Green Leaf Day

What a week - a dead computer and temperatures which suddenly shot into the nineties. Two weeks ago we were at 13° C - that's 55°F - and seven days later it was 34°C/93°F with about 80% humidity. Nothing strange for this time of year, but a shock when it changed so suddenly.

I just flaked and did the minimum possible. Big mistake. While I was taking tepid showers the red spider mite came back with a vengeance. They hadn't seemed so great a problem this year, but they'd just been biding their time. And as soon as the hot weather struck - so did they. Egged on it seems by a host of other pests and fungus diseases, all of which had been under control up to that point.

So I've been pulling off dead leaves, misting and (as minimally as possible) spraying. But I don't think I'm winning, and the balcony is looking deciding straggly in comparison to a while back.

Which brings me to the real topic of this post. Emma at A Nice Green Leaf has suggested that today we mark the half way point of the year by posting not about what's blooming in our gardens, but to celebrate the foliage - the greenery which sets everything off. I'd been looking forward to joining in and showing off the glossy green of my dahlias, the giant spotted leaves of my leopard lily, the cream and green stripes of my spider plants.... but it's gone, all gone. Or at least far tattier than you'd want to see.

However, one of the (few) advantages of balcony garden is that trees are at eye level. We're lucky in that the house is surrounded by trees of different kinds including some which think are European Limes. Most of them line the alley way which leads into the garden, and as you come through the gate in summer the temperature and the humidity drop amazingly. But there is one just off my balcony which I think of as "my" tree.

The trees are lopped back every two or three years. Immediately afterwards they seem so sad - but by the end of the first summer they've grown back, although not enough to stop the sun beating full down on us. By the second year they're towering over the garden again. If they've left a third year, this one extends its branches right onto the balcony, and its a year when I know I can choose shade loving plants for the far corner.

So today I thought I'd celebrate my tree, and went out with my camera. And just after I'd taken the photo above, the breeze got up and there was too much movement for any more still shots. So here's a video. Green leaves swaying in the wind. And all at eye level. As I said, one of the advantages of a balcony. Sorry about the background noise - it must have been the wind, though it doesn't sound like it. But enjoy the birds singing ...

Lavender's blue?

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly ... No it isn't. Or at least it can be. But it can also be white. Or yellow. Or pink. Or even lavender.

I came across this lot yesterday when we took a walk in the park to enjoy the longest evening of the year. The temperatures had suddenly shot up - we went from 13°C last Saturday to 31°C this - a ridiculous difference which left us all gasping for air like beached goldfish. So it was a relief to get out in the evening when the sun went down and a slight breeze picked up.

In the park, the lavender was in full bloom and the bees had clearly decided to work the nightshift to make the most of it. There were loads of them, all of different kinds - encouraging given all the recent tales of colony collapse disorder. I tried to convince a few of them to stay still long enough for me to get a close up, but they weren't having any and I came home with about thirty photos of a purple blur with a brown and yellow blob somewhere in the middle.

But it was glorious, and so was the smell. Lavender looks best in a mass, which is why I've always shied away from having it on the balcony. But I'm starting to wonder whether next year it wouldn't be worth dedicating one of the larger containers to it.

I think this was Lavandula latifolia, but I'm not 100% sure. There is a hybrid, known as Lavandin, of Lavandula latifolia and Lavandula angustifolia (English lavender) and it may have been that.

Lavender likes a moderately poor and well-drained soil - too much water will result in root rot. It's originally a Mediterranean plant and loves the sun, but many varieties are hardy in much cooler temperatures - like Britain for instance. It was introduced to Britain by the Romans, who used it to perfume their baths - hence the name, which derives from the Latin lavare, meaning to wash.

And if this has started you thinking, like me, that maybe you do have room for a lavender bush somewhere, just find a friendly neighbour who already has some. It's propagated easily by cuttings, taken at the end of the summer. Check out this article from the RHS site which explains how.

Bedroom Shelves

elfa® Home Storage - Platinum & White

Put elfa® Easy Hang Shelving to work in your office to maximize space and create smart storage.

elfa® Girl's Room - White

With limitless possibilities and easy installation, elfa® is our most popular storage solution. A wide variety of components and finishes can transform your child's area into an efficient study and play area - making use of ever-important wall space

elfa® Shelving Unit - White

The experts at The Shelving Store have the cure for all your storage dilemmas. Toy with a wide variety of shelving possibilities that will help you take control of clutter in your child's room.

elfa® Boy's Room - Platinum & White

elfa® is simply smart when it comes to organizing your child or teenager's room. Our strong Solid Shelves provide storage space for all of his trophies, books and treasures, right above a spacious desk top that's perfect for studying or playing on the computer.

