Art Exhibition

This weekend there is an Art Exhibition in March Town Hall, Cambridgeshire. It is free to go and see it and well worth a visit.

I entered my Clematis and Mushrooms into it. I have put a rather high price on the Clematis because I don't really want to sell it. But, if somebody is willing to pay £1495 for it, I can always make another.

I have never put a picture of the finished mushrooms on here, so here they are. I went to the opening reception on Friday. There were lots of people there and lots of comments about my Clematis. But nobody bought it!

For me, however, the highlight of the evening was seeing all the childrens work on the boards. These are the ones from All Saints School.

On Friday morning there had been a workshop for some of the local schools. The chilren had re-created some of the artwork in the exhibition. I was delighted to see that so many of them had chosen my mushrooms to re-create! One child did a wonderful re-creation of my clematis and another did the mushrooms.

Apparently, there were lots more mushrooms but the children chose to take them home.

And these are the ones from Burrowmoor School. As you can see, lots of mushrooms!

And some of my favourites which were on display. Dancing by Margaret Williams.

Go Bananas by Heather Kinnear.

The name of the Apple by Jenny Furlong

More Flowers!!!!

I have always insisted that I am not a gardener and I don't want a garden. However, I LOVE flowers. And, I figured the easiest way to get them was to grow them.

The "garden" started off with a couple of pots.

Then a couple more pots.

Then I insisted that we really need something to cover that horrible fence. I wanted Jasmine and Honeysuckle but we ended up with Clematis. I didn't realise there were so many colours. There is just a little bit of ground down beside the path that is behind the pond. Perfect for planting climbers in. And, covered with weed membrane and slate, provides a perfect environment for Clematis.

I have tried to find ones that have different colours and flower at different times of the year. This lovely purple one is coming up strong and has loads of buds on it already. Unfortunately, the white one isn't so strong and the winds which whistle along the fence continually damage it. I might end up cutting my losses on that one and replacing it. I am sure I can find a new home for it.

But my pride and joy is my trough. It is an old animal trough and is about 30 years old. And it looks it! I really love the natural look to it and have tried to plant it with flowers that will enhance it.

White Violets! I didn't know you could get these until a friend gave me some.

And the traditional Violets. Which are spreading all over the trough. But I don't mind, they are so pretty.

These are Daisy type flowers. I think they are a Chrysanthemum. The first year I had them they flowers for ages then died in January. That was when I found out that they were supposed to! It took me ages to find them again! This year I took cuttings and kept them on the kitchen window sill. I cut it back when it started dying off but now it is sprouting again!

This is Felicia. Also known as Blue Marguerite. It was supposed to have died over winter as well but is flowering again. I also have a load of other little flowers in there, hopefully for colour all through the summer. The pea gravel helps stop the compost drying out and provides a lovely background to the flowers.

I am sure you noticed the big Mushrooms in the first one. These are the small ones. I have lots of little ones in the pots, mostly made from Laburnam. That big one in the earlier picture is 22 inches in diameter and big enough to use as a stool!

Look what is growing in my garden!

I love winter bulbs! They really brighten up the place. I planted them for last year but they didn't do so well. I think some of them were a bit deep and the snowdrops were really late. I was a bit disappointed. But Mark said that by this year they would be established and come up better. And they have! I have crocuses, irises and snowdrops in all my pots. I don't think Mark realised I had planted so many! But I did plant them all at different times as I got them, even during the summer. Some came up straight away and died quickly as they are not meant for warmer weather.

Hopefully, I am going to have bulbs all spring. And what's more, with my new macro lens I can take great pictures of them. Apart from cropping and resizing, these haven't been edited. The detail is fascinating, I can't wait to get out and use it more. Also, as a 60mm lens (efl=96mm) I can use it as a portrait lens. Need to practise a bit more on that.

The other thing that is growing in my garden is mushrooms! Mark smuggled home a large log last time he went shooting and made me this new one. It measures 22inches across and is big enough to sit on. So, with all these bulbs and mushrooms, guess what the calender is? You can download it as usual from the link on the left.