Latest news with #plants
Telegraph
14 hours ago
- General
- Telegraph
My First London Home: Tony Woods
I grew up in the Lake District, in a really rural area of small villages, with farms and a close-knit community. My parents were serial house renovators. We moved house a lot and lived in building sites our whole childhood and teenage years. Weekends and holidays were spent clearing the garden, digging holes and making dens with my brothers and sisters. I was a strange child. I loved plants and growing things. If it was my birthday, I wanted a chicken. I started to rescue ex-battery hens and used to buy ex-free-rangers for 50p each and sold the eggs to neighbours, so I was quite entrepreneurial. I had a good idea of what hard work was. By the time I was 15, I could mix cement, plant trees, and lay foundations. And there was no question that I wanted to go to horticultural college. When I was at secondary school, one of our art teachers started a gardening club and five or six geeky kids joined. But the kids that did it got bullied. The other kids would come along and smash things up. Now gardening is so cool. If you're a 16-year-old, you can be out on the allotment or look after houseplants. But I was bullied for gardening. My dad was in the police, and I was into gardening – it was a double whammy. Years later, I called my business Garden Club London in honour of all those kids who made my life hell! I first moved to London in 2008, to Victoria Drive in Southfields, really close to Wimbledon. It was an ex-local authority house share that had been carved into more rooms than it should have been. After a year, I moved to Putney, then Lavender Hill – all rental – then with my now-wife Lizzie to Clapham South, to Alderbrooke Road, for four or five years before moving to Folkestone. After moving house so often as kids, this feels like home. I began working for a landscape company, in billionaires' gardens, for celebrities, or sometimes just helping someone in a rental prune back their garden. Some of the client requests were completely bonkers. One very famous person, who had an immaculate designer garden, said the grass was the wrong shade of green. They were flying back from America and insisted their grass was sprayed green. We applied this lawn paint but it rained and the dye leached onto his limestone steps. It looked like something out of Halloween. The client came back and screamed at us. We had to bleach it clean. We had a similar client who lived on a street in Notting Hill – a very well-known, very rude person. They had super-renovated the terrace and everything in the garden was painted white. We didn't really want to do the work – it was outdoor cleaning not gardening – but the concierge pleaded with us. It turns out there was an old chap who lived next door whose life had been ruined by all the building work. So, he would buy blackberries from Portobello Road Market and feed them to the birds who would go and shit all over the neighbour's white garden. Fast forward a few weeks later and it had snowed. The concierge asked us to come back and melt the snow because it had turned grey. He wanted us to make it disappear because it was not the right shade of snow. We did our first million-pound garden last year. It was stressful, but the clients and their kids were so appreciative. You've got two types of clients. One will text you when they know you're on holiday to tell you that a lightbulb isn't working. The other one will take a picture of a flower that has just come out in their garden and send it to you. Our first [RHS] Chelsea garden was a step into the unknown. You have to balance keeping your business running and competing at the Olympics of gardening. We did the floating park in Paddington on Merchant Square. That was a combination of real naivety and excitement. We knew we had to do something that had never been done before in Europe. At one stage, the headline in the Evening Standard was 'London's floating disaster'. But we got it finished. It's eight years old now, and we've won many awards for it. I'm a real plants person. My perfect urban garden would have lots of herbs to really hack into for cooking: mint for tea and mojitos, lemon verbena for garnishing. And lots of scent – star jasmine and martagon lilies. There'd be no outdoor speakers – just bring a Bluetooth speaker out – no coloured lighting, and no inconsiderate fire pits. The Komorebi Container Garden, designed by Garden Club London and Masa Taniguchi and sponsored by Hamptons, won gold at RHS Chelsea and has been relocated to a school rewilding project in Kent.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
LANL publish drought findings for piñon pine, juniper plants
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (KRQE) – Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) published surprising findings about how native plants respond to drought. Researchers studying the water usage of piñon pine and juniper have found that piñon trees have the ability to change how they drink water when rain is scarce. Sandia National Labs team with Explora for X-R Conference It's a behavior never studied before in plants, and it could mean that our forests are more resilient than previously thought. 'There's a lot that we don't understand yet. Even if there are papers out there that say piñon juniper forests will die in 2030 or 2050. Something like that. But those models don't take this into account,' says Sanna Sevanto, LANL senior researcher. Sevanto also believes that this plant behavior may be bred into our own crops, making them more productive during droughts. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
BBC News
19 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
Boost for Wenhaston garden centre after £24k raised
