Wake up Amaryllis!

If you, like me, love to decorate your home with majestic Amaryllis flowers at Christmas time I can recommend these two beautiful little films from Zeta's Trädgård showing you how to 'awaken' the bulb before planting it...

I have always planted my Amaryllis bulbs into pots without this 'awakening' step and they have been consistently late in flowering, so a few days ago I yanked my 'Apple Blossom' bulb out of its pot, brushed off the compost and perched it on a bulb vase with the root shoots trailing in water. When these roots have perked up I will remove any withered root shoots and plant the bulb back in the pot - hopefully it will grow a bit faster this way.

Midsummer

It's Midsummer tonight - easy to forget when you live somewhere like London. But what a wonderful excuse to gather friends and family for a meal outdoors if the weather allows it. And don't forget the wildflowers, Midsummer is all about wildflowers.

We've postponed our Midsummer gathering to tomorrow, as I am quite simply not the kind of person who can dash home from work and whip up a dinner party in 30 minutes. Much rather a leisurely day tomorrow, a bit of gardening, a bit of cleaning, a little bit of cooking and mainly enjoying.


Tonight I'm just going home to relax and watch 'Dicte' on TV with a glass of wine to hand. And perhaps put some wildflowers under my pillow before I go to sleep. They say it's good for romance..

Dream Kitchen

This is it, I am officially updating our kitchen cupboards. I've cleaned them with ammonia (my best tip for removing invisible traces of grease), removed the silly cup handles (silly because who puts cup handles on cupboard doors?? They're meant for drawers!) and right now I'm waiting for the filler to dry in the screw holes left by said handles.

I was trying to explain to my husband yesterday why I want to order brass handles (dark kitchen, brass is a warm colour which catches the light) when I came across photos from an IKEA project in Canada last spring. And lo, a dream kitchen. I'm afraid I am not acquainted Jillian Harris' work, but she has got beautiful taste in kitchens... Using IKEA's standard 'Sektion' kitchen system with 'Bodbyn' fronts in pale grey and antique brass handles, Jillian has created nigh on my dream vision. And it seems to have won my husband over to the brass handles as well. It's nice when we agree :)

I bet you're wondering about those beautiful tiles on the wall... I looked up Jillian's blog, and it looks as if they're called Carrara Bianco Bardiglio Hexagon Honed Marble Mosaic, available from The Builder Depot in the US. Luckily for our finances they don't ship to the UK.

Photo: IKEA

You can find the article featuring Jillian's kitchen here: Canadian Living - Celebrity Dream Kitchens

Christmas Week Ponderings

We're back home after spending most of our time with family in the past couple of weeks. It's Christmas week - romjul - that quiet week between Christmas and New Year when we suddenly have time to ourselves again. It's lovely, and this kind of quiet gets my creative juices flowing again. I keep thinking about projects I could get stuck into, and the most tantalising (and also the biggest) job would be painting our 'faux' beech kitchen units. The previous owner put in lots and lots and lots of kitchen cupboards, teaming the beech effect with a black floor, mid-blue walls, black faux marble counter-tops and darker blue wall tiles. The effect was like a cave, so we painted the walls chalky white before we moved in.

Two and a half years down the line those blue tiles and beige units have acquired no further appeal and I find myself googling how to paint kitchens in every spare moment. The only thing is, I don't want it to be a huge job. And as there are so many units to paint, it could very easily turn into a mammoth job. Especially since I would like to replace the handles, which will mean filling in the holes and drilling new ones. I really want to do this, but I don't feel confident about finishing the job... However, if I pull myself together (and manage to chose between regular satin paint and Annie Sloan - I'm tilting towards Annie, but being a Libra it's not easy to make the final decision...), then I think it might be possible to achieve something like these:

Photo: Designstoenvy, Instagram

 

Photo: Marcus Lawett

 

Photo: Hemnet.se

Advent

Today is the first Sunday of Advent.

I'm a bit late with the decorating, so I'll be doing that now. The most important thing is to have four new candles. And a clean house would be good. And a wreath on the front door. Time to get going...

Photo: GypsyPurpleHome.tumblr.com

Careful in the Dark

Now that it's getting darker earlier I'm pulling out my little reflector badges and fastening them to my coat pockets. The ones I have are the classic flat plastic ones on a string, a bit like the cat's eye on a bicycle, and they glow as soon as the headlights of a car approach me in the dark. While I lived in brightly lit London I had no need for them but now that I live in a small town and walk everywhere, often along narrow darkened roads, I find them very useful for highlighting my presence to drivers.

