National collection of aquilegias (columbines)

 

Yesterday I had the joyful privilege of spending time with my lovely friend Carrie Thomas.  Carrie is a woman of great depth and sensitivity.  She  lives in a pretty cottage on the edge of some venerable woods with ancient trees (which are currently under threat of development but that's another story).  Carrie is amongst many other things, a fantastic gardener.  Her patience and delicate artistry are the backbone to the dedication she gives to her collection of aquilegias - which has now been recognised as the national collection of this beautiful flowering plant.  A cottage garden perennial aquilegias, under Carrie's care, form three main morphologies in their flower shapes.  The 'crinoline ladies' as Carrie dubs them, are many petalled flowers in cascading skirts, the 'pom pom' flowers are rounded and jolly orbs of colour and the traditional trumpets can be bi or even tri-coloured.  Carrie meticulously recordeds all genetic variations and cross pollinates by hand to produce new and exciting varieties .  You can see by these photographs how many colours and varieties she has crammed into her cottage garden.  The garden is open to the public during the columbine season.  I'll leave you to read Carrie's own words about contact details and more specific information.

SPECIAL GARDEN OPEN IN KILLAY UNTIL THE END OF JUNE

If you like visiting cottage gardens, then you should enjoy visiting Touchwood in Killay. And if one of your favourite plants are aquilegias (granny’s bonnets, columbines) then you MUST visit, because this is the BEST place in the whole of the UK to see them in flower, as Carrie Thomas has BOTH the UK National Collections of Aquilegias.

The garden is open whenever the aquilegias flower, which this year should be until the end on June. You can email carrie.thomas@ntlworld.com to arrange a convenient day and time (usually 7 days a week including evenings) or go along to the Open Garden sessions each weekend from 2-4pm.  You will see a greater range of these plants than you ever knew possible. Full details of garden openings, directions etc is found on http://www.touchwoodplants.co.uk/Touchwood%20garden.htm  ...and I recommend peeking at the aquilegia seedlist page  http://www.touchwoodplants.co.uk/aquilegiaseed.htm as you’ll see the range that is grown there. 

 

It’s been on TV Too! Having appeared on Gardeners’ World a few years ago, you can actually watch what went out on S4C last year on this link:  Byw yn yr Ardd  

 

thanks Alex!

 

Best Wishes, Carrie Thomas Tel 01792 522443
'Touchwood', 4 Clyne Valley Cottages, Killay, Swansea, SA2 7DU South Wales, UK

www.touchwoodplants.co.uk : Seeds & plants by post. Aquilegia specialist.
www.touchwoodspirit.com : Help & healing for body, mind & spirit. Flower essences.

Launch of new hen party/wedding craft workshops, Gower, South Wales | PRLog

Launch of new hen party/wedding craft workshops, Gower, South Wales | PRLog

Follow the link to read the latest press release about thoughtful, creative and downright crafty hen parties now available on the beautiful Gower peninsula from www.gowerhenparties.co.uk

The Weeds We Walk On - Woodland venue for walks

These are some great pictures of the finishing post for the Woodland Walks for www.gowerhenparties.com. We'll be walking through woodland to a beautiful lake by a stream. The lake is covered with yellow lilies in the summer and is very beautiful. 
We'll gather herbs along the way, learning about their healing properties, before making tinctures under the refuge of the sedum-roofed roundhouse at the Gower Wildflower Centre.  We'll explore the herbs we pick (very carefully without damaging the local environment) by tasting and smelling them and learn about their properties.  Then we'll make some medicine for you to take home, with a printed handout about gathering herbs and making tinctures, so you can carry on the good work at your leisure.
The centre boasts a fantastic cafe featuring local produce cooked by the charismatic Gregg Sandles.  He's got some great reviews already on www.tripadvisor.com for his fabulous cooking.  Herbal hunters can order their lunch before settling down to the workshop at the end of the walk.


Follow the link below to see the fabulous Wildflower Centre and some of the food they serve there! Yum!

http://animoto.com/play/0bVx0IcIg1CceV0b1yyRSg?utm_source=&utm_medium=player&utm_campaign=player

www.gowerwildflowercentre.co.uk

 a bud of Hypericum, St John's Wort

 

Soap making and other bathtime goodies - new workshops

I've been very busy making aprons for new workshops in league with www.gowerhenparties.com and getting the ingredients together to make various luscious goodies for bathtimes.  The workshops will cover how to make soap from simple ingredients including flower petals, oatmeal, herbs and glitter and also the tricky business of making bath fizzbombs without letting them explode! Also covered will be sensuous bath melts and best of all disclosing the secrets of making a love potion.  A blend of oils in a beautiful base oil for massaging the one you love. Today I wrote a booklet with all the instructions and the resource websites for ingredients.

Book your place for a hen party with a difference and learn new skills while enjoying the heavenly Gower peninsula.

Just signed up for this exciting event for herbalists - so fresh and dynamic

• About
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Radical Herbalism

Health justice & ecological herbalism from the grassroots

About

The Radical Herbalism Gathering will be held on Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th June 2013 in Compton Dundon, near Glastonbury in Somerset, UK.
You are invited to join us for a weekend of discussions on community herbal medicine in a social justice and ecological context. The gathering will be an opportunity for informative workshops, rousing discussions, herbal skill sharing and to make new connections.
It is being hosted by a diverse collective of medical & lay herbalists, plant lovers, medicine growers, community organisers & other health workers.
We have been inspired by the collaboration of herbalists, growers, wildcrafters & other health workers in North America. These projects demonstrate that herbal medicine can play an important part in addressing health inequalities. We want the gathering to be a place where similar conversations on sustainable and integrated healthcare can evolve.
Amongst the range of topics for the weekend we are particularly interested in: the connection between herbal medicine, social justice and health inequalities, community herbal projects, increasing accessibility to herbal medicine, the impact of the current dismantling of the NHS, sustainable growing and sourcing of herbs, a radical approach to plant communication, different plant medicine traditions and cultural appropriation, defending plant medicine from ecological destruction (e.g. Tar Sands in Canada) and the role of big pharmaceuticals in healthcare.
There will also be a herbal first aid workshop, a range of medicine making workshops and plant walks in the afternoons.
A full programe for the gathering will be available in May. If you are interested in being part of the working group or would like to contribute to the gathering by running a workshop or in some other way please contact us on: info@radicalherbalism.org.uk