Values, Mr Darcy and hellebore love.

Time, flowers, art and ceramics.

Hello my floral friends, how are you? This week has been a bit all over the place, I don’t even have the excuse of small children anymore but for some reason this half term has thrown me slightly. As I nestled into my favourite table to write I noticed two sets of children on either side, actually it was hard not to notice as they were running around, falling over and wailing at the top of their voices. Now mine never did that, I sit and wonder what’s changed. Maybe it’s because I was a single parent so there was never any of this playing off against the other nonsense, sometimes I think it was my voice that carried an authoritative manner (I was a college lecturer). And I didn’t believe in the naughty step or trying to talk calmly to them like I’m having a conversation with another adult. I just treated them like my kids and they seemed to get it. Feel free to unfollow if I ever offend by the way. Anyway what does this has to do with gardens… Happy thoughts, move away from the coffee shop and back to the greenhouse.

This week I’ve been continuing to help a friend in her shop and she very kindly gave me some left over snowflakes (shown above) so I’ve been planting them down the garden and praying the deer and squirrels leave them be. I’ve also been sowing my sweet peas- a variety called Cathy from Chiltern Seeds, that have long stems and strongly scented flowers in creamy shades, they are gorgeous! I also managed to squeeze in a walk early in the morning at Wrest Park (pics below) where the sun actually felt warm on my dark jeans and the scent of freshly mown grass made it feel like spring is on the cards, thank goodness for that! The gardens there are gently coming to life and the hellebores were one of my favourite things from this trip. Despite being a gardener I hate muddy walks so Wrest park is perfect for it’s neat paths and while I’m there I can pretend I’m Elizabeth Bennet (all be it 20 years older) although sadly Mr Darcy has never surfaced from the lake in all the time I’ve been visiting, nor has Anthony from Bridgerton despite a lot of the scenes being filmed there. Anyway, where was I again… Hellebores. Worth the investment and they are an investment, especially if you buy them now from a garden centre. I find Hayloft has been reasonable in the past. Hellebores though, once you have them will multiply and when they get bigger you can divide them up and make more plants. They are my favourite winter flower and I have a beauty in a sheltered spot that started blooming early Jan. When using hellebores as a cut flower you want to cut a mature bloom from the plant, you can usually tell because the pollen has started to drop, these stems are far stronger. Stand them in a tall vase filled with water over night and arrange and keep somewhere cool, they will not thank you for being near central heating. Mix them with stems of winter honeysuckle and catkins. Instead of cutting them I prefer to plant a small plant in an urn, cover with moss and then shove the twigs in for support and interest, you’ll get longer enjoyment from it too.

Right now I’m back in my pottery studio making huge teacups and botanical inspired vases. I have a new collection launching and some exciting news which I hope to share with you soon. I’m also painting a lot in preparation for my solo exhibition in October.

Oil on canvas- ready for solo exhibition. 3rd-7th Oct at The Aldeburgh Gallery.

As I was driving to the coffee shop this morning to write this post I was listening to the Laura Horn Art podcast. I can’t even remember what she was talking about but there were a few words out of a sentence that intrigued me, it was something like ‘how much bandwidth’. It struck me that this was an interesting way of describing modern day life- How much bandwidth do we have, in our lives, in our careers, for ourselves and friends/families. An image of my iPhone storage bar popped in my head (mine is always full to the brim with photos). My metaphorical bandwidth seems overloaded right now, should I buy more storage… No, let’s just asses stuff and make some changes. This made me think of values. Do you know what you value? I mean truly value. I’ll tell you mine- right at my core, the most important thing I value is my freedom. My husband jokes about my mercurial nature but understands and supports my need for it. I need freedom in my days, a blank canvas. I’m really dedicated to my biggest loves- my friends/family, my home and garden, my art/ceramics and my flowers and photography, I love having the freedom to choose where to prioritise that day. It might be making mugs, writing newsletters, setting up photo shoots or housework. The only things that get scheduled are appointments, clients and catch-ups with friends. If my freedom is taken away i’m actually less productive. Next on my list is creativity, I’m a curious creative and need to tackle everything in a creative way, I live to make the world around me as creative and beautiful as I can and I love helping people be more creative in their everyday. And lastly it’s nurture - time with friends and family, helping my daughters. Nurturing health, relationships, time. My three values support each other and overlap. And when I’m sensible I’ll listen to them before I make decisions- Will this fit with my values?

If you can’t think of yours then maybe take half an hour with a gorgeous notebook and a cup of whatever you fancy and just sit for a while and think about what truly matters to you. Maybe it’s love or money, or like mine you might value freedom or creativity. I invite you to sit in peace and ponder over it, see if you can come up with three. Then when you want to take on your scary, you can ask yourself this- will this thing/adventure/change- fit with my values?

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Hope you enjoy the coming weekend. I’m off to Suffolk on Saturday to soak up the vast sky and gather inspiration for some paintings. Let’s hope the rain holds off.

Emma x