I walked into Sutton yesterday morning. On nice days I always try and walk there, it's two miles which is just a nice stretch out I always think and I vary my route so I see different things. I always look in peoples front gardens as it gives me ideas. I love to see how people have pruned different plants for different effects. Sutton is much busier now but I went first thing so there were no queues yet. The old Cock Inn sign at the top of Sutton has had a new paint job recently and looks lovely. The old Inn which was a changing point for the London to Brighton stagecoaches has long gone but the sign still remains and I love to see the little piece of history still being looked after.
Thinking about getting gardening ideas there was a wonderful item on Gardeners World on Friday about trees on skyscrapers in Milan. Apparently Milan has one of the worst pollution problems in Europe. To try and tackle the problem trees have been planted on two buildings. The project was named Bosco Verticale, or in English "Vertical Forest", because together the towers have 900 trees, 5,000 shrubs and 11,000 perennial plants, which help mitigate smog and produce oxygen. This photo on Wikipedia taken by the photographer Darsheni shows how they look.
Although I obviously couldn't do anything on this scale I love the way Wilkinson's in Sutton have added a living wall outside their shop. It was one of the ugliest buildings in Sutton, a typical concrete 1960s soulless sort of building yet it has become a real haven for nesting birds. I'd love to have a go with something similar one day, but then Tom and I talk all the time about building an eco friendly house on our own plot of land. It's a real dream of ours.
I bought two plants in Wilkinson's in the end. A red Camelia for the shady end of the garden by the new rockery and a Ceanothus. One of the houses I walk past has pruned one into a tree and it looks stunning when it is in flower. I'm going to keep it in a pot for a while and try and do the same, it will probably take years but never mind.
It's a very special day today, my Dad's 90th birthday. Sadly because of the restrictions on groups still in place we can't have the big family gathering we had hoped for but we are going in relays over today and tomorrow so everyone can get to spend time with him in his garden, so fingers crossed the rain keeps away. I hope every one has a lovely Sunday what ever you are doing. xx
