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Cambo, Spring visits and Tulip talk

For all Tulip lovers within travelling distance from Cambo Gardens (near St Andrews, Scotland) you might be very interested to know that author of ‘The Tulip’, Anna Pavord is giving a talk on the Tulip tomorrow night (April 30th). Sorry, I meant to post this sooner. I’m popping along myself and I do believe there are a few tickets left. I’m really looking forward to it.

Tulip in my Garden, May 2008.

Anna’s talk is supporting a Tulip festival at the garden which begins today and runs over the long weekend. Back on a visit to the garden to see Snowdrop displays on March 2nd I discovered that the Potager area had been planted with thousands of Tulip bulbs. Although I’ve not been a huge fan of this bulb I have warmed to it over the last couple of years and it has my interest now.

Cambo Potager, March 2nd 2010. (Clicking on photos will enlarge them.)
Bare soil, a few grasses and a number of labels replaced the stunning Naturalistic Potager on display during my visit last September. The photo montage above was ready to introduce this event and with others would tell the story of our visit. I’m guessing another story came along shortly after this and it didn’t get past the cutting room floor.

Earlier this week, I made a return visit to see this tulip display. I was very much looking forward to seeing how it would look now. I had guessed that perhaps with our very cold winter that the blooms might be slower to open this year.

On my visit I found a few were still to open but the vibrant colour in this area could be seen from almost every aspect in the walled garden. A very cheery sight indeed! However, I have to admit to being a big fan of the green and very dark plum coloured varieties.

Cambo Potager and walled garden, April 27th 2010.
It’s always amazing to see how a garden can change in just a few days of warm sunshine. I wonder what this area looks like now. I’m guessing even more colour!

On this visit, gardeners were working all around the garden. Mowing, planting, pruning and other seasonal jobs were in action. I loved seeing the baskets of plants ready for planting.

However, as often the case with me, it wasn’t the tulips that I went to see that made my visit. It was the birdsong, the bees, the butterflies and the delicate colours and blooms of Spring too.

Cambo views in and outside walled garden, April 27th.

I took my video camera with me on this visit and it was the essence of my visit I decided to capture with the tulips in the background rather than the main event that they are at present.

Below you’ll hear a variety of garden sounds, see the views that caught my eye and a panoramic of the new Prairie and winter garden which is one to follow for the next few years. Note, I deliberately stop the camera to let the pixels catch up.

No extra background music in this video.

So this visit wasn’t rushed at all. There was time to stand and listen to all the sounds. Although a slight breeze, the air was warm and pleasant.

However, back during my March visit the cool blue skies behind the House itself suggest it was colder back then. Our walk through the snowdrop displays was more brisk and we had the sea in our sights as we walked along the woodland path.

Cambo Gardens, March 2nd 2010.

Yes, it was blossom, brilliant red leaves of Bergenia, Snowdrops, Snowflakes and Crocus that caught my attention then. The piglets too.

Cambo Gardens, March 2nd 2010.

Yep… a lot can change over nine weeks in the garden. Heading towards May, this is my favourite time in my own garden. So much is about to change and by the begining of June we could be seeing blue poppies and white wisteria flowers being visited by bees.

I haven’t managed to capture any end of the month photos (to join Helen and other bloggers) from my own garden yet. I’ll see what I can get tomorrow. Things have been a bit stop and start here. I have much I want to do and complete. Mm… now do I give truthful views of my garden or not… there’s a question!

Let’s come back to the main reason for rushing this overdue posting… Anna Pavord visiting Cambo. A video search picked up the video shown below with Anna talking in an interview about her more recent book ‘Bulb’.

I’m guessing the interview has been added to someone browsing the book itself (I’m thinking it’s not Anna). It’s a good mix anyway. You can browse the book and hear what a lovely soft voice Anna has. If you would like to hear her at Cambo then call 01333 450054 to see if there are any tickets left.

This is not my video. Perhaps you might want to
pour yourself a cuppa… this video lasts almost 10 minutes.

This new book really is a beauty too! I have to suggest you pick one up in a bookstore and look through it for yourself. I am delighted that I am the proud owner of a copy myself too. I received it, a few bunches of tulips and tickets to attend this talk for my birthday… now this is a birthday treat 😀

Oh… before I forget, I’d like to say a huge thanks to Mr Brown Thumb who helped me decide to go to this talk. He interviewed Anna when she was on a visit to Chicago and also reviewed her new ‘Bulb’ book. A huge thanks, also, to my non-gardening daughter for offering to accompany me to this talk 🙂

How’s your week been? For me, it’s been a particularly busy week (not in the garden this time) and I do apologise for not answering my comments in the last two postings before posting this. I will come back to them very soon. However, I have one very disappointing update.

Sadly, our nestbox story seems to have been short lived. We have had no Blue tit roosting in our nestbox in three nights and no change to the nest in two days. What a huge pity there.

Over the weekend, I’m going to get OH to move the other nestbox (also empty) around the corner of the wall to see if it can attract any late nesters. Probably too late but you never know.