Photo: Dagbladet.no

 

I admit that they don't look fashion-forward in any way, so I'm going to order one of these reflective tassels from Firefly to attach to my handbag. And probably a few to give away as Christmas presents. Finally an attractive reflector!

 

 

Photo: Firefly.com

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn Ornamented

These photos were taken at Petersham Nurseries just outside Richmond last weekend. Garden shops like this are a real feast for the eyes, and they serve tasty food too! I recommend it if you miss colour now that the days are getting shorter, greyer and darker.

Late October - And The Garden Is Still Hanging On...

Up until a few weeks ago I would receive SMS photos from my mother of the yellow roses I planted in her garden outside Oslo this summer, but Jack Frost arrived and now Mamma's garden is asleep.

Our Surrey garden, however, is still going strong. Coming originally from a much colder climate I am enchanted with all the flowers this late in the season. Dahlias, of course, are standing firm in the rain but so are my lovely white snapdragons and most of my roses.

Antirrhinum Majus 'White Giant'

 

Dahlia 'Crème de Cassis'

 

Pink Achillea - unknown variety

 

Cactus Dahlia 'Purple Gem'

 

Rosa 'Lady Of The Lake' (by David Austin)

 

IKEA refresh with Bemz

Photo: Bemz.

Just a very quick note to let you know that BEMZ is currently offering 20% off their fabric covers for IKEA furniture with the promotion code thankyou20%

It is Not Too Late to Plant Roses

The garden has started to wind down. There are still a surprising number of flowers left but gaps are appearing in the borders and it's a good time to reflect on what I can do to improve the colours for next year. We planted purples two years ago; lavender, salvias, verbena bonariensis, delphinium, fan lobelia - lots and lots of purple. The bees love it, and we love the bees. We added some white roses last year for contrast and it's been a very restful colour scheme. Now we'd like to add a splash of colour here and there to give it a little lift, a bit like adding a zest of lime to a drink. I have chosen apricot roses from David Austin, so nothing too zesty but with enough presence to lift and balance our colour scheme. It is difficult to be modest when perusing the long list of Austin roses... I managed to narrow it down to these three:

Sweet Juliet

 

Abraham Darby

 

Julia's Rose

 

I like unashamedly romantic English roses in the garden, like Sweet Juliet and Abraham Darby. Julia's Rose is a little wild card but I think the toffee-lilac colouring looks intriguing - and it is apparently much loved by florists, so it should look good in bouquets for the house.

 

David Austin is offering 15% off all rose orders until the end of October when using the offer code KHF.

 

Autumn Beauty

To me autumn feels quite 'vemodig', wistful, as I really am a summer person. But the colours of autumn, they are quite something. Everywhere I turn there is a scene or a detail worthy of a photo.

Like this humdrum yellow car, sublimated by the yellow leaves above it.

 

 

Right now it's time to pull out my down coat and woolly hat from storage, as we're off to watch the races in Cambridgeshire. And the fens are cold..!

Frosty

It's been three days since our boiler broke down following the annual service. Seven days left to go before the replacement part arrives and can be fitted by the 'guilty' plumber... SEVEN days more with no heating or hot water! Gahd.

It's been sponge baths in the basin for days now. I'm off to boil large quantities of water so that I can wash my hair. Yay...

Top Tip - 30% Discount at Sarah Raven

Sarah Raven is one of my favourite suppliers of plants and seeds. She has a wonderful eye for colour and composition - her website never fails to inspire.

Right now, and until the end of the week, you can get 30% off a range of plants in the Sarah Raven mid-season sale. If it wasn't for the fact that I've already had an SR delivery today I would order these white lovelies...

Agapanthus 'White Heaven'

 

Erysimum 'White Dame'

 

Anemone 'White Swan'

 

All photos by Sarah Raven

No Garden? Make Do!

Photo: alexanderwhite.se

I firmly believe that a bit of private outdoor space is can make life so much better.

And even the most uninspiring bit of courtyard can be turned into an oasis if you approach it as if it's just another room in your home. Take this photo from a flat in Stockholm* for example. A smallish courtyard squashed between neighbouring buildings has been furnished with comfortable seating, tables, a large 'rug' (the grass) and plenty of potted plants, turning the space into an outdoor living room. Who wouldn't want to spend time here?


