Thursday 20 June 2013

Feet and flowers

My chiropodist told me that I have the feet of a child and I was not made for work. Bless her! Didn't I always know that was the truth?

So to keep my increasing weight off my tender tootsies I'm giving the gardening a miss for a couple of days. I did go a bit OTT after visiting Gardeners' World Live at the NEC last week. There I saw the glamorous Mary Berry from the baking programme, Carol Klein from Gardeners' World and wildlife film maker Simon King.

But the real star of the show for me was the garden created by Birmingham City Council, called Enlightenment. It celebrates a brand new library opening in Birmingham this September. The garden was divided into four sections, each on a different book related theme. The first represents the library itself. The shape of the building, and its design of interlocking circles can be seen in the garden.
The next three sections were based around the works of Birmingham authors. The first was Benjamin Zephaniah, specifically his poem Nature Trail.
After that came a tribute to Tolkien. Lots of Lord of the Rings fans were posing for photos in front of this one!
The fourth section reflected the work of Annie Murray, the air raid shelter in the garden representing her novel Birmingham Blitz.
As you can see in the pictures, the edges of the gardens were all lined with books. Totally impractical, but very attractive I thought.

With the distractions of gardening, the French Open, and Wimbledon starting next week, I apologise again for not being around much in Blogland. Hope the sun is shining on you, wherever you are.


27 comments:

Teresa Ashby said...

Bless your tender tootsies!

What a wonderful thing to do - celebrating the new library with flowers! It all looks so beautiful - I think my favourite is the Tolkein garden, but then again they are all beautiful :-) x

Old Kitty said...

A floral representation of a new library!! My goodness!! There is a light at the end of this dark tunnel of library closures and bad weather! This is brilliant!!

Hope you put your feet up lots and lots this weekend, Joanne!!! Look after your feet now! Take care
x

Patsy said...

Wow, lovely garden - can see why it inspired you to overdo things! I especially like the first two pictures - great colour combinations.

Wendy's Writing said...

Walking round these garden shows is brilliant, Joanne - I went to Chelsea flowers show this year and Hampton Court last year - such lovely days out. Oh and just to keep you company, my doctor says I have ear canals the size of a child's (which is why they give me such problems on planes).

joanne fox said...

Teresa, the Tolkein garden was really popular but the whole garden was so lovely that I just kept walking round and round.

Old Kitty, you are absolutely right, it's great to have this exciting new library opening in the area. I can't wait to go inside after watching the building slowly evolve over the last couple of years.

Patsy, I really like the zingy orange and yellows too.

Wendy, sorry to 'ear about your ears! That must be really painful.

Kay G. said...

Lucky you, I have feet like Fred Flintstone.

Love the photos of the gardens at the Library, very imaginative.

joanne fox said...

Kay, I don't know that I ever noticed Fred Flintstone's feet - but I'll make a special effort to look at them next time he's on TV. x

Joanna said...

How lovely to celebrate these authors and their books in such a stunning way, and especially good to be able to pay tribute to a brand new library.

I wish I had your feet, Joanne. I have the gnarled, calloused feet of a shoeless one-hundred-year-old mountain cave dweller. Too many tight stilettos in my youth, I think. x

joanne fox said...

Joanna - oh dear! But what a vivid description of your feet!

Unknown said...

Thanks for posting these! The gardens were beautiful and I'm glad I got to see them if just through a photo :)

The trees have eyes! Lol. How charming and what a wonderful thing for them to do for a library celebration!

suzy doodling said...

Amazing pictures Joanne, hope your feet feel better. Put them up and get the strawberries and cream in the fridge ready. Enjoy the tennis.

joanne fox said...

Christi - welcome to my blog, and thanks for following. Those eyes were a little spooky actually!

Suzy - they're chilling in the fridge as I type. (Strawberries, not feet - although that sounds quite nice too!)

Talli Roland said...

Oh, wow - that's fantastic! I love it!

Thanks for the photos.

joanne fox said...

Hi Talli - nice to see you!

Jenny Woolf said...

Oh, this is brilliant. I so enjoy looking at modern garden design. Some people are able to make gardens which not only make onlookers think, but also look utterly beautiful. thank you for your photos.

joanne fox said...

Jenny, yes it was a very inspired (and inspiring) garden.

Unknown said...

The flowers are glorious. Shame you don't have smell-o-puter.

Suzanne Ross Jones said...

I have problems with my feet, so I sympathise and send hugs.

Gorgeous photos.

xx

joanne fox said...

Julie - I'm sure they will invent it one day!

Suzanne - ah, feet! I could write a book on them. In fact, that's an idea...

Unknown said...

Jo, I've just seen your lovely post! Your chiropodist is a wonderful lady. I've enjoyed seeing the gardens and hearing about Gardeners World, thanks for sharing. I'm guessing it's time now to put your feet up with a cup of tea and a book. Take care of your tiny feet, and you, rest and dream x

joanne fox said...

Thanks, Sharon. Gardens are often inspirational, aren't they (except when they're your own and all you can see is the weeding that needs to be done!)

Unknown said...

The idea I came up with was to try and not look at them as weeds. In my garden they just want to be flowers too and have almost succeeded, particularly in dandelion city near the front path.

joanne fox said...

Dandelions are very pretty really, especially the seed heads.

MorningAJ said...

I really liked the old library in Brum so I have mixed feelings on this one. It was an amazing building and always felt 'alive' when you went in (well, I thought so)

I just hope they find a use for it and don't demolish it.

joanne fox said...

Morning AJ, I don't know what's planned for the old building. I'll have to look into it, now you've made me curious!

Denise Covey said...

What gorgeous flower pictures Joanne.

Lovely to hear you're going to link my post next post of yours too!

Denise

joanne fox said...

Denise - it is the very next thing on my list (after lunch, anyway!)