First Day at Harlow Carr

 I arrived in Harrogate on Saturday after an epic 8 hour train journey.  I was met at the train station by my housemate Maria who is a language assistant from Spain who is here to help teach English students Spanish.  Upon arriving at our house she made me dinner made of traditional Spanish food her brother brought her from Spain(pictured right).  It was very tasty!  Today was my first day at Harlow Carr, I got my introduction then it was off to work.  I was working with the woodland team today.  The woodland team had a guest come in to show them how to make some rough wood projects and charcoal.  We made stools, mallets, and my favorite flowers.  I made two flowers and brought them home to my housemates.  It was a lot of fun to work with the wood creating projects with hand tools.  Pictured below is me sitting at the work horse making a flower and the finished project.   

The Lost Gardens of Heligan

On Friday Jane and I went and visited the Eden Project Nursery and the Lost Gardens of Heligan.  The nursery is a large facility with lots of space to grow plants for all of the biomes as well as to support all of their projects.  The lost Gardens of Heligan were amazing.  The gardens were lost after the first world war when the gardeners were taken away from the garden by war.  The gardens were rediscovered and restored to their Victorian times.  These gardens celebrate the gardener rather that the family who owned the estate.  We saw the camellias and rhododendrons coming out.  They had an amazing fruit and vegetable garden which I really enjoyed.  In the picture of me standing under the arch the arch is made of trained apple trees how amazing.  It was one of my best garden visits so far.  Also I wanted to show you the baby roulrouls that have recently been born in the tropical biome.  The picture below shows the mother and father with two of their chicks. 

Pests, Planting, and the Pub

 I've had a great start to my last week here at the Eden project.  We did a pest and disease check in the rain forest biome.  We walked around checking at risk plants or plants that have been known to have issues before.  It was amazing how many different pests we found.  A record of all pests is made and then biological controls are ordered and introduced into the biome.  This week in the med biome we were replanting part of California with a wildflower mix.  Last night we went to the pub for a goodbye party.  We went to a pub right by the sea.  It was a lovely view out the pub window.  A bunch of coworkers and I went to the pub after work for a night out.  Today at work I went on the sky walk above the tropical biome.  This once again tested my fear of heights.  The walk swayed a little as we walked to the top but the views were incredible from up there.

Saint Michael's Mount

Sunday I caught the first train down to Penzance which is pretty close to St. Ives; it took just over an hour by train.  When I got there I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  See Saint Michael's Mount.  The tourist center was just outside the train station so I stopped in and talked to them; they said I could easily walk there along a coastal path.  So I set off down the 2.75 mile path to Marazion where it was located.  The wind coming off the water so it was almost hard to breath.  There were tons of wind surfers out along the coast taking full advantage of the windy conditions.  Once I made it to Marazion you can catch a boat across or there is a causeway through the sea which you can walk across when the tide is low.  I should have said already that Saint Micheal's Mount is a castle located on an island just off the coast at Marazion.  Unfortunately I got there just as the tide was coming in and didn't want to risk getting caught half way across in the water so I decided it was probably safer by boat.  For 2 pounds fare I got a choppy boat ride over to the island.  I was kind of concerned as I was walking there that the water might be to rough to make it across but it is the sea.  Once I got across I checked out the causeway path which was nearly entirely covered with water by now.  I bought my ticket to tour the castle and did that unfortunately the gardens were closed but I managed to get a look and some pictures peering over the castle walls which I wouldn't particularly recommend.  It made me a bit sick to my stomach.  Climbing up the mount to the castle was a rugged path.  Walking up I got to see the battlements and cannons outside of the castle which was amazing.  The castle itself was filled with some interesting historical artifacts like weapons, maps, and furniture.  The views out over the sea and back to shore were amazing from atop the castle.  After viewing the castle I walked around the grounds and by that time they were informing people they were closing the island early.  The winds were expected to pick up and they were concerned about getting off the island.  After hearing that I joined the long line of people waiting to get off the island.  Finally I made it on the boat and I thought the waters were rough on the way over the trip back was worse.  I was clinging to the seat, we were in a boat about the size of a large fishing boat, and you could see the waves coming towards the boat looking like they were going to splash right in.  The boat driver pictured below had not even a shred of doubt on his face which was slightly reassuring.  I wanted to kiss the ground when we made it back to shore.  I probably only in the boat for about 10 minutes but it seemed like forever.  After making it back to shore it was getting late and I had enough adventure for the day so I headed back for the train.  It was an amazing adventure well worth it. 

Boconnoc: Cornwall Spring Flower Show

 Today was the Cornwall Garden Societies spring flower show held at the Boconnoc estate.  Jane the lady I am staying with here in Cornwall took me to the show.  It took us about 20 minutes by car and we were there.  It was a nice sunny day in Cornwall so everybody was at the show checking out the show.  First we checked out the displays that gardeners and gardens entered into the competition.  The largest display was the daffodil competition because the daffodils start so early in the warm climate here.  Other displays included camellias, magnolias, herbaceous, and shrubs.  There were also competitions for floral art which had some really interesting and pretty designs, a few display gardens like you would see at Chelsea but not as fancy, and photography.  The main part of the show is all of the local nurseries bring out their plant socks to the grounds to sell to all the garden enthusiasts.  For lunch Jane and I had traditional Cornish pasties of Cornish beef, potatoes, and carrots.  They were traditionally eaten by miners of the area because they were easily edible because they don't fall apart.  Also as a snack before we left we picked up a Cornish ice cream cone which we got with the chocolate flake which is a stick/roll of chocolate stuck in the cone (yummmyyyy!!).  It was the perfect weather for a flower show and seeing this lovely estate made it even better. 

Mediterranean Biome

The rest of my week was spent in the Mediterranean biome.  My time was spent doing basic gardening jobs like weeding, watering, fertilizing, and dead heading.  Most of my time was spent in the California section which was a lot of fun.  Also below is a picture of the bouquets that were made by the flower fairies which are for the wedding this weekend which is being held in the Mediterranean biome.  They have a magnificent tulip display in the biome right now as well as a cut flower display which I tidied up on Thursday.  It was a fun end to the week.

Temporary Display: Flower Fairies

 Today was spent with the temporary display team aka the flower fairies.  The day was incredibly varied which made for a great experience.  We started out watering the display they had set up in one of the events the garden is putting on now for Easter break called freaky nature.  After watering this display we went around the garden and watered some of their other displays like the muscari on the tables outside the restaurant.  Right now the Mediterranean biome has a lovely display of tulips and at the entrance to the garden they put some of the cut tulips to give the public a taste of what they can expect to see.  We also replaced the display in the foundation building which is the main office building for the garden.  We went around the garden and collected pittosporum and narcissus to fill the vases.  There is going to be a wedding at the garden this weekend and the flower fairies offer their services to the couples to put together their bouquets.  A delivery of flowers arrived today and we got the flowers cleaned up and ready for assembly.  It was a day full of fun and interesting activities.