Snapdragon's garden

Hellebores - the best thing in the garden

Goodness we are having a dismal time. Sally says that she received a text from a friend who is visiting Scotland describing our weather here as "Biblical".  Spot on.
Today we have cold winds and horizontal rain, there is no way that I am venturing outside except to feed animals and stock up on logs.
Yesterday we had a brief glimpse of sunshine and I was able to get outside and look around at what is flowering.  Jane Robertson also realised that sunshine is rare at this time of year and popped over to take some photos.
By far the best thing in the garden is a large clump of hellebores in one of the big borders.  A few years ago a great local nursery near to us, Floreat Plants, closed down and I was able to buy lots of their seedlings and stock plants.  The hellebores were largely unnamed and this is the first year that most of them have flowered.  They are stunning.
This one has open flowers which don't droop down that much - it looks you in the eye.  It is just amazing with the low sun shining through it - there are also darker purples which you can see in the background and some lovely whites with splashes of pink.
I'm not a great fan of the ruffly hellebores that are being bred now - I like mine straight and simple - but I love what breeders are doing to create such wonderful colours.
We picked this particular stem to experiment with how we might be able to make it last in a vase - I'll report on the results in the next Newsletter (Due out on Monday - click here if you want to Subscribe).
Time to chuck another log on the fire and do some sewing I think.
Thank you everyone for your kind words about Bix.  My friend Nadja has said that we can take snowdrops from her garden to create a flowery carpet under the hazel tree where Bix is buried.  It will be a fitting remembrance for a beautiful cat.

Bix the cat

Last night my beautiful Bixie cat died.  She lay in a box that Kate had decorated for her, she ate three titbits of steak, fell asleep and didn't wake up.  It was a dignified death for a dignified cat.
We have known that it was coming - a few weeks ago she began to drag her legs and tail, everything became an effort.  She was disorientated, she lost weight, she became clingy and burnt her whiskers on the fire.
I fed her on gravy, washed her face with a flannel and cuddled her every evening.  We all knew.

Bix was the first cat that we got as a couple - Euan wasn't that keen, but to me a house without animals isn't a home so we went to the animal rescue shelter and there she was  - somersaulting around her cage to attract our attention.  Our beautiful, beautiful cat.  I can't write any more.

I shall miss her so much.  I am so grateful that we didn't have to take her to the vet to be put to sleep.

Toddler fun

When we moved to Drymen in 2003 it didn't take me long to work out that the hub of village social life was the Toddler group that meets in the village hall every Monday and Wednesday.
My friend Jane advised me to join for the "socials" so Katie and I signed up.  Katie was 3 at the time and regarded herself as too old for a toddler group so I'm not sure that we really went to the group very often, though I did call in (on my own) for a coffee on occasion.
We are now long, long past the toddler stage - my girls seem to be sprouting into teenagers - but I wouldn't miss a toddler's fund raising!
Saturday night was 70s night - the village hall was transformed with glitter and lights, space hoppers and cocktail bar. Most people were unrecognisable (largely courtesy of Ebay).  This is Bruce, a neighbouring farmer (and father of 4), as no-one has ever seen him before.
I think that what makes the Toddler dos such fun is that there is no-one trying to be cool - there are no yummy mummies, no keeping up with the Joneses, just a lot of people who have forked out for a babysitter and intend to have a good time.
When we moved to Drymen I was a bit concerned that it might be difficult to join the village community, you hear such tales of it taking decades to be accepted in rural areas. Nothing could be further from the truth - everyone has been so friendly, supportive and just such fun.  I wouldn't want to live anywhere else and I fully intend to be a toddler Mum well into my 70s.

