Seeing

The Gardens Trusts are being nudged out of their comfort zone!  If we're going to attract more members and to be ready for the Capability Brown Tercentenary (CB300) we'll need to engage with social media.  That was the message Robin Saklatava (Marketing Manager of London Parks and Gardens Trust) http://www.londongardenstrust.org/ gave to the recent AGT South East Forum.

According to Robin, engaging with social media is 'like going to an enormous party, putting on your best clothes and trying to be entertaining - but without putting your foot in it!'.  By the time Robin had finished with us, even the biggest technophobes could see that, with a bit more training, the positive aspects of social media could work for us.  Keep an eye on the AGT website for future training opportunities.

I don't know about you, but increasingly I find myself turning my phone off rather than on, particularly if I'm somewhere green and beautiful.  It's difficult to really engage with anything (or anyone for that matter) if there's a chance of being distracted.  Being able to communicate on a global scale is an incredible and wonderful thing - but just not all of the time.  Perhaps by 2016 and CB300 we'll have the balance right!

By way of light relief I went along to The Plant School Christmas Lecture http://www.theplantschool.org/ given by James Alexander Sinclair http://www.blackpitts.co.uk/blog/.  Amidst many amusing stories about his garden designing antics, James made a serious and timely point.  He said that plants and gardens are all about looking.  If we don't take the time to stop and look we don't see what is fleetingly there. I went home and did just that.  Pink, plump shoots of peonies are just starting to nudge their way to the surface.  Heartening as we head towards the shortest day!  

Seeing and describing is very much the business of Vocal Eyes http://www.vocaleyes.co.uk/ - a charity I heard about at this year's Heritage Alliance 2012 Heritage Day http://www.theheritagealliance.org.uk/.  Vocal Eyes provide audio descriptions of the arts for the visually impaired.  They describe everything from plays, to architecture and gardens.  One of their latest projects invited prominent Londoners to describe some of the capital's hidden landmarks.  Listen to David Harewood's description of The Buxton Memorial Fountain or artist Bobby Baker's description of Paradise Park in Holloway http://www.vocaleyes.co.uk/feedpage.asp?section=213&sectionTitle=London+Beyond+Sight.

Arguably, 'seeing' isn't always in gardeners' best interests.  James pointed out that if we're choosing benches for our gardens, they had better be beautiful ones.  Why? Because we'll rarely sit on them for long.  The minute we do, we spot a weed and get up to deal with it!

Have a wonderful Christmas!

And Some Good News...

In a month dominated by reports of Chalara fraxinea affecting ash trees it is good to have some positive news to report.  I sat in on a recent Plant Heritage Council meeting http://www.nccpg.com/ where, as always, it was useful to hear the kinds of questions that are being raised by another garden-related organisation.  A particular treat on this occasion was a presentation by Sue Biggs (Director General of the Royal Horticultural Society) who brought us all up to date with happenings in the RHS.  The sale of the lease of Lawrence Hall and an upcoming fundraising campaign, have given the RHS the chance to plan a multitude of exciting projects.  A couple of them caught my eye.

Historians and researchers will be happy to hear about the proposed extension of the Lindley Library.  Additional physical space and greater access to the RHS collections of archived material will make research there even more of a pleasure.

I loved the sound of a sixty-acre perennial meadow, and a Mediterranean edible garden planned for RHS Hyde Hall in Essex.  Perhaps even more exciting is the prospect of a new urban RHS garden to be created somewhere in the Midlands.  The RHS are currently looking for a site with a minimum of three acres.  Any ideas?

Sue also mentioned 'A Career to be proud of' - a project launched by Alan Titchmarsh in April this year.  I couldn't help thinking about the 'Comment' Alan wrote in celebration of the project whilst I was sitting in a recent GreenLINK meeting. http://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/RHS-Publications/Journals/The-Garden/Past-Issues/2012-issues/April/PDFS/Gardening-a-career-to-be-proud-of

While fellow GreenLINK members aired their frustrations about the disproportionate cuts to urban parks services, I reflected on the enormous gap between those who 'get' the benefits of interacting with nature on any level, and those who don't.  The general feeling amongst delegates was that decision makers in government are ignoring the views of professionals in the green sector.  I wonder whether, if some of them have never experienced the very real benefits of contact with nature, they simply don't understand?  What practical measures can we take to help them cross that divide?

With Alan's 'Comment' in mind, I have a link that I promise will brighten your day.  It's about a very imaginative project that's taking place in Bristol.  Calendula are being grown by community groups around the city in preparation for a national collection to be hosted by Bristol Zoo Gardens.  I'll be finding out more about the project for an article I'm writing in 2013.  But in the meantime, have a look at the link.  I challenge anyone to watch it and still question the importance of gardening for health and general wellbeing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q34mSMFkGyA&feature=youtu.be

Finally, if you've found the media driven frenzy about ash tree die back dispiriting, have a look at this link for what is perhaps, a more balanced view. http://blog.habitataid.co.uk/sackcloth-and-ashes/