A specialist garden centre at risk of closure was "overwhelmed" with gratitude after residents rallied round and raised tens of thousands of of Wenhaston, in Halesworth, recently lost access to a nearby borehole that had long supplied the site, and its rare and historical collection of plants, with just half a tank of water left, the future of the facility was plunged into doubt, with owners Gillian and Jenny Stafford fearing its plants would not issuing a plea for support, the community helped the couple raise nearly £24,000 in a matter of days, money which will be used to drill and install a new borehole. "If we run dry, that's it, there is no other alternative, so it was either try to raise these funds or we will have to close the nursery," Mrs Stafford, 45, told the BBC."We knew we had good customers and some of them would support us, but we were completely overwhelmed – we are so grateful."It's just absolutely fantastic, and we are still a little bit bewildered; our heads are all over the place." The garden centre has long proved popular due to its Plant Heritage National Collection of Pelargoniums, rare Primula auriculas, and historical bearded was opened in 1991 by founder Michael Loftus before it was taken over by the Staffords in 2016, following his death four years that time, the couple have "poured everything into keeping Woottens alive", battling through the Covid-19 pandemic, serious illness and a cyber-attack. 'Given us a boost' "Running a small business can grind you down, and we don't just grow plants that are the most popular, we grow the ones that are difficult," added Mrs Stafford."But the [support from the community] has given us a boost to keep going."We are not completely out of the woods yet, but the rain in the last few days has helped." Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
SBS Australia
a day ago
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
Clock's Ticking
They talk about how the sky turned red suddenly the earth shook. They felt rumble and how, all of a sudden, plants died, and there were white and yellow powder. Benetick Kabua Maddison LISTEN TO SBS Audio 22/07/2025 38:48 English It was 24 hours. And if you've got enough to charge them, then you can hold them. If you haven't, then you need to let them go... there was obviously some big cards being played in the background between various nations. NZ Detective Chris Martin Fallout: Spies on Norfolk Island is an SBS Audio production. Credits Created and hosted by Richard Baker. Produced by Liz Burnett. Sound Design and Mix by Max Gosford. Executive Producer is Joel Supple Artwork by Paolo Lim (The Illustration Room) Voice Acting by Allan Lee (Sgt Paul Mackintosh Report)
The Sun
a day ago
- Business
- The Sun
Shoppers rush to buy 20p plants as supermarkets slash prices by up to 80% and they'll transform your garden this summer
SHOPPERS are flocking to stock their trolleys with bargain plants - and prices start from just 20p. A host of retailers are offering discounts worth up to 80% off on flora in store and online. 2 2 Shoppers have spotted major bargains in Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Waitrose branches. Others have clocked major discounts at Home Bargains and The Range with up to 60% off. Posting on the Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK Facebook group, one savvy saver said: "Worth checking out all your local supermarkets at this time of the season - lots of major reductions on plants!!" The shopper went on to reveal how they found Salix flamingo and dianthus plants in their local Sainsbury's store for 20p each. The bargain hunter also clocked baby fuchsia plants at their local Morrisons shop reduced to 30p and mini Orchids at their closest Waitrose shop for £2.40 down from £12 - an 80% discount. Morrisons and Waitrose confirmed they have not launched plant sales UK-wide but that individual branches are allowed to reduce prices to clear stock. We have asked Sainsbury's if it has reduced prices on its flowers and plants across all its stores and will update this story when we have heard back. Waitrose and The Range are also all selling cut-price plants and flowers on their websites with up to 40% and 60% off, respectively. Shoppers can get pots of fuchsia plants for £4.19 down from £6.99 and Orlaya Grandiflora for £2.17 down from £2.89. The Range is selling flowers and plants with prices starting from £9. How to make sure you lawn looks green and lush all summer long We've spotted hedging trees on sale for £39.99 down from £64.95 (39% off) as well as Callicarpa berry shrubs for £39.99 down from £101.23 (60% off). If you're looking to buy cheap plants and flowers from your nearest supermarket or retailer branch, check if they have any on sale in the first instance by calling ahead. Most retailers have store locators online which you can use to find your nearest store, based on your postcode or town where you live. How to save money on plants, flowers and gardening Start by waiting for end of season sales when retailers slash prices on stock. It's worth joining up to retailer's loyalty schemes too, as you might be able to get discounts on plants and flowers. You'll also get points on your purchases which you can use to get money off future shops. B&Q, Sainsbury's and Morrisons all have loyalty schemes which are free to join. Buying plant seeds rather than mature plants means a bit more work is needed, but will generally save you money too. Rather than buying compost, you can create your own with organic waste like banana peels or grass you've mowed up. How to find gardening bargains Doing up your garden to enjoy on warm and sunny days needn't cost the earth. Sun Savers Editor Lana Clements explains how to get a top deal on items for the garden… You can bag big savings on plants, shrubs and flowers, as well as gardening tools and furniture. Many retailers have flash sales across entire seasonal ranges – often these promotions tie into payday at the end of the month or Bank Holiday weekends, so keep a lookout. Sign up to mailing lists of your favourite brands and you'll be first to know of special offers. It can be worth following retailers on social media too. Use a price comparison site to search out the best value items. And keep a close eye on the specialbuys at Aldi and middle of Lidl drops which drop a couple of times a week and usually mean great value seasonal items for your outdoor areas. If you are not in a hurry to buy an item, try adding it to the shopping cart online and leaving it for a couple of days. Sometimes big brands will try to tempt you into the sale by offering you a discount. And always check if you can get cashback before paying. It's especially worth using sites such as Topcashback, Quidco and app Jamdoughnut when buying bigger ticket items such as garden furniture as you'll get a nice kickback.
