Evergreen foliage in winter

Cyclamen Herderifolium
Lonicera henryi - evergreen honeysuckle
Uknown Erica or Calluna (almost luminous yellow in Summer)
Pieris 'Mountain Fire' which changes colour each season
Choisya 'Aztec Pearl'

Every year the Winter interest aspect of the garden fills out a little more to the point where there is now something looking good in every bed, border or large tub. I love the way their colours and shapes become so noticeable when all else is dormant. I was out the other day and noticed one daffodil already forming a blower bud, several cyclamen doing the same, small daisies, and violas in flower and more flowers on the Claire Austin rose than it had during Summer! The snowdrops have started to push up and should be in flower soon. By far the most reliable performer this year has been Lamium Rosaseum which has literally flowered non stop since late Spring last year, it must be a blessing for all manner of insects.

Happy Gardening New Year 2012

Cally Creates New Year Message (click to see in sharp focus)

My New Year wish for all you gardener's in 2012. The foliage in the photo is Oxalis Sunset, an annual which I've managed to keep alive in the house from cuttings I took in late Summer/early Autumn. It's such a great plant, like foliar sunshine. I plan to take more cuttings this month from the bits I've overwintered so that I'll have lots of it to plant out in April.

Have any of you managed to over-winter plants that you normally think of as annuals? I'd love to hear which plants do well. Mine were in the house in a room that wavers between 10 and 14 degrees centigrade in an East window with occasion daylight bulb use on dull days. But I've also noticed that the mild winter has allowed numerous annuals to carry on growing outside, most noticeable the Osteospermums which are twice their Summer height - I'll need to get cuttings from them because I don't believe for a moment that cold isn't coming. You can view all my plantings of 2011 and indeed 2012 here and I'd love to see others add their gardens too.

Silvery foliage

At this time of year the Silver grey/green foliage of Saxifrage, Sesliria nitida and Scenecio Cineraria in the garden fit well with the cold temperatures. Gales and winds have been almost non-stop this winter so I've not been out much at all for fear of being blow all the way to Edinburgh. There have been several expected casualties but I've been really surprised by just how many plants have held on tight. Many look a bit bedraggled but I'm confident there will be a happy resurgence of life in Spring. As always you can see all my plants and gardening goings on over on Folia.

Silke Trekel - Spatial Structures

Silke Trekel - Spatial Structures via Fingers
Photography by Christoph Sandig, all images copyright Fingers

These appeal to the part of me that likes to play with slotted card shapes. Silke has made that type of delicate and vulnerable creation into something much more durable, permanent and best of all, wearable with her enamelled iron constructions.

Zander Olson - Tree, Line

Zander Olson - Tree, Line - Untitled 2008

Zander Olson - Tree, Line - No Mans Land 2004

These are great aren't they. Zander Olson says: ‘This is an ongoing series of constructed photographs rooted in the forest. These works, carried out in Surrey, Hampshire and Wales,involve site specific interventions in the landscape, ‘wrapping’ trees with white material to construct a visual relationship between tree, not-tree and the line of horizon according to the camera’s viewpoint.’

Wyatt Ellison - Bear Head & Boulders

Wyatt Ellison - Bear Head and Boulders, on Etsy

We don't have bears here, but it certainly has been wild. Storm force Gales 100 mile an hour winds, power cuts. I'm embarrassed by how dependent I am on having internet access. I can manage without food, heat, money and do ok but take away my broadband and I feel lost. So glad it's back.

Antalis Calenclock by Ken Lo

Antalis Calenclock 2012 by Ken Lo via Behance Network

Great idea to have your clock and calendar integrated into one item with the pages tearing off each month. I bet we'll see lots of clocks and calendars inspired by this in future. It certainly has my head buzzing with ideas now.

Sculpted clothing - The T/Shirt Issue

Most beautiful Wolf sculptural clothing by Mashallah.Design

These are from The T/Shirt Issue page of Digital Portraits.
The T/Shirt Issue blog has even more wonderfully sculpted geometric pieces:





Here's what they say about themselves...
"The T-shirt Issue is an interdisciplinary collective that combines fashion, design and technology into unique basic apparel, ranging from daily wearables to conceptual installations.

We are fascinated by the triangular polygon, a geometric shape we see as the basic unit of digital substance and wearable form. All our products are made in a new digital environment that allows us to reconstruct every piece of clothing from the core to any degree of complexity. With this new approach we establish a new dimension in which 2D, 3D and the space in between is reconsidered and experimented with.

In doing so, we stir triangular shapes and fine fabrics into basic apparel that subtly exposes its digital descent. As the possibilities in polygonal shaping are unlimited, we also engage in the conception of extensive art pieces to shed a light on the extremities. Our ultimate mission is to lift the hurdle between possible and impossible and redefine the aesthetics of all things jersey."

Cally Creates - Cushion/Pillow covers

Seaweed Fronds Cushion Covers - €19.99

Sketch <9090> retro Cushion Covers - €19.99,

I've been so busy trying to get Christmas presents sorted that I forgot to list some new cushion covers in my Envelop shop. Bit daft of me because they won't be shipping new orders until 7th January.

I really need to go to bed but I have to stay up because my belly has still not managed to comprehend, never mind digest, all that I have eaten since this afternoon. I was planning to just make a simple Jerusalem artichoke soup, a great Winter favourite of mine. But one thing led to another and I found myself steaming carrots, cauliflower and beetroot on top of the soup. Surely that should be enough, but I got impatient waiting and decided to make a salad to tide me over - but it turned out HUGE filled with Beetroot, Pomegranate, Cranberries, Pears, Jerusalem Artichokes, Feta. It was so tasty I ate the whole thing. Problem was, the soup turned out just as tasty and I couldn't stop eating it either and I loved every tasty mouthful.

Wim Delvoye - Carved Tyres

Wim Delvoye - Untitled (Car Tyre) - 2007 - H 81.5 x 19 cm - Hand carved car tyres


Wim Delvoye - Untitled (Car Tyre) - 2009 - H 122 x 38 cm - Hand carved car tyre

Wonderful hand carved tyres by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. Although started in 2007 I'm only just discovering these now and love them, there are lots more to see here. They have similar qualities to the work of Cal Lane who I first blogged about here. Here is one of her pieces I've not show already.


Cal Lane - laser cut car door via Artboom.

Wim has some really large works such as his steel Towers. And smaller ones can be seen on his Scale models section. I'd seen some of his earlier pieces before but didn't know who they were by, like this huge 2002 piece Caterpillar #5:

Wim Delvoye - Caterpillar #5 - 2002 - 350 x 900 x 300 cm
Laser-cut corten steel - Walker Art Center, Minneapolis