Pottering Around

Flower cuttings - Home and Garden Style.

Rose by Nick Knight

A client has asked us to design and install a cutting garden in their backyard. This is very exciting and something we’ve been interested in incorporating into a landscape design. Even though our gardens always include plenty of perennials and annuals which can provide beautiful flowers for arrangements, having a dedicated area just for creatively useful flowers and vegetables is a lovely feature.

It's also a great opportunity to explore the craft of flower arranging!

Flower Decorator Constance Spry

As with most forms of arts and crafts, the degree of skill and mastery of floral arrangement varies from the casual hobbyist to the legendary artists. This, together with the natural beauty of even a single bloom, makes the genre interesting. You don’t have to be a professional to stroll into your yard and snip some ephemeral decor for your home.

Garden design becomes a contact sport at Chicago Flower Show.

Sporting feature show garden

The 2011 Chicago Flower & Garden Show is now on. As designers, we always look forward to the event because not only is it a chance to see lovely landscaping displays and ideas, it’s also a sure harbinger of spring. There is one thing however that always disappoints us about the indoor flower show, which is how difficult it is to photograph the designs in a way that really does them justice! We like to think we are okay photographers but haven’t quite figured out the art of shooting the show. So this probably means the only way to take in the design work and features in their full glory is to go see them all in person!

This year’s theme is The Sport of Gardening and we have a quick peek at some of what you'll find that make this event a great day out.

The King's Speech and a stroll in The Regent's Park gardens.

This week we are doing something different. Our search for local creativity will continue and we've found some interesting art and design that we are looking forward to sharing soon. However, being new to this online endeavor, we are still pulling bits and pieces together and want everything to be just right. So here is what we will call a Garden Diversion.

Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech.

Marina and I made it to the cinema just in time to see The King's Speech before last night's Academy Awards Show. Like many people, we thought it was a beautiful movie and deserved the Oscar. Impeccably acted, crafted and produced and despite us all needing a break from the weather right now, it also perfectly captured the cold and damp of winter in England. So to jolly things up and bring a little color to the ongoing gray outdoors, we've dug up this photo showing a garden location from the film in a much warmer light!

The Avenue is a formal garden area located in the Southeast corner of London's Regent's Park. Tree lined paths were part of the original landscaping design and plans by John Nash in 1812 but were not built at the time because the Royal Prince lost interest when he turned his attention to some remodeling improvements he wanted to do around Buckingham Palace!

About 1850, the Royal Botanic Society stepped in and commissioned garden designer William Nesfield to rework the park plans. By 1864 new planting schemes, fountains and ornaments were installed and it became The Avenue,  a Victorian-style garden in full glory.

We've posted a few more landscape photos we found to help brighten your day along with some links to information about Regent's Park history and the making of The King's Speech.

Click on any of the garden photos above to see more of each photographer's work on flickr. There's a lot of history inside Regent's Park, but we found a few gaps in the available information. For example, very little seems to be written online about the park during and just after World War 2. Maybe this is another future diversion for us to go on!

Here are the two best websites we found on the history of the gardens. One is The Royal Parks site and the other is The London Parks and Garden Trust.

This is a great article in The Daily Mail if you are interested in all the locations and the making of The King's Speech.