Bathroom Shelves

Find decorative and creative ideas for bathroom shelves and solve bathroom storage problems

Are you tired of leaving your toothpaste, makeup, soap, and everything else in the bathroom balanced precariously on the edge of the sink?

Do you get annoyed with the lack of useful shelving in your bathroom?


A lot of people overlook the need for extra bathroom shelves, and it always seems cluttered as a result.
Bathrooms are a central room in your home, and they need proper decorative shelves and storage shelves just like anywhere else. There are a lot of creative, decorative shelving solutions available to enhance your bathroom, giving it a more ordered look while providing you with not only extra storage space but also great ways to display vases, pretty bottles, bowls, figurines and other objects that will add beauty to your bathroom.


Most bathrooms aren't all that big, so when adding shelving to the bathroom you have to really measure carefully and whatever you do, don't overdo it. Just one bathroom shelf unit, or one set of bathroom wall shelves is usually as much as you can normally add to a bathroom. Even if you have more space to add glass bathroom shelves or other bathroom shelving, think twice. If you put in too much your bathroom will feel crowded and uncomfortable.

When considering bathroom shelves, think creatively about where to put them. We've found decorative bathroom shelves as well as bathroom storage shelves that are designed to fit into every nook and cranny of your bathroom. You can find shelves designed to fit above the toilet (but mounted on the floor, not the wall) as well as shelves for under the sink, around the mirror, and in the corners.


There are glass bathroom shelves, wood bathroom shelves, and also metal bathroom shelves to meet your taste, as well as your needs.

If you are interested in wall-mounted bathroom shelves, take into account the type of wall you have. If you have bathroom tiles on the wall, you must have the proper drill bits so you won't crack the tiles when you drill the holes.

Wood bathroom shelves are very nice, and certainly a step up from plastic ones. Take into account, however, that wood bathroom shelves need to be finished and sealed properly. Exposed wood in a humid area, like a bathroom with a steamy shower, will become moldy, and a health risk. Get shelves that are rated for bathroom use.

Kitchen Wall Shelving

Adding On Wall Shelves and Storage In Your Kitchen

If you're interested in adding additional shelving into your kitchen, you can either mount more shelves on available wall space, or buy a floor-standing unit. If you want to add on wall-mounted shelves, you should take a lot of things into consideration before you begin drilling holes:

Location Of Shelves

This is really important. You don't want the shelves to get in the way of any kitchen appliances, doors, or windows. Also, if the shelves are mounted in that space can anyone (especially taller people) bump into them accidentally?

Accessibility

If you mount shelves in that location, will you be able to easily get whatever you plan on storing on the shelves? How often will you need the items that will go on these shelves, and how important are they?

Type Of Walls

This is important for knowing how to properly mount the shelves. If the walls are brick or concrete, no problem! However, plasterboard walls are weaker, and mounting shelves that will hold heavy (and breakable) kitchen dishes on them is trickier.

Closeness to Stove Top

Not only could mounting shelves above a stove be a potential fire hazard, it can also become a grease trap.
Shelf Material
Not all shelf materials are necessarily good in the kitchen. Stainless steel shelves are easier to clean, but not as nice to look at as real wood.

What material goes with the rest of the kitchen decor?

Once you've taken all these factors into account, you are ready to make some decisions regarding kitchen wall shelving.
For some great stainless steel shelves that won't cost you an arm and a leg, take a look at this kitchen wall system which is fully adjustable, and it also provides hooks along the bottom for utensils.
If your looking for pantry shelving, it's important that it's light, flexible and strong. You don't want to be concerned, for example, that the shelves are not strong enough to hold a mixer or heavy food processor.

Kitchen Shelving

When The Shelves You Have Just Aren't Enough Space

You can double the size of your kitchen, and triple the amount of shelves you have, it still won't be enough. Kitchen shelves fill up, and there is no such thing as spare space in a kitchen. That's just the way it is.

A lot of kitchens that we've seen, even the larger ones, tend to have a lot of enclosed cabinetry, and not enough open shelf space. There might be enough shelves for the dishes,

but what about kitchen bookshelves for your cookbooks?

Not only do you need space for books, but also for microwaves,vases, displays, radios, wine bottles, and a whole lot more. This plus decorations is what turns a kitchen into a warm, friendly room that invites you and your family to spend more time in it.




