I went to a technical conference with the Society of Garden Designers last week, this being a new initiative for them, the first covering many aspects of trees, from drought tolerance to urban history; place making and legalities. The event was held at Kew Gardens and chaired by Tony Kirkham – Head of Arboretum.
To finishing the day Tony talked and walked us around some interesting trees in the gardens.
We were lucky to get a sneak preview of The Hive, a sculpture by Wolfgang Buttress the sculpture officially opens to the public on the 18th June 2016.
The Hive is an aluminium lattice work sculpture that was originally designed for the 2015 Milan Expo and set within a wildflower meadow reflects the activity within a real time bee hive. The intensity of the bee’s activity is measured by vibration sensors within the hive and reflected by sound and light emissions within the 17 metre high sculpture.
The sculpture will hope to spread awareness of the importance of bees as pollinators and how this directly affects us.
Just one of the roles bees play affects our food crops, with the 100 crop species that provide 90% of food worldwide, 70 are pollinated by bees.
The Hive will remain at Kew Gardens until the end of 2017.
I’m looking forward to a proper visit!
A.
January 2016
Landscapers:
We are looking for experienced full-time landscapers to to join the team of a small but expanding landscaping firm based in the Bath, Bristol, Wiltshire and Cotswolds areas. The right candidate would work on an employed basis (starting as soon as possible). Sub-contracts would also be considered. Must have a means of travel and clean driving licence would be helpful. May be required to work independently on landscaping projects for private and commercial clients.
As well as being a skilled landscaper with a good knowledge of garden construction techniques; a desire to please our clients in the work that you do, with a strong work ethic, a keen eye for detail and the ability to provide excellent customer service will be essential.
References required. For more information, drop us an email. Or call Andy on 07967 326636
Landscape estimator:
We require the services of a landscape estimator who would join us on a project basis. Projects would be of various sizes.
The right candidate would:
Take responsibility for managing the tender/estimating process to include preparation of accurate and competitive costs for submission to potential clients, within agreed timescales.
Drive forward and refine the effectiveness of our delivery processes and by doing so maintain project profitability. You will have a commercial focus and ensure the forecasting and budgeting process is accurate.
You would work collaboratively with the Director to ensure that our quotes and subsequent projects are of the highest quality.
For more information, drop us an email. Or call Andy on 07967 326636
Great copper rill
July 2014
BlueSky Landscapes is hiring again!
We are looking for an experienced landscaper to work on a project basis (starting immediately) for a small landscaping firm based in the Bath, Bristol, Wiltshire and Cotswolds areas. Must have own vehicle and some tools would be useful. May be required to work independently on landscaping work for private customers.
References required. For more information, drop us an email.
———————
June 2013
Part-time help required for a small garden design & landscaping business working in Bath and the surrounding areas (office located in Frome, Somerset).
We need someone to join us that is very organised and that can manage the diary of the Managing Director and schedule landscaping works and ongoing maintenance contracts.
- Some book-keeping may be required (on Xero, a very user friendly package).
- Some marketing may be required in the form of managing the contacts database and social media.
- Other general office duties would also be required.
Please get in touch if you think you can help.
P.S. We are always on the lookout for skilled landscapers or gardeners…Drop us a line for a chat.
Ah man,
what was once the domain of the gentle folk to potter and ponder is now in danger of attracting itself to that sector of society with a fixed wheel racing bike, a digital device by the windowsill that tells them what the weather is like outside and a t.v that covers one wall.
We have to whisper really quietly now because what I have just discovered must not get into the hands of the wrong people…
This is the Parrot ‘flower power’. This little techie gem when placed next to your plant/s will report back to your smart phone on the sunlight, soil moisture, temperature and fertilizer surrounding that plant.
Used indoors or outdoors the ‘flower power’ talks to your phone via bluetooth and sends push notifications (if you turn them on) to you via a dedicated app containing a plant library of over 6000 plants to inform users of the health of their plant/s.
The device comes in two colours (emerald and wood) and is said to have a 6 month battery life.
As yet there is no release date or price but I for one have signed up for one!
The developers have said they will be exploring ‘eco geek’ products in 2013 marking a ‘new field of discovery’ for the company.
Check out the demo (turn the volume down, you’ll see what I mean!) on you tube to see for yourself.
Am I TOO excited about this?
AD.
Info also obtained from http://www.t3.com/news/parrot-flower-power-monitor
Season’s Greetings and a Happy New Year from all of us at BlueSky Landscapes!
Hi all,
Welcome to my new site, I hope it delivers all the information that you need and is easily navigated. There are a few things that we are still ironing out but on the whole we’re really pleased with it and excited about communicating our latest projects to you, along with anything exciting happening in the Landscape architecture and garden world.
Any constructive feedback welcome.
Please go to www.facebook.com/blueskylandscapes or @amdDesign to see up to the minute posts on exciting international design.
Out for now! AD
ps. A massive thanks to the lovely Jen from Maple & Rose for helping me with this!
For my first post of 2012 I’d like to share an art installation by London based Israeli artist Zadok Ben David. In his work ‘Blackfield’ he has taken plant illustrations from Victorian botanical drawings and replicated them in steel.
With exacting detail 12,000 miniatures bedded in sand make up one immense sculpture that as the title would suggest appears all black, but as one views the sculpture from another angle it reveals another exquisitely colourful side.
Images sourced from Colossal
You may also like from the same artist ‘Leftovers‘ and ‘Sunny Moon‘
Enjoy, A.
I’d like to show you an office that we built in collaboration with David Gumbleton. It is designed and built from scratch specifically for the client. It is fully insulated and fitted with electrics and heating, is clad with red cedar and sits on an iroko deck; it even has a green sedum roof to blend into the stunning landscape beyond. This garden is an ongoing project for us and I may refer to it as we create more features and the design comes into fruition. But for now now I’d like to use it as a spring board to share a few of my favourite garden offices and modular buildings:
Before
After
Here are a few that I like the look of:
I just love this Mini House by Jonas Wagell, I’m not even sure why. I think it is the simplicity: it’s both clean and raw.
I’ve put this ‘Micro-Pod’ in because space is such an issue these days and these guys have created a great contemporary little office in a space about the size of a small garden shed
This Office-Pod again isn’t going to rob you of too much space and I like the very modern feel.
If you didn’t already go out this weekend and buy your Christmas tree and are excited to kick off the Christmas celebrations, then I’m going to refer you back to my blog post – To Tree or Not To Tree…? Here I give a little history of the Christmas tree and look at a couple of alternatives to the cut tree such as buying a tree in a pot that can be used year after year and collecting holly and ivy for the home.
This is my tree – I'm getting in there early with the decorations this year !
Here are some fun alternatives:
The retro-vintage American aluminum Christmas tree
Chicken feather tree !!
Book Tree
Cute little shaddow tree
Environmentally-sound (and avant-garde) alternative to the living Christmas tree by Phoebe Washbone
This won’t fill the room but I love this little fella
Then of course you need the accessories!
