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Telegraph
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Easy cakes and bakes for summer, including an elevated fondant fancy
My head is full of flowers and fruit. Every year they come in much the same order: blood oranges, rhubarb, blueberries, gooseberries and strawberries. The stone fruit arrives later, but I can wait (that's part of the pleasure, though I've seen the first apricots from France and Italy and I'm itching to put them in a tart – the edges of the slices becoming caramelised – or in an upside-down cake, the fruit softening to glowing circles that you can glaze with honey). Flowers have an order too. There are primroses – they were out a long time ago in my street – then daffodils, tulips, bluebells and freesias (that scent). It might be because we had a proper spring this year, one with mostly warm weather, that I'm using flowers in baking and desserts much more than usual, and I'm obsessed with colour. Using flowers in baking is not new to me – I've been cooking with rose and orange flower waters and lavender for years – and I don't see it as cloying or 'cute'; it's just a way of making dishes taste and look even more beautiful than they might. My walks right now take me past smells I love even though I rarely know what the plants are (except for the obvious ones). My garden is full of dandelions – it goes a bit meadow-like at this time of year – and tulips. I don't grow anything neatly. It's haphazard and I like it that way. The flower and fruit obsession means I have to restrict my time on Instagram or I can spend hours looking at what bakers and gardeners are creating. There are those who make tarts and cakes of almost mathematical precision – look at what is happening at Lannan Bakery in Edinburgh, with its rhubarb and custard tart of pure clean lines (the poached rhubarb is set in rhubarb jelly). Then look at From Lucie in the East Village in NYC. Lucie Franc de Ferriere, the baker and owner, has a totally different approach. There are few straight lines here; there is abundance, cascades. Discovering her work made me want to go wild. She doesn't, of course, throw flowers at her cakes, but it feels that way. She doesn't care whether the flowers used are edible or not, but I'm not sure, as long as you tell eaters, that this matters. I like delicate things too. The single viola on mauve icing. Every so often I buy fondant fancies. They're beautiful to look at but disappoint when you eat them. You think they'll feel and taste like velvet, but they just taste like sugar. There's no scent and no contrast. The floral iced squares here were my attempt to make fondant fancies, but better. These are lemon-scented and taste like a child's birthday cake, with a smooth buttercream between the sponge layers. Have a look too at the cakes made by Blushing Cook in London, decorated with pressed edible flowers. Going down an internet rabbit hole, I stumbled across a photographer who lives in Maine. Her name is Cig Harvey and she loves cake, flowers and colour. A documentary was made of her work – you can watch it online – called Eat Flowers. One of Harvey's closest friends had leukaemia and was required to isolate. Harvey created a series of photographs for her, using flowers and focusing on colour. Life looked saturated. It was, she said, about finding beauty in unexpected places. She then started photographing cakes and fruit too. There's a dark chocolate cake studded with blackberries, a cherry cake half hidden in a pewter tin, a whole table of fruit and cake, partly demolished and staining the white cloth on which they're spread. This could appear messy but in fact makes you yearn to have arrived in time for the party. She wants us to spend more time looking. Cakes, tarts and desserts aren't necessary. We don't have to eat them. At their best they make you look again, and taste again. They're about beauty and joy.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Why restraining yourself at the garden centre will lead to a more beautiful garden
In a world where maximalism is king, restraint can feel like an old-fashioned concept. Why grow just a couple of different varieties of roses, goes the thinking, when we have space for at least a dozen? Why limit ourselves to a particular colour palette when instead we could enjoy the full kaleidoscope ? Why bother restricting our choices at all, when before us lies the tantalising promise of so much beauty? Self-restraint when you're new to gardening is especially challenging. Faced with a universe of different possibilities, a cornucopia of choice, we can be like kids in the world's best sweetshop, chasing the most powerful of sugar rushes. Logical thinking often goes out the window. Beguilingly beautiful plants that are entirely unsuitable for our gardens or allotments' growing conditions, or for which we have no available growing space, seduce us at summer shows and plant fairs. Gardeners with dry, shady plots impulse-buy inky-blue delphiniums and bearded irises. Others, with hot sunny gardens, succumb to the lofty, leafy charm of shade-loving tree ferns, or the refined elegance of Japanese acers. Dazzled by their sparkling good looks, we buy single potted alliums in bloom at crazy prices, when we could buy 20 or 30 of their fleshy bulbs for the same amount in autumn. Or yet more trays of bedding plants, just because they're being sold at a knock-down price. It's only later that buyer's remorse kicks in. [ Six easy tips for making your garden planters last all summer in Ireland Opens in new window ] Some people fortunate to have hot sunny gardens wind up succumbing to the attraction of shade-loving tree ferns. