England v Spain (Bluebell League) 2/4/2016

Today is the day ~ First bluebell sighting of the year! 

I need to qualify this statement. 

It was my first sighting of the beautiful, delicate, deep and true royal blue English bluebell but I've been digging up heaps of it's brutish cousin, the Spanish bluebell, for weeks now. 

There is no comparison. 

This is the gorgeous, dainty English Bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta.....

I have no photograph of the Spanish one, Hyacinthoides hispanica, because it's not nearly so pretty and I get rather cross when I see one. These Spanish blighters are clunky, paler blue and lack the lovely, pendulous habit of the English blooms. 

Worse still, they hybridise with our dinky, sweet-smelling, native bluebell and threaten their very existence. 

A plea from me: do not buy, plant, or encourage the Spanish bluebell and if you see it about, dig it out! 

The English Bluebell is one of my favourite plants (can you tell?!). Please help me protect it. 

Today was also the day that I decided to take the girls to my childhood den. I was pretty sure they were old enough to appreciate the sideways growing tree over the top of the stagnant pond. I was right. Next time we are bringing scotch eggs (current outside snack of choice). 

Simple pleasures 

RHS The Garden v Gardens Illustrated 17/12/2015

The most useful and inspiring Christmas present that I have regularly received over the past few years has been my Royal Horticultural Society annual membership - thank you very much Mother!

I have agonised this year - have I made the most of my membership? 

Answer: No. 

My weekends are mostly spent ferrying two young girls to birthday parties, clubs and activities, tending my own garden and the odd muddy stomp to the swings. If we do go garden visiting it is to local gardens open for charity. 

I do go to the Malvern Spring Festival and I long to visit Hampton Court Flower show (I will attempt Chelsea again when the girls are more independent and any spare earnings are for me again.....that will happen, won't it?) but is a discounted show ticket or two enough to warrant my membership renewal? 

I used my RHS membership most frequently for a quick trot around nearby Westonbirt Arboretum with the family but I have found that I am increasingly turned away because I have stumbled upon a peak time for visitors i.e. Autumn Colour time and my RHS membership will not allow me entry. 

So it comes down to the battle of the monthly magazine. Financially and time-wise I cannot justify more than one periodical.  

This year I have decided to give up my RHS membership in favour of receiving Gardens Illustrated magazine....thank you very much Mother! Xx

Gardens Illustrated has always appealed to my aesthetics and I often buy it when I stop to refuel the SwampDonkeyMobile. 

Dreamy side 1 - 0 Science side

Maybe I will regret giving up RHS membership ~ this could scupper my chances of receiving my medal for horticultural services when I am seventy three....it could be that I am not destined for such distinguished heights anyway. 

I have received both the December 2015 issue of The Garden (RHS magazine) and a special 'The Plants Issue' of Gardens Illustrated this month; I will be reading both with a reviewing eye. 

I suspect that I will miss the News section of The Garden the most and I am worried that Gardens Illustrated will not satisfy me on a professional level. I hope to follow this post up with a more in-depth review and, after a few months, come to some sort of a conclusion. 

Deep down I know that I need both publications in my life to grow as a well-rounded horticulturalist and feed the artist and the scientist that lurk (fairly deeply) within me. I fully intend to be an RHS member again in the near future (30+ years to work towards my medal!) so the question is will Gardens Illustrated be the monthly magazine for me? 

Well, I am already rather taken with the DIY origami seed packet feature. 

My efforts ~ 

Not bad! 

A very rare, strangely ok photograph of me ~ 19/10/2015

My mother is a wonderful photographer. She is so talented that she has managed to capture an image of me in which I actually look like a human being. 

This human is a bit geeky, slightly wonky and fairly exhausted but it is definitely recognisable as a human. 

This will be my profile picture for the rest of my life.....or at least until someone manages to repeat this remarkable feat.....this will not happen for a long, long time. 

I am an Etsy Seller ~ I have my own online shop!!!! 5/10/2015

Good golly, I have gone and done it ~ I am a #etsyseller!

Go to Etsy.com and search Nicola Hope Designs......go on, I dare you. 

I am selling my gorgeous greetings cards in packs of 10 different botanical designs.....

....and you can buy one of my pieces as wall art in canvas form - 12 different designs and 2 different sizes to choose from - the text is there to help you decide on your favourite design. 

Plants and flowers are proven to have healing powers, promote wellness and stave off anxiety, stress and other mental health disorders so have as many as possible dotted around your home and workplace, especially with winter edging ever nearer. 

The dark, midnight-blue backgrounds have been described as having zen qualities - I was chuffed with that one!

(....and they are really rather stunningly beautiful, even if I do say so myself)

Have a look! 

Tell your friends!

Individual cards are available from Acacia Floristry in Malmesbury.

More designs to come in the future 📷⭐️💚

Thank you for all of your kind words and support 

Nxxx 

Greetings Cards ~ who'd have thought it?! 21/9/2015

My botanical prints have morphed into greetings cards and........here's the thing......people like them and they are selling! 

I am selling them at two local retailers ~ The wonderful and super-talented Jodie Smith at her shop Acacia (check out her gorgeous Instagram @acaciafloristry) in Malmesbury and I have a selection for sale at Malmesbury Tourist Information Centre.  I am also thinking (after much encouragement and many kind words) of starting up an Etsy shop. 

.......but first, it's this......

This coming Saturday and Sunday I will be opening up my studio (my hallway) and inviting those who are interested to view my work. I will be selling prints, canvases and greetings cards - all at very reasonable prices. Many other local artists and craftspeople will be doing the same - there are painters, sculptors, potters, photographers and many others. So, what are you waiting for? Have a look at malmesburyartsandcraftstrail.co.uk and follow the map to unearth local treasures - it'll be worth it, I promise!

Last minute preparations for THE EXHIBITION!!! 12/8/2015

This is my big-myself-up blurb - all about.....me

I am starting to get excited about the exhibition. I hope people like what I do.

If nobody likes it......I get to keep all of my pretty prints. If people do like them I will carry on doing what I do, getting better and better and refining my techniques. 

2 days until the exhibition goes up. Busy times!

Bringing the Fine Art back in after 15 years of pure horticulture ~ 4th August 2015

It was just a matter of time. I turned my back on the Fine Art world before I had ever really given it a chance. I was 21. I was heading down the horticultural road and leaving Fine Art far, far behind. 

........it has caught me up. 

My exhibition is going up in just a few days. My first exhibition in 15 years. 

Of course horticulture was always going to be my subject; flowers are my muse.

My beautiful daughters are my inspiration. I see them experimenting with art materials and I join them. I am relishing discovering art all over again.

For this exhibition (my comeback - how exciting!) I am bringing flowers dramatically to the fore by sketching in the darkest of midnight-blue backgrounds. 

I know not what to expect. 

I will not stop. The Fine Art road and the Horticultural road have merged. I am travelling along and enjoying the ride 🎨💚🌻

Saturday 15th August - Thursday 3rd September 2015

John Bowen Gallery

Malmesbury Town Hall

Cross Hayes

Malmesbury

Wiltshire

SN16 9BZ