*This image is from a flat in Kammakargatan in Stockholm, for sale through Alexander White estate agents. Yes, Swedes really do know how to style their homes for sale!

Bulbing for Spring

It's only September but this is the best time to plan your garden for spring. It can be difficult to spend time, money and effort on flowers that won't show for another 6 months, but now really is the moment to let your creative juices flow and plan a beautiful display of spring-flowering bulbs. Don't worry about all the rules, you can flaunt them if you like. Get the bulbs, keep them cool and dry until late October and then plant them. Experts say that you should dig them up after they have finished flowering and the leaves have died down, but don't let that deter you, if you plant the bulbs a bit deeper than the instructions tell you to you'll be able to plant the rest of your perennials and annuals on top of them. The bulbs will shoot their stems up between the other plants and although they might flower a week later than normal you will be able to leave them in permanently. No digging up bulbs after they have died back, just leave them in. Yes, the bulbs may reduce a bit in quantity and quality over the years, but I'm willing to accept that if it means I don't have to scrabble around digging out spent bulbs in early summer. And who has cool, dry storage space for bulbs in summer anyway? Certainly not me.

Here are the beauties which will form our spring display next year:

Photo: Crocus

Allium Globemaster. We planted these two seasons ago and their huge, huge purple pompoms are an absolute delight. I've counted at least 10 bees feasting on a pompom at a time, so as well as being gorgeous they provide lots of food for our yellow and brown-striped friends. A big plus.

Photo: HGTVGardens

Tulipa 'Queen of Night'. This is beautiful, but beware - if you plant it in the shade it will simply look like a dark blob. It needs to be in a sunny setting in order to shine. I think it looks very pretty set against silvery foliage such as lavender or a low-growing eucalyptus, which really contrast with this silky black plum colour.

Photo: internetgardener.co.uk

To add a touch of lightness I have chosen to add Tulipa 'Apricot Beauty' for next year. There is a chance that this lovely soft colour could end up being much more vibrant since the soil in our garden is very rich, but it looks so beautiful in the photos that I'm willing to take a chance.

Photo: Tuinenstruinen.org

Allium 'Atropurpureum', a souvenir from a day spent at Wisley Flower Show a few weeks ago. The colour reminds me of crushed blackcurrants... I'm quite excited about this as I love dark coloured flowers.

 

Photo: Fluwel.nl

And finally, as another touch of lightness, and in case Apricot Beauty turns out more like the orange of smoked salmon: Tulipa 'Belle Epoque'. It's a peony-flowering variety and it looks divine. I think I'll have to plant lots of this since I am already looking forward to picking an armful for a vase.

 

A word of warning: it's all too easy to spend a lot of money when you click and buy tulips online. I would suggest choosing the lowest priced option for those bulb varieties that you want a lot of and spending the big money on rarer specimens which you can use as accents or focal points here and there. I've shopped around and found that J.Parker has some of the lowest prices among the well-know internet retailers, followed by Crocus, although there are many others. Avon Bulbs has top-top notch bulbs and some really exciting varieties (take a look at their Scilla Peruviana) - they consistently win prizes at Chelsea Flower Show - but they are quite a bit more expensive. Find out which varieties you want and then see how many you can get from one supplier - what we often forget is that savings on bulbs can often be wasted on postage costs when we buy from more than one supplier.

Supermarkets also sell bulbs and sometimes they are very reasonable but you might have to put up with slightly loud colour combinations as they tend to sell mixed bags of tulips. Morrisons has a very pretty collection of 4 different white narcissi for only £2 (10 bulbs) which I think is worth trying out, and the above-mentioned 'Queen of Night', also at £2 (10 bulbs). Waitrose, which collaborates with Crocus and therefore gets a good quality selection, has a number of tasteful combinations on sale right now at decent prices. The trick with supermarket and garden centre bulbs is to buy them early, as they tend to dry out on the shelf (specialist suppliers keep their bulbs carefully at exactly the right temperature and humidity to ensure that they stay in optimum condition). Better to keep them cool and dark at home while you wait for the time to plant them out, rather than wait for them to go on sale in late November (Something I know all about as I'm a shark when it comes to picking up items at knock-down prices. I've invariably found that at least 30% of sale bulbs don't perform, so it's not actually a saving).

