Happy Easter!!!

A lovely, peaceful happy Easter to you all!!!

EXCITING NEWS!!! {See you at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show!!!}

I AM SOOO EXCITED TO SHARE THE GOOD NEWS! 

The garden I co-designed with the lovely Carolyn Dunster of Simply Roses for the amazing 

Katie's Lymphoedema Fund 

has been approved by the RHS - Royal Horticultural Society and it will see the light this Summer in occasion of the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show!

Photos & Updates will be shared soon here and on all our Social Media Platforms. 

More info & links:

www.rhs.org.uk/…/gard…/katies-lymphoedema-fund-katies-garden

www.katieslymphoedemafund.co.uk

 www.simplyroses.com

Seed of Love 2016 - The winners!

Wow... it seems yesterday that the much-waited international edition of SOL-Seed Of Love 2016 was inaugurated...and is already time to draw the winners! :) 

Once again I have no enough words to thank the incredible Isabelle of A Little Bit Of Paradise for organising and managing all, and for the incredible community of garden-lovers from all over the world she drawn together in those 4 years! Thanks Isabelle!

Going back to the draw, it is always a shame not being able to award everyone who take part... but here we are... the time has come!

Congratulations to: 

Judith and Carine - Number 43 and 143 - who win Digitalis lutea

Claudine+Michael and Delphine - Number 97 and  145 - who win Nigella damascena 'Persian Rose'

Gitte - Number 91 - who wins Bupleurum rotundifolium 'Graffithi'

Cecile - Number 3 - who wins Centaurea cyanus 'Black Ball'

Evelyn and  Sylvie - Number 20 and 46 - who win Consolida ajacis 'Dark Blue'

Double congratulations to Cori - Number 60, that thanks to Random.org wins both the Bupleurum rotundifolium 'Graffithi' and the Centaurea cyanus 'Black Ball'

Thanks to all participants...and see you next year! :)

P.S. This month I received an incredible amount of friendships request on my personal Facebook page and I thank you so much for your interest and your requests, they are much appreciated! However I don't share much on my personal page, and the little I do is mostly family/life/faith related.  I would recommend to visit and follow my public business page instead,  Mercurelli's Garden Design, where I share lots of pics and info on gardens, garden shows, plants and competitions! :D 

You can find the link above or here. You can also follow me on Twitter and Pinterest  for updates!)

Seed of Love 2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I am very excited to start the new year taking part to the 'Seed Of Love 2016' exchange, organised by the wonderful Isabelle.

If you are a reader of this blog, you might already know that I LOVE productive, multifunctional gardens, and therefore this year I have been trilled to be involved in 3 projects including the design of a Cutting Garden area.

This little seed selection reflect few of my favourite plants for cutting gardens, as gorgeous in the border among perennials as well indoor on your dining table.

Enjoy! :)

{Digitalis lutea, here with Lupinus 'Chandelier', Gladiolus trusts, Milium effuse 'Aureum' , Euphorbia sp.}

Digitalis Lutea
Made recently very popular by Luciano Giubilei and his latest Best In Show garden at Chelsea. Gorgeous cream colour, loves a semi-shaded, well drained soil and is a great addition to woodlands, cottage gardens, wildlife heavens :)

{Nigella damascena 'Persian Rose' - photo from here}

Nigella damascena 'Persian Rose'.
One of the easiest to grow. Perfect quick filler, lovely flowers followed by very attractive seed-heads that last months once dried.

{Bupleurum rotundifolium ‘Graffithii' - image from SarahRaven.com}

Bupleurum rotundifolium 'Graffithi'
Perfect filler for the border as well for the vase. Discovered Great Dixter for the first time...and deeply in love since. Very useful annual loving sunny, well drained soils.

{Centaurea cyanus 'Black Ball' - image from mygarden.org}

Centaurea cyanus 'Black Ball'
Dark crimson -almost black- flowers, easy to grow and loved by wildlife <3 Appreciate sunny, well drained soils. Gorgeous seedheads.

{Consolida ajacis 'Dark Blue' - image from pd4pic}

Consolida ajacis 'Dark Blue'
Tall, annual delphinium which can last up to 10 days in a vase . A must in English/Cottage/Romantic gardens!

PS S.O.L rules and FAQ can be found here.

Cheeriooo!

The best plant for Autumn!

