Fabulous; it’s Friday and it’s full of Roses!

by Karen B

“Happy and dirty beneath a canopy of fragrant flowers and petals”

Did you know that I have been a perfumer? As a toddler I would shuffle on my bottom down the garden path with a little plastic pail with some water at the bottom and into this I tumbled scented rose petals which had fallen from my Father’s roses. All of this sloshed around as I shuffled and picked; happy and dirty beneath a canopy of fragrant flowers and petals. My Father, Sidney-William was a rose grower who grafted roses onto rootstock. So there were roses for what seemed liked miles and miles around our house; perfect material for making perfume with a bucket of water! Sadly my childhood ambition to make real perfume from the petals of roses was never fully realised. But as an adult, I have discovered how to capture that fragrance in the kitchen.

I eat Rose petal and Lavender sugar every day, either on my fruit compote or on natural yoghurt for breakfast. Sometimes I have honey as well.  Roses, Lavender, and Honey; I must be in heaven! I sprinkle this special sugar on berries when I serve meringues, I use it in cakes, on summer fruit with ice-cream or on anything I want to make really special. Unlike my Father, I do not have an extensive rose garden but the roses I grow are all fragrant and easy to pick as they hang over my Kitchen garden fence.

This sugar will not keep a fresh pink colour, but it will hold a rosy scent and a sweetness scented by a rose filled summer, long after the last petals have fallen and up until the new flowers are in bud. You can keep it in the fridge if it gets very sticky, or simply mix it with some Lavender flower sugar. Lavender sugar is always a little more dry, so it will help to give the blend a better consistency. No measuring, no expensive ingredients (if you can pick from your own or a friend’s garden) and full of old-fashioned fragrance. Go on, capture this evocative scent today…it’s so easy!

  Pick some scented rose heads when they are dry, pull off the petals, discarding the stem and stamen. Finely chop the petals by hand or for a few seconds in a mini blender and mix into some caster sugar and store in a jar…..voila!

(Always make sure to use roses which have not been sprayed with insecticides).

 

Armed Combat in the Greenhouse….

by Karen B

 The sky is the colour of pale blue Cornflowers and the day feels full of promise as I push open the greenhouse door to let in the sweet morning air. I see it straight away, something which should not be there; a white envelope with my initial on it, a big “K”, for Karen.

This is not just any old envelope, this is a card from my husband who is divorcing me and here it is among the Chillies, Cucumbers and baby Carrots. I have never found an old war relic. Do you know the kind of thing I mean? Someone finds something metal on a beach somewhere and before you know it, the army is brought in, the area is sealed off and the experts set about assessing whether this thing is going to blow up in your face. Well where is the army now? Who is going to protect me from the fall out of this dangerous item in my greenhouse? For this is as potentially injurious to my heart as an unexploded bomb.

The air feels suddenly chill, as I stand motionless, just staring at the card, my whole being now focused on how to deal with this new danger. Like some modern day Antigone, I face my fears and open it. And although it is true that there are no men outside in combat gear, cordoning off the greenhouse area, my own inner security team seems to have come up with a protective strategy. I scan the words in the card. Read at speed, its contents do not have time to permeate my heart, which, after years of hurting suddenly seems sealed off and protected. I close the envelope again and go into the meadow. I did it. I opened Pandora’s Box and survived.

 

 

Fabulous; it’s Friday!

by Karen B

The sweet piquancy of this CUCUMBER AND DILL PICKLE turns smoked salmon, mackerel, trout or a simple tuna and mayonnaise sandwich into a fabulous treat! Quick and easy to make, its fresh taste is perfect for right now! Why not try it?

Run the tines of a fork down the length of a washed cucumber, then slice it thinly. Place the slices in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tblsp of flaky sea salt. Turn gently with your hands and leave for 10 minutes. Rinse well and place in a sterilised jar. Whisk together 70ml white wine vinegar, 50g golden caster sugar and 2 tblsp chopped fresh Dill. Pour over the cucumber, shake, seal and refrigerate. Ready in 3 hours.

SIMPLE PICKLES TURN AN EVERYDAY SNACK INTO SOMETHING SENSATIONAL!

HAPPY WEEKEND!

 

Cottage Garden Sweet Rocket & Daisies…

by Karen B

 

Sweet Rocket is beautifully perfumed, has edible young flowers and leaves, is loved by butterflies and is a perfect Cottage Garden plant.

It’s May; the month of reckless, exuberant blooming and the time when the air is full of the scent of Sweet Rocket blossom and of so many green things growing. My wildlife friendly Cottage Garden with its meandering paths, relaxed planting and imperfect lawns where chemicals can not be used, suddenly bursts into a carpet of wild flowers and I want to dance at the sight of it. I know that I must soon tidy and clip and mow, but, for today, I just want to stay amongst the Daisies and savour the natural beauty of the garden; made all the more blissfully paradisiacal by its imperfections.

