I consider myself quite minimalist - until it comes tulips!

This is one of my favourites this year and try as I might I cannot find its name! (I will let you know....)
 

At last we've gone for this year's Primrose Picnic!

Up the glen, round two hairpin bends - less than 10 minutes from home....

And we are sitting on the primrose-strewn hillside.

I love eating outside.

Do you?

In fact, if I keep the picnic basket ready,

(and get another Tarte aux Abricots from M&S - truly scrumptious, though it fell to pieces on the way up the hill) - we may do it again next week! I mean, why wait another year?

Picnic when you get the chance..

with tulips!

I've a feeling I'm going to be talking tulips all week....

Click on Coronation Wood (top right) for a little update on the latest progress.

Simply Grow probably has more posts than any other of my categories (see sidebar).
 
I spend a lot of time growing things from seed, but sometimes you only have to sow them once, and they then seed themselves. My friend Anna calls these self sown seedlings 'volunteers'. This year we have lots-

As we went left, I noticed through the rainy window that LIFE was to the right....



Oh dear.

We continued left, and found this,

and met an alien.

A short walk today at Benmore Botanic Garden. Sheer delight, and we seemed to have all 150 acres to ourselves in the late afternoon sunshine!

A new way to support sweet peas?
 
Liz gave me some branches of twisted willow, salix tortuosa, and I thought that instead of strings around the wigwam of painted canes - these would serve the purpose better and look much more interesting too. It was easy to push them into the ground and weave them in and around the canes to make a fairly strong structure.
 
Of course the risk is that they will all root!

Part of the simple charm of the garden just now is the variety of green in the new leaves....

Inspired by Monet's garden and by the parterre at Garsington Manor near Oxford both of which I've been lucky enough to see at tulip time....

I'm already planning for next year. (Gardeners are like that!)

The photo is a bit of a cheat as I picked the tulips from another part of the garden and stood them among the forget-me-nots to see the effect. A useful way to plan - and next year I will definitely plant them together. I might keep the blue and the pink forget-me-nots separate and put a dark plum tulip with the blue....or a pale lemon? Or peach?

As a landscape designer, I'm interested in the design of public urban spaces..

I think St Andrew's Square in Edinburgh is a really successful design.

The circular cafe,

seen here from the inside looking out, is simple, smart and functional (and serves good coffee).

The seating is perhaps not particularly comfortable, but for a quick perch with your lunchtime sandwich is fine, and on a dry day people sit on the grass. I like the integral lighting in the slits between the blocks, and the quality materials will stay looking good for a very long time.

They have kept lots of mature trees as well as planting many new ones. Blossom in spring, shade in summer and habitat for wildlife.

Differential mowing (grass at different heights) gives visual variety and texture, allows insect habitat and wild flowers and bulbs, and reduces maintenance costs..

St Andrew's Square is in the Georgian part of town and although it doesn't refer directly to the architecture (there are buildings from many periods around the square) I think it has a simplicity and elegance of proportion that is appropriate...

What do you think?

He likes it!

And you can tell I do, because I'm not finished yet...

There are some nice details..

They are having some trouble maintaining the grass edges, but look at the neat way the drain cover has been incorporated....

It's a pity the same designer wasn't commissioned to design litter bins

I'm sure he would have done better than this!

All in all, elegant, simple, functional and green! You can't ask much more than that.





Whew! Long post!