The nature table revival

Country Living Magazine is running a campaign for the return of the nature table to schools.
Seemingly it was sparked by the observation of Jo Fairley (Green & Blacks founder) to Susy Smith at a party that teenagers no longer connect with nature - specifically that they hadn't a clue what catkins are.
Personally I think that it depends on your teenagers - a quick straw poll of our local rural 11 year olds had them pretty clued up - but  I think that this campaign will touch a strong nostalgic vein with parents.
I am on Drymen Primary Schools' Eco Board as a parent member.  Once a month we meet (a child from each year group, 2 parents and the head teacher) and discuss things that can be done to improve the school and its grounds along green principles.  There are lots of different initiatives but I am most involved with those concerning the school grounds.
Last year we made raised beds and grew fruit, veg and flowers.  This year we have been concentrating on wildlife - making ladybird houses, putting out nesting materials for birds and making a bird and bug watching kit for the playground.
On Thursday we had our February meeting and beforehand 4 parents cut out and gave me the page from Country Living about the nature table.  This level of parental enthusiasm is pretty much unheard of so I put the idea to the children and they were all very keen.  A space in the lobby is being cleared and at the beginning of March I am going in to help them set it up.
My own memories of a nature table are from Primary 2 when the teacher decided to have a display of poisonous plants and collected some Giant Hogweed - she was off school with a rash for a week and we had a very nice supply teacher who taught us about lemmings instead.

Potted bulbs - now delivering throughout UK

While I may not have been set up for Valentine's Day, I am all ready for Mother's Day.
From Wednesday 27th we shall be able to deliver potted bulbs throughout Britain.  The bulbs to begin with are scented narcissi - Paperwhites or Erichleer - in beautiful aged pots.
This has been a long project.
First it took ages to find the pots - I looked all last year and rejected lots. Some were very cheap looking, others seemed to fight with the flowers planted in them, even more were just too expensive to be feasible.
These ones are a lovely shape and are made to look gently aged - pretty and fresh without being at all twee.  I think that they look just as good in a contemporary house as in one that is more traditional.
Then it took ages to get the boxes designed that would be up to the job of transporting the pots, blooms and supports while still looking attractive.  We had a lot of false starts on that one. 
Now I am all ready to go.
In the photos the bulbs are shown waiting on my greenhouse bench - I shall put dogwood or hazel twigs in amongst the leaves so that they don't flop when the flowers bloom.  Then they will be packed up into our specially designed boxes and sent by overnight courier. 

This year I learned that paperwhites can be kept year to year, ratrher than just being thrown out after flowering - so I shall be putting in care instructions.
The potted bulbs can be ordered here - delivery for Mothers Day will be on Friday 29th and orders need to be in by 26th at the latest.  As a special offer for any bloggers ordering I shall enclose a one of my new embroidered cards - handwritten with your special message.

Could you pass it on?

One of my bugbears are the businesses that ask you to pimp your friends in return for being entered into a prize draw.  The ones that send you a form to fill out friends' details - the result of which is a doormat full of unwanted Boden or White Company catalogues, an inbox full of Money gym spam.
I don't want to do that.
I do, however, need to let people know what I am doing.  When I was a local only business this was straightforward - people join my mailing list at Drymen show or called by the van to ask what was coming up.
Now its a bit more tricky.
My second Newsletter went out today - there is a bit about growing sweetpeas, there is a bit about the meadow embroidered cushions (with a whacking special offer to mark the launch) and there is a recipe for nettle soup. 
If you do know anyone who would be interested in following what we do, could you let them know about us and our Newsletters ? - You can join the FREE newsletter subscription by clicking here and putting "Please add me to your newsletter subscription" in the subject line.  For every new subscription before 29th February I shall give £1to the Tullochan Trust for their Hop, Skip and Jump Community regeneration project.
If you signed up and haven't got your 2nd newsletter please let me know - a couple of them bounced back and one person called Rachael disappeared into spam before I could stop her.  Ooops.
This week has been such wonderful weather that I have been out in the garden - trying to reclaim it from the mass of weeds that colonised all the beds over the winter. 7 beds are done - only 18 to go!
Have a lovely weekend
J

Happy valentines Day

Thursday being this week's Wednesday I was a lady who lunches today and visited a friend near to Port of Menteith. Her husband wandered into the kitchen, looked me up and down in confusion and said "What are you doing here - shouldn't you be off wrapping bouquets for desperate men?"

And there is one of the problems with my business - the biggest grossing day in the traditional florist's year and I have no valentiney stock.  I have pots of paperwhite narcissi and species tulips; I have cushions and notebooks but I have no roses, no lilies, no "proper" flowers.