Sweet Cicely in full bloom
A little place to sit, protected from the wind by the granite wall on one side and by Butchers Broom and Lovage on the other.
A nice place to sit.
There is a mirror hanging on the back wall of my summerhouse and it reflects back the changing aspects of the garden.
Daisies and strawberry cup Geums
Daisies and wild flowers in the grass
Strawberry cup Geums
Gillyflowers and Forget-me-nots and Cloud pruning tree in the background
Wild yello Welsh Poppies and Sweet Cicely

 

Blossom in the Meadow Garden…

by Karen B

A neighbour drops by for the first time and exclaims, “Oh, your garden is like a series of little rooms”!  I like that idea; I like it a lot. My garden, like many others, has evolved and grown over time. A small walled garden surrounds my house and when that became full of Cottage Garden flowers, with no room for potatoes I made a Kitchen Garden and then a Meadow Garden.

It is hard to choose a favourite “room”, but if I had to it would always be The Meadow Garden. Rustic in style and with the grass left a little natural to blend into its surroundings, a place for compost and contemplation, this space takes me right to the heart of nature. As I plant out  Brussels Sprouts and Cabbages, Buzzards soar high above and fledgling House Martins and Woodpeckers use my rabbit proof fence as a nursery as their Mothers teach them to fly.

In the early evening and after a day of planting and putting up my brassica cage, I take a stroll down there with Otto, the cat. The photos give a tiny glimpse of this special garden and my favourite seat out there, underneath a canopy of blossom.

Can you hear the birds? Otto can.

 

The view from The Meadow Garden and to Dartmoor beyond.
Otto, contemplating the wildlife which he can see in The Meadow Garden.

Fabulous; it’s Friday!

by Karen B

 Black and bohemian, dark, sultry and the stuff of fairy tales; Queen of the Night and parrot Tulips add a deep, dusky depth to any border or hand-tied posy. Add a touch of chartreuse, some smokey mauve and you have a moody confection fit for Vanessa Bell or Virginia Woolf.

Go on, walk on the wild side and add some twilight to your planting and watch your garden become avant- garde and groovy in one easy step!

HAVE A GREAT, BOHEMIAN WEEK-END!

Primula Auricula Umbrella…..

by Karen B

 When it rains, why not take shelter amidst the flowers, like this sweet stone frog?

I think those Primula Auriculas make the most delightfully fragrant umbrella, don’t you?

 

 

Fabulous; it’s Friday!

by Karen B

“Go ahead, make a little something this weekend and share it with someone you don’t know yet. Spread a little love around and watch the joy spread”    

Hand baked, with love, these exquisite biscuits were made by Shilo as table favours  for a party to mark her recent marriage to David. Shilo and I had never met until I saw her biscuits; lovingly wrapped in cellophane, tied up with a ribbon and placed on the table just before everyone sat down to dine. Big bubbles of happiness popped inside me at the sight of these exquisite baked confections. These were made just for me! I rushed straight over to meet the special person who had made me feel so happy.

Shilo’s biscuits had triggered an instant bond between us; a connection  born out of creativity and the fact that a handmade gift can make the recipient feel special in a way that no bought gift could possibly do.

Go ahead, make a little something this weekend and share it with someone you don’t know yet. Spread a little love around and watch the joy spread!

 HAPPY WEEKEND!

 

 

Sweet, Scented Nostalgia…….

by Karen B


The afternoon is warm and still and the pink petals of the flowering cherry blossom drift silently and slowly down onto the flower beds beneath as if the thick, sultry air is just too tired to stir. In this atmosphere, the scent of the Gillyflowers rises and stays, and I breathe in its heady perfume as I pass the spring flowers.

Last Autumn, in rain so constant and drenching that gardening felt more like being at sea than on land I began cramming this little border with a potential kaleidoscope of  Spring bedding and bulbs; Grape Hyacinths, Parrot Tulips, Narcissus, Gillyflowers (Wallflowers), Forget-me-nots, Bellis, Cowslips and fat-faced Pansies all get pushed in and jostle for space to grow. This was the planting which would re-create the magical Persian carpet effect of the flowers I remember from childhood; the flowers in my Grandma’s garden. Specially planted  for colour and scent and  and only deemed perfect for cutting when these blooms were just a day or so from their absolute best, she would pick a big bunch of these sunny and fragrant flowers for me to take to infants school. Over the years the memory of this border has become more vivid and the vivacity of the flowers, so saturated in colour, the scents so intense, that I have longed to revisit it.

And here it is now, in flower, with each bloom unfurling its petals in a sequence which spreads joy each time I pass by or see it from my kitchen window. But its beauty is mysteriously hard to capture with my camera. I try again and again, photographing the whole bed, the individual flowers and finally, a little bunch in a vase. There is true beauty here, but even with it all combined, it never competes with the memory of my Grandma’s garden.

And perhaps that is how it should be, so that those scents, colours and loveliness will never lose their intensity and magic but will stay perfect and glorious in my heart forever.

Fragrant Gillyflowers, Gillivers or Wallflowers.

 

A Visit from the Easter Bunny…..

by Karen B

Snuggled peacefully beneath the shade of these Spring Hellebores, this sweet and gentle Bunny has seen many Easter celebrations come and go.

Made in 1920-1939, by Denby Ware in a most comforting shade of pastel green and now with one magnificent ear showing signs of a tumble, he brings a sense of calm to this seasonal, sylvan scene.

He comes today to wish all my friends and followers a HAPPY EASTER!