Among my favourite plants for the end of Autumn, Nerines have always had a special place in my hearth and I very often include them in my planting plans. They often start flowering in September, and the last flowers last up to November. Nerine bowdenii 'Zeal Giant',  N. bowdenii 'Ella K' and the candid Nerine bowdenii alba are on top of my list, but I am always looking for more varieties to include in the schemes.

I was therefore delighted to find at RHS Wisley Garden a small exhibition of the genere, featuring common and more unusual varieties. 

Those are the 3 that caught my attention:

{Nerine bowdenii 'Quest'}

Nerine bowdenii 'Quest' with a stunning and rich lavender/purple colour, would fit the most romantic of the planting palettes.

{Nerine bowdenii 'Catlin'}

The stunning, candid Nerine 'Catlin' is very similar to N. bow. alba, but considerably taller.

Wouldn't be lovely to plant it in rows near a path in your front garden, and enjoy it everytime you are back home?

{Nerine sarniensis 'Berlioz'}

And eventually, a little firework for your garden, Nerine sarniensis 'Berlioz', a fantastic splash of colour in your late-Autumn garden. I can see it beautifully with the last Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' of the season, in drifts among grasses turning gold, and near Cornus sanguinea in its Autumnal vest.

And you? Have you got a favourite Autumnal plant which is not a tree or a shrub? 

I would love to hearing from you!

Bisous, 

Noemi

PS. If your garden is starting looking a bit 'Blah'... don't panic and go to have at look at the most lovely plants flowering in December! There is still time to surprise the family! ;)

I am in Bergamo!

I am soo excited to be back in Bergamo (Italy) for I Maestri Del Paesaggio' (The Masters of the Landscape), organisd by Arketipos.

Here a little peak of Piazza Vecchia (turned in Piazza Green for the event). 

Follow me on Twitter (@mercurellis) for more updates!

Mysteries revealed!

Hello there, 

I cannot believe that has been 5 months since the last time I wrote on this beloved blog and I am very excited to be back!

But what has led me from writing weekly posts to make a appearance every now and then, mostly on bi-monthy basis?

Well...the secrets are now out... so grab a cup tea and a slice of your favourite cake...and enjoy the reading!

1) BESTIQUE'S BIG DREAM

{Hornbeam wath in the Flower Garden, leading to a Bespoke Glasshouse}

If, when I was a design student, they would have told me that within two years I would have worked with Anoushka Feiler, one of my favourite British designers, I would have laughed hard...
...but here we are!

As anticipated in one of the previous posts, immediately after the GROW London experience I had the pleasure to start working at Bestique... and in the last months the entire studio has been involved in the planting and logistic of 'The Big Dream', an amazing 3 acres private garden designed by Anoushka and due to completion this Summer. I lost count of the perennials already planted since March.... but we must be now in the reason of 30.000+ without counting shrubs and trees! You can see some of my favourite shoots below and read more about the garden here and here, on Bestique Blog.

{A view of the Flower Garden. You can spot the Woodland Treehouse in the back}

{Water rill crossing the Flower Garden beds}

{The log path in the Woodland Garden, next to the Treehouse. One of my favourites!}

{The Treehouse and its surroundings immediately after planting...you should see it now!}

{A detail of the Treehouse} 

{The Laburnum pergola in the Fire Garden}

{Candle niche in the Fire Garden - another of my favourite details!} 

{Another view of the Flower Garden, leading to the Natural Swimming Pond}

{Our Wedding Day! - Photo by SeleneFarci.com}

2) AND YES.....I GOT MARRIED!!!

As you might have spotted on Twitter, I got married in Sardinia, where I come from,
in a sunny and glorious day of April...

...and despite all my best intentions there has been no way to conciliate the previous point and the planning of our Italian wedding (in just 9 months and 1000+ miles away) with blog writing :) 

More photos and details on that amazing days will be shared soon!

{Photo by SeleneFarci.com}

3) THIRD MYSTERY...NOT YET!

{Photo Credit:technobuffalo}

And the 3rd and last mystery....I am sorry...but it will remain a mystery at least until the end of the year...but I promise it will definitively be revealed within January 2016. 

The only thing I can say for now is that involve a collaboration with the wonderful Carolyn of Simply Roses and that we hope that everyone will be able to enjoy and visit this 'Mystery' in Spring 2016.

That's all for the moment! I leave you to one of the most exciting time of the gardening year, with the Chelsea Fringe (officially started yesterday!) and the opening of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in just 2 days time! 

Cheerio!

Noemi