Wishing you a great weekend gardening and watching the birds in your own garden. I wonder if you have plans to go garden visiting too perhaps? Oh yes… and if you are heading to the Tulip talk at Cambo I hope you enjoy it. I may just see you there 😀

10 thoughts on “Cambo, Spring visits and Tulip talk

  1. Shirl, I read your blog because I love your garden and the visits to other gardens. I keep hoping your nest boxes will have families moving in. But I also read your blog because as a beginning blogger myself I like to see how you put everything together. The photo collages are especially nice.
    Kay

  2. You are so lucky to have so many beautiful gardens to tour so close to home. That goat in the first video is a handsome dude.

  3. I loved the goat, he was awesome! I would love to be able to visit all the gardens you have visited. I loved the beautiful melodies of the birds in the video as well. Im almost jealous 🙂

  4. I have been very busy lately too. I do have one garden that I want to visit here in North Carolina. It is called Winghaven. It was a private residence that has been turned into a public garden. The couple who built it were bird lovers like me. I hope to post on it soon. Carla

  5. I loved the garden audio! I am listening to the local spring birds now, as it is at last a clear sunny day. We've been having a cold rainy spring on this side of the pond, too, but all the better for the tulips.

    Thanks for the Anna Pavord video, if I were handier I'd definitely want to go to her talk.

  6. Hi Shirl, your black tulip is mesmerising. I hope you had a fruitful time at the talk. Have a great weekend. Btw, thanks for those nice blooms shown in your pictures.

  7. Hi Shirl, It's great to be back with you 🙂

    What a lovely, colourful post! How things change in just a few weeks, I'm guessing you were glad to see the back of all that snow.

    I love the first photo of the Tulip, such a dramatic colour! I also thoroughly enjoyed the video of your Cambo visit, what a beautiful place it is and hearing the birdsong was just so lovely and peaceful. I do hope you enjoyed the Anna Pavord talk last night.

    Taking a peek back at what I have missed, I must send many congratulations to your daughter for her wonderful achievement especially under such trying circumstances. I wish her the very best of happiness in her chosen career and very good health too!

  8. Look forward to hearing all about the talk Shirl. I treated myself to 'Bulb' as my Christmas present to myself – a great read and reference source. Grow some tulips but can never make my mind up about them – try as I do I am unable to appreciate their leaves. Sorry to hear that the nestbox is empty.

  9. Hello everyone, I hope you’ve all had a good weekend 😀

    Kay, thank-you 🙂 Sadly no further work has happened on this nest so it looks like it won’t go any further. However 😀 I hope you are enjoying the blogging world. I see you have lots of birds in your South Texas garden. You’ve some very nice photos too. Yes, I know what you mean about looking at how blogs are put together. I find that interesting too. The collages are perhaps a little time consuming to do but I do enjoy putting them together and they capture moments well as a group. All the best with your blog 😀

    Lisa, we are. I really should visit more of them too. Lol… I liked that goat too… makes a change from the pigs at Cambo too 😀

    Kelly, yes, that goat really stole the show from the birds didn’t it? It is wonderful that you can sit in the US and have virtual tours of gardens here and vice versa. I do enjoy seeing the birds and wildlife with you too 😀

    Carla, ah… (like here at the moment) I see your daughters will be keeping you busy. Sounds like the prom night was a great success. It is always extra special when private gardens become public but sometimes sad too don’t you think? A bird lover’s garden sounds good. Looking forward to reading about your visit there 😀

    Costas, thanks, glad you enjoyed them. I’ve some very special tulip ones to come this week. Need to get some ID’s for them first… if I can 😀

    Pomona, excellent I hoped everyone enjoyed it. Yes, I was forgetting you have a tulip focused blog. You have some brilliant photos there! Very nice. I was thrilled with some of the photos I captured at the tulip talk. I’ll post on them later on in the week. I need some ID’s first so I’ll be contact the garden again first. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Anna live. Hopefully you will get a chance one day too 😀

    Stephanie, thank-you, I forgot how nice it was. Sadly it didn’t come up again the next year. After Anna’s talk I see I have to be more patient with them. The talk was excellent and boy do I have some blooms to share later on in the week. I was thrilled with my photos. I need some ID’s first 😀

    Jan, it’s lovely to see you back. You’ve come back at the right time too perhaps. Gosh, I have colour aplenty for you this week 😉 Great to see you posting now too… I’ll be heading over with a comment soon. Yes, Cambo really has much to offer throughout the year. Thanks, I did enjoy the talk very much. I talked to her too 😀 Yes, daughter is on placement now (another thing she has to pass to complete this marathon first year) with another 3 weeks to go. Yippee… hopefully after this and her exam results she will be on to year two of four come September. Thanks so much for your good wishes 😀

    Anna, looking forward to telling about the talk and to sharing some 20 or so tulip photos! A festival of tulips indeed 🙂 Now, tulips have never really rated with me either until a couple of years ago. However, on cropping my photos ready for a posting later this week (I have another story first) I have been blown away by the variety of actual bloom shapes… what characters many have also. I am now a little smitten… I wonder if you will be too. Although by the time I post them I expect you will be getting ready to head to Malvern… have a brilliant time and say hello to everyone from me 😀 Yes, it is a pity about that nestbox when it looked so promising… however 😀

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