for the worse with my grandma, when autumn was still raging brightly, and the rain November was yet to fully descend on us.. A few weeks later and the tree's have lost all their leaves, the sun rarely makes an appearance and the temperature has gone from brisk to bracing. I don't hate it though, because I know the dark nights don't last for long, we only have a month or so until they start getting longer again, I know the rain won't last forever. Even on a dark Friday morning in a sad little cemetery on a hill over-looking the disused red-brick mills of Manchester, when the wind is so bitterly cold it brings tears to my eyes and my toes take an hour to regain feeling... I still don't hate it because it all feels necessary.

the secret allotment

my dad watering in the distance

the raspberries that are hidden in the brambles at the end of the plot

sun setting on the wall with the manor just in sight

the flowers on the potato plants

It's not a secret, really, but it makes me feel like I'm in The Secret Garden, which you might know is my absolute favourite film, and my favourite book as a child. The last time I went, I was sat in the long-grass by the side of my dad's plots and there was a deer, just casually eating someones old plants that have been long forgotten, and there are rabbits everywhere and it's in the old, walled, kitchen-garden of a beautiful Victorian chateau-stye manor in the Surrey countryside. It's beyond lovely. Sadly, though, it's old army-land, and the army are trying to sell it on, so we won't have the allotment after the 31st August, which makes me so sad. However, I've been trying to make the most of it this last summer, and if you follow me on Instagram, you'll see so many photos of the things I happen upon, like the abandoned greenhouses and the overgrown walk-way down to the orchard..
I could talk about it for hours, but with a warm week coming up, I know I will be there quite a bit..
Have you tried growing any of your own food? As well as it being really rewarding, I find it it pretty relaxing, too. Also, you know exactly how good your food is, exactly where its been and that it's only travelled the 2 miles from the allotment to my dinner plate.

a love letter to cow parsley

In between being back at work this week, trying to find another job, several doctors appointments, gym sessions and sewing sessions and lunch with a friend.. I have been spending warm, lazy evenings down at the allotment. It usually involves me throwing myself down in the long grass under the steadily growing apple trees, with a handful of not-quite-ripe-enough raspberries, lazily watering my dad's potatoes whilst the sun goes down and trying not to scare away the deer and woodpeckers - it's sort of perfect. 

A few of the allotments have been abandoned over the year, and in their place all sorts of wild-flowers have grown. My favourite being the wild poppies and the cow parsley. I could probably write an essay about how much I love these little white flowers, but I'll save you from that. I'll just tell you how I used to collect them in big bunches every June, and still cannot refrain from snatches up bouquets of them even now. 

Oh, and I just had to share this song I found on Gillian's June playlist - I can see it being the soundtrack to my summer..

autumn colours

Not much to say today, just a few snaps of my dads beautiful Japanese Acers in my garden this week - they're lovely trees all year round, but in Autumn they are truly things of beauty. He has a few that are yet to turn colour, you can see them in the background, and are still green so when they go I'll be sure to take some more photos. I want to go for a walk around some local woods and try and get some more photographs this week coming; I really love this time of year!

taking a minute

I've had a lot going on recently, this is the first morning I feel like I've been able to sit and think! I've been working a lot of overtime shifts at work to try and save up some pennies before everyone returns from uni, as well as running back and forth between university, London, and running errands for my mum! 

The sun has gone today but I've been sitting in the garden whenever I catch a moment, and I think it would be really good to fill you in on whats been happening in my life. I recently had my work exhibited in an art-show in London that some friends from my course put on.. and I sold a piece of work! That's the first sale that I've ever made from a piece of art work, so I was completely overwhelmed. The piece I showed was this set of four prints, that I posted earlier this month. And the piece that sold was the top left had print, this one here. 

That was the first piece of good news. Then gradually, my marks for this year came out.. I was beyond happy. I had three unit marks to get back, two that were worth 15 credits, and the big one that was worth 30 credits.. I got mid-range 2:1's for the 15 credit units, and then, to my complete astonishment and joy, I got a comfortable first for my big 30 credit unit! I am still a little bit in shock, as its the first time I've pushed over into the first boundary for something that isn't essay/writing based. All in all, I am incredibly happy.

I just wanted to share these pieces of news with you guys! Let me know if you've got any good news to share with me. (: I'm off to see Snow White and the Huntsman tonight with my friend Gemma and have a good, well-needed gossip!