After being a course leader and lecturer in Horticulture at Nottingham Trent University for nearly 20 years I am now working on a new venture in Limousin, France. In our plant nursery and garden school we aim to carry on sharing our passion for horticulture and natural crafts.
Specialist subjects include plant science, propagation, plant identification, specialist traditional and modern pruning and maintenance techniques. We also teach greenwood crafts, weaving, stained glass art and other crafts using natural materials.
Asclepias sp. the ‘Butterfly Weed’
Asclepias are a genus of herbaceous perennials that originate from North America and are tolerant of heat, drought and cold so perfect for growing here in mid France.
They have many common names including ‘milk weed’ because the stems produce latex and ‘butterfly weed’ because the flowers are nectar rich and loved by butterflies as they help to sustain them through the dry summer months. They also produce copious amounts of pollen and each flower has an unusual mechanism for attaching a pair of pollen sacks to the legs of visiting bees. The flowers are followed by interesting seed pods containing numerous seeds embedded in a silky lining.
At Le Jardin Créatif on our Petite Pépinière we have two varieties; Asclepias ‘Deep Silky Red’ with its bright red/orange flowers and Asclepias incarnata ‘Carmine Rose’ with deep dusky rose flowers that have a vanilla scent.
A sunflower is the classic example – each individual disc floret has a single ovary and after pollination, each one develops a hard seed coat with a single seed inside, which you will recognise as sunflower seeds.
This half day workshop will cover basic growing techniques for a range of culinary and medicinal herbs and will also look at harvesting, drying, preserving and preparing herbs for teas, oils and preparations for natural skin care and well being, aromatherapy, potpourri, candles etc.
So many of our garden visitors have been stunned by our chicken wire Alliums that we have decided to put on some workshops so that you can come and make them.
To book a place on this course use the payment options below. This is a secure PayPal transaction but you do not need a PayPal account to use it. We will send you confirmation and further details when we receive your booking.
You will create your own lantern to take home with you (all materials for the willow lantern are included in the cost) Add your own battery powered or solar lights to create a unique and subtle outdoor light.
This half day course will teach you some basic willow weaving techniques through the creation of a hanging fatball bird feeder. These make great gifts and are an attractive garden feature.