Golden Autumn Mornings

Photo: The Keen Gardener @ Life with a Nordic Soul

Morgenstund har gull i munn... mornings are golden.

 

Every morning when I go into the kitchen I check the thermometer on the kitchen window: Above 8C? Sunshine? Time for a cup of tea on my rickety little bench (my vintage Arts & Crafts silver teapot keeps tea hot for ages on chilly mornings)

 

This is the spot in the garden that catches the morning sun, but sometime soon the rays of the sun won't make it over the top of the trees and it will be left in the shade for the winter.

 

So I'm making the most of it - soaking up vitamin D and birdsong before the world gets going.

Fårikål - Norwegian Mutton Hotpot

Photo: godt.no

 

I spotted this recipe in a Norwegian newspaper this morning and thought I'd share it. 'Fårikal', or 'mutton in cabbage', was a stalwart of autumn and winter Sundays when I was growing up. It's simple to make: mutton, cabbage, potatoes, black pepper and lots of time. It's a warming and hearty dish* so it's just the right thing to eat at this time of year.

 

Fårikål - serves 4

1.5 kg mutton (use stewing meat with bones and a marbling of fat)

1.5 kg white cabbage

4 teaspoons black peppercorns

2 teaspoons salt

500 ml boiling water

 

Cut the cabbage into wedges

Layer the meat and cabbage in a large pot, starting with a layer of the meat fatty side down at the bottom of the pot

Sprinkle the peppercorns into the pot

Pour the boiling water into the pot and bring everything to the boil

Once it starts to boil a foam will form at the surface - skim this off and throw it away

Let the pot simmer at a low heat for 2 hours

 

Once the meat is so tender that you can easily pull it off the bone it's ready. Serve with steamed potatoes.

And plan a rest afterwards - this is hearty food.

 

*according to Traditional Chinese Medicine mutton is strengthening, helps improve circulation and ward off the cold

Susie in the Pot

Oh to be a puss luxuriating in the sunshine... snuggled up in a matching flowerpot.

 

Never mind the flowers in the pot.

 

This is Susie. She is our neighbours' cat and she has fallen for one of our pots.

 

Her name is not Susie by the way, it's Tallulah. But as a child I was told that a cat should always be given a name with an 'S' in it - apparently cats can hear the 's' sound really well. So when she's in our garden she's Susie.



Other good cat names with the 's' sound?
Mons
Prins
Nusse
Snurre
Sylvester
Pus
Bruse
Slurken

100% Norway

Actually, I am only 50%. Norway, that is. The other 50% are Northern Irish. Not the most common of combos, but it works for my sister and me.

But this is about 100% Norway, which will be presenting 33 of Norway's most talented designers at Tent London, the international design event that forms part of London Design Festival. Tent London will take place at The Old Truman Brewery in East London from tomorrow.

My immediate favourites from the exhibition catalogue are these beautiful pieces by Andreas Bergsaker

 Beech 'Piedistallo' table lamp

 

Beech 'Blossom' accessories tray with mirror, lamp and magnifying mirror

 

Aluminium 'Pendini' dimmable pendant lights

 

You can find more information about 100% Norway here

Skargard - Discovered at Formex

At Stockholm's Formex show in late August there was much talk about Meraki, the new toiletries line by Danish interior brand House Doctor. And yes, it looked good and will most certainly appeal to those who already have a penchant for brands like L:a Bruket and Aesop. But to be honest, it felt too samey for me. I don't quite understand the need to create a new product line that is so similar to existing offerings in the market...

Photo: Meraki

instead, my heart leapt at the sight of a small range of soaps by a tiny Swedish brand called Skargard*. I love the simple white packaging with blue print (not 'faux apothecary' as seems to be the trend), the lovely clean scent of the Havtorn soap in particular - and last but not least the 'soap on a rope' detail which reminds me of fancy soaps bought for parents at Christmas when I was little. It's all natural and it works equally well in seawater, hence the cork floater on the rope. Love it.

 

Photo: Pinterest

 

Photo: Ink361

 

The range includes bars of soap, liquid soap, dishwashing liquid etc.

 

*Skargard referring to the 'skärgård' or archipelago of islands and skerries along the coast of Bohuslän on the west coast of Sweden, where the brand originates from.