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA As a gardener capable only of intermittent self-restraint myself, I'm inevitably the proud owner of far too many plants. The current tally includes a bull bay magnolia plus a dozen hydrangeas begging for their own patch of ground. Also, several choice varieties of physocarpus; one gooseberry bush now starting to sulk because of the pot-bound nature of its existence; one winter jasmine (no idea why I bought this); a white-flowering variety of Clematis montana (a rampageous climber, but oh-so pretty in spring); and far too many young seedlings of annuals, biennials and perennials that I didn't have the willpower to resist sowing earlier this spring in the first heady rush of the growing season. READ MORE Temptation to buy is everywhere in the garden centre. These aside, a growing collection of plants, which is as much the result of my impulse buying as it is of thoughtful planning is simultaneously filling up the sprawling sunny beds around our home. It includes yet more roses, a choice variety of euphorbia that I know will get too big, a compact variety of lilac that already looks entirely out of place, and some dusty pink Californian poppies that I couldn't resist. Like an ex-smoker trying to stay off cigarettes, I'm confronted by the fact that self-restraint takes considerable, sustained effort, and that I'm just not always up to the task. [ What are the best vegetables and fruits to grow in a polytunnel? Opens in new window ] Still, I'm determined to try, driven by the knowledge that it pays rich dividends, including some that only become obvious many years later. Self-restraint avoids, for example, the common dilemma of the overly stuffed, middle-aged garden, where every plant is much loved, but the problem is that there are simply too many, and they're planted too closely together. Similarly, it often neatly sidesteps the equally common pitfall of planting trees and shrubs in unsuitable places where they then slowly get too big for their boots, obscuring light and views until they eventually force us to contemplate the gloomy necessity of cutting them down. Self-restraint also reduces the chances of sad plants languishing in pots while they wait for a permanent home, or dying a slow death because they've been shoehorned into an unsuitable spot in the garden. It means no unwanted varieties of fruit and vegetables planted on a whim, before the realisation dawned that we didn't want or need three rows of courgettes, or four kinds of beetroot. It also means fewer weary hours of hard labour spent digging up plants to move them to a more suitable spot, and less time wasted watering and mollycoddling others that had to be planted at the height of summer just because we fell instantly, madly, deeply in love with them. Colour and spice ... and all things nice. Photograph: Fennell Boring as it might sound, self-restraint in the garden also helps give coherence to a planting scheme, one where the plants' individual qualities have been thoughtfully considered in terms of their combined effect. Equally, it limits the chances of clashing colour combinations, or of ending up with short-lived wonders with a limited season of interest, or plants that quickly bully their neighbours into submission. Instead, restrained gardens have a 'rightness' about them akin to looking effortlessly well-dressed. Except, of course, that they're anything but effortless. The only danger is when that valuable self-restraint tips over into rigid self-control. I'm glad, for example, of the impulse buy of an assortment of climbing and rambling roses subsequently used to cloak an old tumbledown stone outbuilding in the garden. Nor do I regret my spur-of-the-moment decision to plant a Persian ironwood, or to sow a late, second batch of white cosmos to stretch out their flowering season. I'm even glad of the single, orange Californian poppy that recently spontaneously self-seeded itself into an otherwise very pale colour scheme. I did, I admit, briefly consider pulling it out before sternly stopping myself, proof that these two, seemingly opposite qualities – spontaneity and self-restraint – are much more comfortable bedfellows than we gardeners might initially assume. This week in the garden This is a great time of year to propagate a wide variety of perennials, shrubs and trees by taking softwood cuttings of young, fresh, healthy growth, a quick, easy and very affordable way to stock a new garden. See for step-by-step instructions. Make sure to give dahalias a warm, sunny, sheltered spot and rich, moisture-retentive but free draining soil. Photograph:Dahlias potted up under cover earlier this spring should now be planted out into their permanent position in the garden or allotment, making sure to give them a warm, sunny, sheltered spot and a rich, moisture-retentive but free draining soil, ideally enriched with some well-rotted manure and a little slow release pelleted organic fertiliser. Soak the root-balls in a weak solution of liquid seaweed feed before planting to give them a head start. Dates for your diary Bord Bia Bloom at the Phoenix Park: Continuing until June 2nd, see It's that time of year once again: Bloom in the Phoenix Park Buds & Blossom Garden Show: Spink, Community Grounds, Abbeyleix, County Laois, Sunday, June 8th (12pm-6pm). With guest speakers John Jones, Colin Jones and Tom Coward, plus specialist plant sales by many of Ireland best small, independent nurseries. Rathmines Open Gardens 2025: Sunday, June 8th, (2pm-6pm). Several private gardens open their doors to the public in aid of charity, along with Trinity Botanic Garden. See or contact Michael Kelly on 087-6697722 for details.
