Art and Sculpture Ideas, Tips & Guides

I saw this lion at our local garden centre. He was guarding the entrance and looked the ferocious part.

Fritillary, Buttercups, Bluebells, Tulips and Narcissus all in the same shot, what more could you ask.

The 18th century Union Jack Gardens at Wentworth Castle were originally called the ‘wilderness’. It was dense with shapes, texture and contrasts of shade and light. Now it may be a suitable place to take a seat in the garden and see the original Yew trees and the variegated ‘creamed’ Hollies.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Some flowers look best in groups or large swathes. These fields of cultivated Lavender demonstrate the point clearly. Imagine the scent from all these individual stems of flowers a heady experience. For commercial purposes growing in rows makes Lavender easier to mechanically crop and maintain.

Cool hothouse sculpture!

Gustav Klimt-

For something a bit different this book on botanic art covers some of the unusual colours from black flowers, plants and seaweed like strange green, blue and puce pink.

What colour is the sky? A strange question too a gardener perhaps but there are good gardening reasons for asking.

Moon pond water feature with pheasant – early spring at Studley Royal Ripon

Woodbank Nursery in Harden W. Yorkshire has an interesting line in old garden equipment and mechanical ephemera. The various items are best seen over afternoon tea in the cafe where they complement the good healthy stock of plants. The exception is this lawnmower ‘recycled’ for the missus to use. The sign says ‘Does your wife cuts the lawn? If the answer is yes, why not spoil her rotten and buy her a ride on mower? You can even treat her again next year by adding some gears.’

Some time ago in the pre-Trump era the west lawn at the British Museum  showed plants from North Americas landscape. The plants were provided in partnership with Kew but the photographs were mine taken in September. I now wish I had also visited to see and take pictures of earlier spring and summer flowers fro N America.

This is Gardeners Tips 2,000 extant post since April 2008. I have lost count how many photographs and images have been included but here are just a few repeats.

You can trim your hedges and shrubs and / or trim up your garden with ornaments. No two gardens will ever be the same and your ‘trimming’ will help create your own unique style. I for one want more humour including Sherlock Gnomes and fertilising leaks and peas among my cabbages.

Norwegian Iceman Sculpture Cardiff

This curious 19th century craze which engaged the hearts and fancies of the Victorians had no historical or mythological basis but became the fertile sand on which a folklore was built. Using images from the Lindley Library this intriguing display tells the story of popular 19th century code used by lovers to exchange messages.The snowdrop signified friendship and forget-me-nots meant true love, but a gift of a pumpkin or a gourd was considered the height of bad manners – find out why … and discover much more by visiting the display at RHS Harlow Carr Library

‘Marianne North, an unmarried middle-aged Victorian lady of comfortable means, set off in 1871 on her first expedition to make a pictorial record of the tropical and exotic plants of the world. Marianne produced more than 860 paintings which are housed in a special gallery at Kew.

The artist Subodh Kerkar has several new installations at the Himalayan garden in North Yorkshire, many miles from his home in Goa.  I couldn’t say what type of tree trunks these 18 carefully and vertically  place ‘logs’ were!

I am no botanic artist and I am too old to learn and train but I do appreciate a good source photograph to paint in oils.

The cast in order of appearance: Cactus Dahlia; Rosa Rugosa; Lenten Rose Helleborus orientalis; Moth Orchid Phalaenopsis; Water Lily Nymphaea alba; etc.