This year though I was asked by a the husband of a friend whether I could put together a special valentine's bouquet for her - I took the challenge and here is the result.  Paperwhite narcissi, hellebores, rosemary and eucalyptus.  It smelt wonderful - far nicer than a bunch of fragrance free roses. It would be difficult to scale up in any meaningful way but perhaps next year I shall be able to provide a romantic bouquet - for very special customers.

My own Valentine is back soon - I had better clear the table so that we can cook something delicious and open a bottle of champagne. There are a couple of things to celebrate business wise and I will also need to have a drink before I risk watching this - I think I am on tonight's episode (or on the cutting floor - who knows).  Only in Scotland (thank goodness as I expect I am dreadful and lispy)

Full of nerves
J
x

Creativity

The sun is shining, the school bus has just picked up the girls and I can get back to work.
We had a lovely half term - it was dry for the first time this year and we were able to get out for walks and begin the clear-up of the garden (the mild wet weather this year has led to all the beds being choked with grass and creeping buttercup which just haven't stopped growing at all).
One of the lovely things about the break was that Zoe is very enthusiastic about school this year and wanted to do some background bits for her projects. This year Zoe has an inspiring teacher who values creativity and passion rather than neat handwriting and she is flourishing.   On 7th Michelle at Cowboys and Custard  had a great link to a talk about valuing creativity in schools, watching this inspiring talk was one of the few computer things I did this week. 
Zoe's project this term is to do with the Victorians so we visited New Lanark (strictly more Georgian but there were lots of Victorian bits) and went on walks to look at reservoirs as Zoe is writing about bringing clean water to Glasgow as her research project. 
The difference that being able to follow your creativity makes in education was also high in my mind this week as February is the month that I send off Snapdragon's cheque to the Tullochan Trust.  This is a local charity based in the Vale of Leven which gives children a chance to experience things that they would not normally be able to within their everyday lives.  10% Snapdragon's pre-tax profits go to the Tullochan Trust to help in a small way - supporting Hop, Skip and Jump an art and gardening club that takes place after school.  The kids are fantastic, the teachers inspirational, the art that is created is truly amazing.
This month I shall be adding in £1 to my donation for every person who signs up for the Newsletter between now and 29th February.
The next newsletter will be out soon - as soon in fact as I can get my computer to behave and post photos properly.

Off for a while

It is the girls half term - it is the first dry day in ages - I doubt that there will be time to blog properly till next week.
Dahlias are now in the shop
This is Fusciana - mentioned by Sarah Raven as her favourite pink dahlia in a recent telegraph article but difficult to get in decent sized tubers in the UK.
My supplier claims that he had to beg to get the Fusciana tubers that are winging their way to me but he could be trying to impress. 
It has the longest vase life of any pink dahlia that I have grown - is good and hardy, the clump in the photo is 3 years old and has survived -10; the petals almost glow orange near the centre.
All my dahlias are packaged in hessian bags so that they can breathe and sent with full growing instructions.

The photo is (and I'm sure you can tell) one of the ones that Jane Robertson took in my garden at the end of the summer.  3 days before the first frost.

The article written about me by Anna Pavord in The Independent is now up on the web - here

A sneaky peek

Goodness this is difficult.
It didn't occur to me that when I moved from making things from materials that other people had designed towards patterning of my own that I would suddenly care much more what people think.
I didn't expect to be nervous.
Over the weekend I went through my sketches from last year - I am very shy of showing people my drawings so they are more or less done in secret, stolen ten minutes with a cup of tea.  One of my favourite places to draw is in the field behind the cut flowers - there there are millions of wild flowers, mainly ones that like heavy rich soil like scabious and ragged robin, but since I have been here cornflowers, corn marigolds and opium poppies have joined the mix, their seed spreading from the cultivated areas above.
The photo is of part of a small cushion - it is to be filled with a spring scenty mix of lemony things and lavender.  The whole cushion is a meadow, just past its best, ready to seed for the next year, poppies, dock, scaboius and columbine in amidst the grass.
The seedheads are embroidered onto a wool flannel and then appliqued onto a background of very rustic old hemp/linen material.
I have kept away from any coloured materials, all attempts to introduce them made everything veer towards Poppy Treffry or Janet Bolton and just stopped the whole thing looking like it is mine.
As I say, I have suddenly become very bashful and protective of my work - I love it, but will anyone else.
I think that I shall show it to friends first.