Flower power: China digs for diplomacy with world's largest gardening show

Beijing international horticultural exhibition is intended to give the nation a much-needed publicity boost

If you want to say something, the expression goes, say it with flowers. It is a concept that will take on new meaning in China this week, which on 29 April opens the doors to the world’s largest ever gardening show, a mammoth exhibition of plants, pavilions and soft power that forms part of celebrations marking the 70th birthday of the People’s Republic of China.

At the foot of the Taihang mountains in the Beijing suburb of Yanqing, an area the size of 500 football pitches has been fenced for the massive Beijing international horticultural exhibition, which dwarfs the Chelsea flower show by an eye-watering 495 hectares.

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from Property | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2VvEcRB
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Flower power: China digs for diplomacy with world's largest gardening show

Beijing international horticultural exhibition is intended to give the nation a much-needed publicity boost

If you want to say something, the expression goes, say it with flowers. It is a concept that will take on new meaning in China this week, which on 29 April opens the doors to the world’s largest ever gardening show, a mammoth exhibition of plants, pavilions and soft power that forms part of celebrations marking the 70th birthday of the People’s Republic of China.

At the foot of the Taihang mountains in the Beijing suburb of Yanqing, an area the size of 500 football pitches has been fenced for the massive Beijing international horticultural exhibition, which dwarfs the Chelsea flower show by an eye-watering 495 hectares.

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2VvEcRB
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Inside Ronnie Wood’s cottage studio

The hellraiser-turned-artist shows us round his home atelier

Approaching the electric gates to Ronnie Wood’s art studio in a Hertfordshire village, I’m convinced I’ve got the wrong address. In a location so quiet you could hear a guitar-pick drop stands an exquisite stone cottage. It’s pure Beatrix Potter – and it promises a glimpse into a very different Wood to the hellraiser everyone thinks they know.

We’ve never met, but Wood bounds out and hugs me like an old friend before offering to make me tea and honey. Yes, you heard right. I resist the urge to ask if he could throw in some brown sugar.

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from Property | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2ZElHda
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Inside Ronnie Wood’s cottage studio

The hellraiser-turned-artist shows us round his home atelier

Approaching the electric gates to Ronnie Wood’s art studio in a Hertfordshire village, I’m convinced I’ve got the wrong address. In a location so quiet you could hear a guitar-pick drop stands an exquisite stone cottage. It’s pure Beatrix Potter – and it promises a glimpse into a very different Wood to the hellraiser everyone thinks they know.

We’ve never met, but Wood bounds out and hugs me like an old friend before offering to make me tea and honey. Yes, you heard right. I resist the urge to ask if he could throw in some brown sugar.

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2ZElHda
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DIY urban gardening hacks for small spaces

Go bold on scent and add drama with glossy-leaved plants to create a cosy urban oasis

Small gardens are often seen as having little or no scope for design. This couldn’t be further from the truth. You can squeeze a lot into a small plot: be bold, be strong, ensure a lavish backbone of evergreens with spring colour to enliven spirits after the long winter gloom – and don’t forget to incorporate scent. But remember, in small gardens, less is often more: it’s better to do one thing well rather than a lot in a muddled fashion.

Large gardens have an element of safety, deploying swathes of green lawn which is economical to install and covers large areas of ground. A small garden has to work much harder and, per sq metre, can cost more. But it’s worth it: with thought and care, your little patch can be a true extension of your home and provide a haven for you, as well as the wildlife we share our urban spaces with.

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from Home And Garden | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2UJEujg
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Gardening tips: plant a dwarf crab apple tree

Then pick up tips at a tulip festival on how to deter squirrels and invest in a weeder

Plant this Dwarf crab apples are brilliant trees for smaller gardens as they stay compact: right now they are festooned with pink or white blossom, a valuable early source of pollen for insects. The fruit that follows will be welcomed by the birds even if you don’t turn it into jelly.

Visit this If squirrels are destroying your tulips, take a trip to Hever Castle in Kent, where its tulip festival is in full swing this weekend. Examine its trial of 10 methods for deterring squirrels from munching bulbs, and follow a self-guided trail of 21,000 tulips around the grounds.

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How to grow asparagus | Alys Fowler

Once you establish an asparagus bed, you’ll be gorging yourself silly on the stuff for 20 years or more, says our gardening expert

When I first left home, my mother would send bundles of asparagus and six carefully wrapped, freshly laid eggs in the post throughout the brief season. (Only rarely did they break. She is the queen of mail.) She had rescued two overgrown and much neglected asparagus beds when we moved and poured in so much love in the form of muck, weeding and asparagus-beetle-squishing that we all gorged ourselves silly on the stuff. For years, I willed a package to appear every April, but those beds belong to someone else now and I have my own.

There are many lessons from this, but the first is it is entirely possible to revitalise a tired patch with a mulch of good compost and some weeding. Asparagus truly likes only its own company and wants its roots in cool, deep, well-drained soil. This is best done by adding as much organic matter as you can every year in the form of mulch. Repeat this in autumn and again after harvesting in early summer.

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