Even people who don't cook a lot tend to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and it often becomes a warm, social area for interaction. In our home guests feel as comfortable in the kitchen as they do in our living room. By having open shelving strategically placed around the kitchen, we are able to display a nice collection of interesting bottles, all of our cookbooks, a few vases, and even some of our kid's art projects.

If you lack open kitchen shelf space, consider adding on either extra wall-mounted shelves, or choose from a wide variety of shelves and units that are designed specifically for the kitchen. These units come in a variety of designs, some with lots of open shelf space, some with drawers, and even some on wheels. They make handsome additions to any kitchen, and provide you with lots of extra space for holding books, artwork and more. Kitchen carts, buffets, sideboards, microwave stands and bakers racks are all designed to fit into available space in the kitchen, and provide you with additional surfaces for preparation, shelves for presentation and also drawers and baskets for storage purposes.

An Interview with Stuart of Blotanical

Many of you will already know Blotanical - the social networking site dedicated to gardening and garden blogs. It's a site where I spend a lot of time, and which has not only increased the number of visitors to the Balcony Garden, but which has also put me in touch with a number of people who I now think of as "virtual friends". So I was really pleased when Stuart Robinson, who runs the site, agreed to do answer a few questions about how Blotanical started and is likely to develop. Well, OK - they were more than a few. So I'm even more grateful. Thanks Stuart!

How was Blotanical born? What gave you the idea ? Did you envisage it developing as it has from the beginning or has it taken you by surprise?

Blotanical was really an upgrade from the Garden Blog Directory that I set up last year. The reason for the extension was because I wanted to give garden bloggers a place where they could easily form a community based on their location and gardening style. But the main reason for Blotanical was to show off all the gardening posts that existed as timely as possible. I found that I was trying to keep up with hundreds of them via Bloglines but this wasn't a very efficient way of reading through feeds as some posts were weeks old by the time I got to them while others had only just been updated. It meant that I missed out on conversations that I would have enjoyed being a part of. So, the solution was to merge all the feeds and have them in a list that showed some semblance of timeliness.

Blotanical was around for a while before it really took off. I remember registering, but then forgetting all about it for a time. And then suddenly everyone was talking about it and participating. What was the tipping point, do you think?

Two things really. The first was when Susan did a review of Blotanical through GardenRant. The review was well recieved and we picked up a few new garden bloggers who seemed to desire the same things I did (ie. being part of a community rather than just blogging solo). The second tipping point was when some people started accusing Blotanical of being too competitive. While it was never my intention to make Blotanical a competitive site, there did need to be some way of rewarding those who participated more regularly. Some people took umbrage against this and while I thought it may have been our downfall instead it became one of finest moments. Many bloggers stood up for Blotanical and we came out better for it.

I know that outside Blotanical you have a “real” job and a family. You also run a couple of blogs. How much of your time do the sites take up? And how much time is left for gardening? :)

Gardening? What's that? Yer, I don't get a lot of time to get out into the garden but that is mostly due to our current winter. Spring should see me out there more often and sleeping far less than the 5 hours I enjoy now. How much time does the sites take up? Basically I spend 2- 3 nights per week on them plus blogging time from 6-7:30 every morning (except Sunday - I, and the family, need a break) plus Wednesday's get pretty much a full day. I work 4 days per week as a Business Manager at a local Private College.

There are been lots of technical teething problems with the site recently which you always seem to remedy very quickly. Do you have a technical background? Where does the software for the site come from? Do you write it yourself or use ready-made packages?

Unfortunately, yes. There have been some teething problems which have mainly been related to the Picks. Everybody wants theirs working and while we are fast approaching 1000 blogs this makes it difficult to satisfy everyone's desires. Do I have a technical background? I learnt some basic HTML at University but then taught myself PHP, CSS, MySQL, a little Javascript and am learning XML at an exponential rate. Most of the code I have written myself but if there has been other code that I can garner which works better then I will go that direction. Websnappr.com now looks after all the thumbnails that you see on the screen, Google Maps runs the mapping side, SimplePie looks after the Picks and the rest runs on PHP/MySQL.

Blotanical is a social networking site, and as such is fuelled by active member participation. But in the past it’s seemed to me that that sometimes leads to people feeling that they “own” the site and have the right to control the way it develops. Has that been a problem for you? How do you draw the very fine line between giving people what they want and staying in control?

