New paintings and regular art updates.
I may be wrong, but I think this plants colloquial name is Fox and Cubs? I think you get a main flower then a number of smaller flowers around it. I’ve seen it growing as a weed, with dandelion style seed heads? But I may be completely wrong and it could be a different plant entirely? If anyone knows please tell me. I think we saw these plants at the Dorothy Clive garden last year when we visited in the summer.
Alliums are part of the onion family and are grown for their spiky round flower heads in purples and reds.
This display was at the Dorothy Clive garden a week ago. I think the leaves are from a different plant that was growing below the allium stems. I think if we go back in a few weeks a completely different set of flowers will have opened up. If you are in Staffordshire I would recommend a visit. The garden is down a country road and is on a sloping hill. Lovely on a summers day.
I wish our garden was sunnier but we planted a lot of trees soon after moving in and now the garden resembles a jungle. Still that must be good for our carbon footprint.
Just down the hill from the metal stag in the Dorothy Clive garden was another stag we found. It was made of willow withies I think.
There were plants growing up through it which looked like clematis. I guess it will look amazing when the flowers are in full bloom.
I have gone a bit botanical in these last few posts. I have enjoyed getting out. I don’t go to many places anymore, and with my new camera on my phone I have taken an excessive lot of photos.
You may notice there is a brown area towards the top right of the photo? That’s because I’m waiting for a phone case and the one I’m using is too big, so the edge of the cover is overlapping the camera lens.
Deep green foliage, a gravel pathway and a bench. A calm place to rest and relax. Light streams through gaps in the planting. Bees hum and buzz. I wish I could go every day. Plants spread and cover the ground. The rhododendrons are in flower. This is the quarry at the Dorothy Clive garden in Staffordshire.
A few miles from Stoke on Trent in the Staffordshire countryside is the Dorothy Clive garden. We went there today because I knew the rhododendrons would be in flower and also I wanted to see if I could drive that far (my arm is still shaking and very sore and it’s hard to drive). Luckily I was OK and it was a gorgeous day and a lovely place to visit. You walk up from the car park at the bottom, past the pool, up a steepish slope covered in trees and flowerbeds. There is a cafe at the top and a dry garden and quarry garden at the top (where the majority of the rhododendrons are). There is also a stag sculpture and a waterfall. From the top of the garden you can see three counties, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire. Worth a day out….
One plant we tried to grow in the garden was Gunnera, seen here at Rode hall. It’s a large leafed plant with a spiky surface. It grows in wet conditions and the leaves can get to 2 or 3 feet across. This was by a large pond that has a waterfall at one end flowing down a stream to the lake. There are a large variety of plants at the hall but this is a favourite.
We also noticed there were rhododendrons in flower today, which means we must visit the Dorothy Clive garden to see how that is growing.
When it’s warm, not hot, when the scent from plants wafts gently in the air. Then it’s time to visit the Dorothy Clive Garden in Staffordshire. It’s on the border of Shropshire and Cheshire. As you look down from the tea rooms you can look down over the three counties. It’s pleasant to sit out on the lawn with sandwiches and a cup of tea or scones and jam and cream. I’m imagining that I’m there now. That the cold chill in our living room is actually a gentle breeze blowing over the hill behind us and cooling me down! I might even indulge in an ice cream from the tea room. We would definitely be buying plants to take back to our garden.
The Dorothy Clive Garden was created in memory of her. It is built mainly on a slope with perennial plants in beds around beautiful and unusual trees. Some of the plant combinations are spectacular. There is also a quarry garden filled with trees and rhododendron bushes in glorious flower in the spring. There is a lovely view of a waterfall in the bowl of the quarry garden. Then an extended area of the gardens with drought resistant planting and a laburnum walk under planted with purple Alliums rings the changes. This year we also visited a hothouse with tropical plants at the lower part of the garden. It’s a good place to visit on a summers day.
Six months ago I remember things were fine. The Rhododendrons in the Dorothy Clive Garden were in flower, we had the whole summer to enjoy. The sun was shining and covid seemed to be on the wane. Now things are not so good. Autumn has arrived and life has thrown me some curve balls. We are heading towards darker days and the summer is speedily disappearing. But I have decided I have to be OK. Just doing things like getting my covid and flu jabs seems positive. Protecting myself and people around me.
I cooled down enough today to do some work on the waterfall painting based on the Dorothy Clive Garden. I’m trying to get movement and texture into it. I’ve been busy today, painting the sides of the Coast painting which I need to take to the three counties open exhibition in Burslem tomorrow. I have still got to add mirror plates onto the back of it so it can be hung. I need to add more colours to this painting to reflect the wonderful view we saw back in May. I’m enjoying learning more about how to use this style. Someone’s said it looked a bit like a Van Gogh but I hope it has a bit of uniqueness to it.
I think I need a walk in a calm wood, something gentle and cool. A place with clear paths that are not overgrown and tangled. Somewhere for quiet thought and calm moods.
We may be going soon en plein Air to draw or paint at the Dorothy Clive Garden out in the countryside. I look forward to it, the quarry garden is depicted in the photo and it is a tranquil place for a visit.
Mallaband-Brown