Archive for February, 2011

Our links with an Oscar Nominated Actress

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

After her success at the Bafta’s, the film world holds its breath to see if Helena Bonham Carter will win an Oscar for her performance in the ‘Kings Speech’!

And all of us at Giles Landscapes really hopes she does! We were all lucky enough to meet Helena and her Mum at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2009 where she was the first superstar to visit our Gold medal winning ‘Fenland Alchemist Garden’.  Her enthusiasm for the garden was a massive boost for our weary team who had just that morning completed the garden and gone through the rigorous judging procedure. Listening to Helena and her Mother’s wonderful comments really made us feel that we had fulfilled our aim of bringing a place of quirky Fenland magic to Chelsea.

However Helena may have had another reason to be interested in our garden – the fact that her Harry Potter co-star Rupert Grint’s Grand parents came from the Fens – its a shame he wasn’t there to have a look.

Anyway Helena proved to be our lucky charm as the following morning we won our equivalent of an Oscar – a Gold Medal and Best in Courtyard! Category! Perhaps the Alchemic magic really did work – turning everything into gold! So we wish Helena luck for Sunday and hope she has her own piece of Alchemic magic to place on her mantelpiece!

-Roger

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Plant of the Month

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

Garrya elliptica ‘James Roof’ – silk tassel bush

Fancy a winter waterfall in your garden?… This beautiful evergreen shrub will amaze you through winter and early spring with its stunning show of silver grey catkins. Like water on the verge of freezing,they cascade down the length of this vigorous specimen, shimmering in the light and creating a stunning effect.

However be warned – although beautiful, this shrub grows big – up to 4 metres tall by the same in width and doesn’t really do a lot the rest of the year apart from making an attractive dark green foil for other plants. So if you have a small garden, this perhaps isn’t the best plant for you. (An alternative if you have acidic soil could be Stachyurus praecox – it is slightly smaller than the Garrya and can be trained as a wall shrub).

It is best to grow your Garrya up against a wall that is protected from cold winds either in full sun or partial shade. This shrub also needs plenty of room around it so you can get the full benefit of its form. It requires little maintenance – just a light trim after flowering if needed and is tolerant of pollution and coastal conditions.

A beautiful choice for your winter garden!

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