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Many people have come to our seasonal workshops over the past three weeks. Most have made beautiful, highly individual festive wreaths for their own front doors or garlands and table decorations for Christmas. But we also had a couple of people who made their own unique wreaths for the graves of loved ones – parents or a sibling. What a wonderful thought at this time of year when we especially miss family and friends who are no longer with us. We also had a gardener on one of our workshops who was learning how to make a wreath so that he could gather foliage in his clients’ gardens and make them wreaths as a Christmas gift. Another lovely, thoughtful idea.
This week we ran one of our hard landscaping series, Basic Bricklaying. It was a packed course with participants interested in building retaining walls or brick planters in their own gardens or learning how to carry out projects in clients’ gardens. Having started the day with a bit of theory, what tools to use and which cement mixes work best we went out into the Walled Garden and got building. It was a cold, dry, sunny day, and the group mixed cement, poured foundations, calculated how many bricks to use and built the plinths for the greenhouse and potting shed water butts. They were constantly checking levels and measurements, and the resulting plinths look professional. Next year we will be running more workshops in the hard landscaping series, including Laying Foundations, Erecting Fencing Panels, Slab Laying and Creating a Small Pond. Do get in touch if you would like to join us on any of these courses or let us know if there is another hard landscaping skill you would like to learn.
Our latest course, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s ten week Certificate in Practical Horticulture has now filled up for the January start date, and we have just announced the April/May dates. We will run another Wednesday course starting on 29th April, and a Saturday course starting on 2nd May. Do let us know if you are interested in this highly practical course which gives successful participants a well-recognised qualification. Currently this is the only certified horticultural course in Norfolk or Suffolk and we are really pleased to be able to offer it to both professional and keen amateur gardeners in the region.
Upcoming courses with availability:
Introduction to Garden Design starts 16th January (6 week course)
Reonvation Pruning 28th January
Introduction to Veg Growing 31st January
The Cutting Garden 4th February
Border Renovation 7th February
Caring for Fruit Trees 11th February
Certificate for Practical Horticulture register interest for April & September
Plant of the Week
Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca 'Citrina'
Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca 'Citrina' is an evergreen member of the pea family with vetch-like blue-grey leaves and a spidery growth habit. The flowers are pea-shaped and come in clusters on a rounded umbel-shaped head, which forms a crown – hence the Latin name, coronilla. The flowers are lemon-yellow with a narcissus-like fragrance. At a time when little else is in flower this small shrub gives a wonderful display, lasting all the way from early December to March or later.
Contact us via www.norfolkschoolofgardening.co.uk or follow us on Instagram and Facebook.