The Sun
3 days ago
- General
- The Sun
B&Q shoppers are racing to snap up incredible £5 plant that will keep flowering until the first frost
IF you're prepping your flowerbeds ahead of summer, one plant is sure to last well into autumn. You can pick up the popular flower from B&Q without breaking the bank. 2 This budget-friendly item will instantly brighten up your garden this summer. Add these colouful flowers to your pots, hanging baskets, and flowerbeds to create a "long-flowering" look. B&Q is currently selling Petunia Frenzy Mixed F1 6 Plug Plants for a lower price than ever, at just £4.99. This Petunia "Frenzy" mixture produces large blooms in "an array of beautiful colours throughout the summer months". And these plants are also known to survive until the first frost, providing a "bold and reliable splash of low maintenance colour which you can enjoy all season long". These plants have a compact upright look, making them suitable for filling small spaces all around your garden. Petunias can also be used to create impressive container displays throughout your outdoor space. When they bloom, these "large trumpet-shaped flowers" create a "mixture of vivid shades all summer long and into autumn". Simply pinch out the growing tip of each stem to encourage branching, helping to form a bushier plant which will produce more flowers later on. Once the weather is warm enough, you can gradually acclimatise petunias to outdoor conditions over a period of 7 to 10 days. I hate my new build garden being overlooked so found a 5 METRE privacy fence to block out nosy neighbours for under £30 Make sure to select baskets, window boxes, and containers with good drainage and place them directly in the sun. Experts recommend feeding and watering petunia plants regularly, particularly during hot, dry periods. You should also regularly deadhead your petunia flowers to encourage further blooms throughout the summer. And the sooner you plant these B&Q buys the better as they will beging flowering in early summer. Petunias are also known to be low maintenance so you don't even need to be a green-fingered pro to see your garden flourish. Meanwhile, a Home Bargains buy is said to add a touch of glamour to your garden. And shoppers can also pick up a £9.99 novelty decor buy that adds character to flowerbeds. A £7 gardening gadget is also available from Home Bargains and is guaranteed to transform your lawn. 2
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
'I built a tiny castle for mice in my garden'
Nestled at the bottom of a North Yorkshire garden is a castle fit for a in colourful flags and surrounded by toadstools, the miniature kingdom in New Earswick was set up by Christie Barnes. She became fascinated with the creatures in her garden during the coronavirus lockdowns and started leaving out nuts to attract mice and interest "snowballed" from there and she crafted the lavishly-decorated castle and adjoining dollhouse for the creatures. Furnished with a chandelier, velour chair and battery-powered fireplace, the castle has been described by some as a mice is also fitted with three cameras and stocked with food, as a way to capture the almost-royal rodents' movements. "I know they see it as a permanent place now because I've been feeding them for three to four years," Christie said. "They know it's a place where they can get their food. "What they've done is create a tunnel system underground so they come up through the top into the castle and it is all protected so the cats can't get in."She said up to four mice could be in the castle at one time."When I'm updating or adding a new bit, they can find it a bit weird because something has changed but within a couple of days they're back," Christie said."I decorated the castle for Christmas, I decorated it for Halloween. My friends and family love it, they ask if I can keep sharing photos and videos," she added. Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
The Independent
6 days ago
- General
- The Independent
What is the Chelsea Chop? And how it's vital for your plants' growth
The 'Chelsea Chop', a pruning method named after the Royal Horticultural Society 's Chelsea Flower Show, has gained traction on social media. The technique, which involves cutting back certain perennials in late May or early June, encourages bushier growth and delayed flowering. This results in sturdier plants and a prolonged display of blooms. While the name may be relatively recent, with references dating back to the early 2000s, the practice itself is not new. Gardeners have long employed similar methods to manage plant growth and flowering times. The Chelsea Chop simply provides a catchy name for a well-established technique, making it more accessible and popular among gardeners. What's involved in the Chelsea Chop? The method involves pruning certain perennials — those with clumping roots, like coneflower (Echinacea), black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia), goldenrod (Solidago), sneezeweed (Helenium), Salvia and yarrow (Achillea) -- by cutting each stem back by one-third to one-half its height in spring. Cuts should be made on the diagonal, just above a leaf node. The 'chop' forces plants to produce bushier growth, resulting in sturdier, tighter and fuller plants that aren't as likely to grow leggy, require staking or flop over by the end of the season. It also delays blooming, which can benefit the late-summer garden. You might get creative and prune only alternate stems so that some bloom earlier and others later — or prune only half of your plants — to extend the blooming season. Do not attempt this with one-time bloomers, single-stemmed plants or those with woody stems; the amputations would be homicidal to the current season's flowers. When should you chop? Gardeners should consider their climate and prune when their plants have grown to half their expected seasonal height, whenever that may be. (The Chelsea Chop is done at different times in different places, depending on plant emergence and growth.) A variation for late-summer and fall bloomers To take things a step further, some late-summer and fall bloomers, like Joe Pye weed, chrysanthemum and aster, would benefit from three annual chops. In my zone 7, suburban New York garden, that means cutting them back by one-third each in the beginning of June, middle of June and middle of July. Customise the schedule for your garden by shifting one or two weeks earlier per warmer zone and later per cooler zone, taking the season's growth and size of your plants into account. Make the first cuts when plants reach half their expected size, the second two weeks later and the third about a month after that. I'd like this fall-plant pruning tip to catch on as well as the Chelsea Chop has. Maybe I should call it the Damiano Downsize and see what happens.