Interesting question Sue. For whatever reason some bloggers do take it upon themselves to share their frustrations regarding Blotanical and it's not always helpful. I can understand the frustration and wish that everything always worked all the time. Alas, it seems that life here on the web imitates life in general - sometimes the power does go out. Keeping members happy is my main goal with Blotanical so I'm always keen to get constructive feedback and here suggestions as inevitably it will make the site far better. But in the end, I've come to realise that you can't please everybody and some people just can't be pleased.

At the moment, one of the nicest things about the site is that the number of active members is small enough that everyone feels they know each other. But the list of members is growing daily. Do you foresee a point where the number of people participating will change the personality of the site? What would be the advantages and dangers?

I would hate to see the MySpace mentality creep in where some people had lists of Faved members totally 10,000+. In reality, we can only cope with networks of friends in the tens and twenties so a limit of 100 should be sufficient. I would hope that these communities would grow on Blotanical and make every member feel connected. Gardeners in the Blotanical community should always be able to forge inclusive relationships despite the growth of the site. My goals are to find better ways to highlight these types of relationships within Blotanical.

You’re constantly adding features and improvements to Blotanical. What’s in the pipeline for the near future?

I can't reveal too much but the Forums are soon to be completed (they've gone on hold while the Picks problems were being sorted out), the Blotanicals our own Garden Blogger awards are set to explode on 1 September and the Reviews facility is already well under way.

And how would you like to see the site develop in the next 5 or 10 years? Will there come a point where you say "OK, that's it. From now on it just ticks over and I move on to something else" ? Could you see yourself getting burnt out and fed up with it?

I certainly hope not. I love creating this site and I see a huge future ahead for Blotanical and for those who hang around long enough to see it unfold. I would love to be doing this full-time and am planning ahead to see this happen.
Some people have intimated that Blotanical might just be like other startups where they sell for millions after 2 years. Even if I was offered this I wouldn't take it because I treasure this as my 'baby' and look forward to seeing it all grown up and doing well - and I think this will probablt take 5-10 years at least.


What's the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to you about the site, or the nicest thing that's ever happened?

I think the loveliest thing is seeing these wonderful bloggers who support the site even when their traffic has halved or more because of some problem that we're having. These are the bloggers that I want to hang around with because they're patient and understanding. I hope Blotanical gets more and more of these people come on board but I'm thankful for those who are already here. They make Blotanical the site that it will become.

Modern Bedding gallery

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Modern Bedding 2

The Reece duvet set creates a contemporary and luxurious ambiance in any bedroom setting. This glamorous 3 piece set includes a duvet cover and 2 shams.

The Camilla Natural duvet set creates a rich and glamorous look in any bed it adorns. This three piece set which includes a duvet cover and two pillow shams is made of sewn silk dupioni with a 300 thread count reverse consisting of thousands of yarn dyed threads woven into tonal stripes creating a luxurious look and feel.

Embrace Spring, and let Ayanna embrace you. Its artful patterned floral motif is inspired by the lush flora of Parisian gardens. But the Ayanna duvet doesn’t stop there. It’s citrus color palette breathes elegance and an air of retro-modern playfulness.

The Ashley Grey duvet set is not only luxurious but a work of art as well. This fabulous set is made of 300 count cotton sateen; glamorously draped with a larger than life print of stunning chrysanthemums in red and white colors on a taupe gray background which reverses to a lacquer red color finish

The Ashley Ecru duvet set is simply fabulous enhancing any space with its stunning floral print, allowing for the bed to become the main focal point in any contemporary bedroom.

Modern Bedding

The Ashley Citron Duvet Set will compliment your most colorful and cheerful Spring wardrobe. Designed with a French fashion palette, the Ashley Citron Duvet set reflects the freshness and beauty of new beginnings.

The Anis duvet set infuses sweet slumber dreams and pure indulgent sleeping comfort. This luxurious set brings the beauty of nature indoors with the use of beautiful patterns; branches and botanicals, a black and white color contrast with pink and green accents of hand stitched birds add a hint of sophisticated drama in any bedroom setting.

The Amanda purple duvet set brings the beauty of the outdoors in with its nature inspired patterns. This luxurious duvet is sprinkled with delicate silhouettes of leaves, flowers and branches; creating a fresh and tranquil ambiance.

The Amanda Green duvet set inspires any space with the elegant simplicity of nature: a silhouette of leaves, branches and flowers gently sprinkles this duvet with earth tones which inspire tranquility and relaxation.

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