WILD GARDEN SILVER MEDAL WINNER 2010
It is with enormous joy that I introduce you to Mrs Wendy Steele of Bull Bay and I know that you will all join me in congratulating her on her recent major success.
Wendy is the Silver Medal Winner for the Large Wild Garden 2010 awarded by the North Wales Wildlife Trust.
I extend my warmest gratitude to Wendy for agreeing to write a regular article for Anglesey Hidden Gem.
You'll find a link near the bottom of this page that will take you to WENDY'S LATEST REPORT
GO THERE NOW?...
ACKNOWLEDGING THE IMPOSSIBLE
You will already know that gardens are strange entities and while you strive to shape and control them according to distinct horticultural principles, they are never keen to participate.
Whatever plan you have in mind at the beginning of your endeavours is swiftly overwhelmed by Nature’s insistence on retaining its own independence.
To maintain the perfect idealised large garden requires enormous commitment and usually cannot be achieved without the aid of others.
Nature has greater patience and persistence than us mere mortals. Like many things in our lives, achieving the idealised is merely a transient pleasure.
THE GOOD GARDENER- ART & SOUL
The intelligent gardener (that’s you Wendy) acknowledges Nature as being beautiful in its own right and does not fight it.
Smart gardeners embrace the independence; note which plants are natural companions and just bring them together among others through experimentation.
Slowly, with infinite patience and great skill and knowledge one constructs an environment where Nature feels comfortable and at home. These gardens are among those unique places where you immediately feel equally comfortable and at home.
Your Soul just knows that this place is ‘just right and as it should be’.
In simple words, a good gardener embraces serendipity and develops a strong back - or at least engages the muscles of the docile and pliant.
WINNER WENDY IN HER OWN WRITE
“The smiling chap on the right is Gerallt Pennant from S4C (the Welsh TV channel) and very pleasantly chatty he was too.
The award ceremony was held at Portmeirion, for which we had free entry - always a bonus.
The judge on my right in the photo is called Anna and unfortunately I can't remember her surname, but she was from the North Wales Wildlife Trust.
The judges, including multiple Chelsea Gold Medal winner Medwyn Hughes spent two hours going round the garden asking questions: What I was doing for this and why I had got that etc etc. It was very enjoyable but exhausting.
The award ceremony was introduced by the other judge, also called Anna (very confusing) who is Swedish and trilingual, what a clever lady I hear you say.
The categories as far as I can remember them were for small, medium and large gardens, schools and business. I was in the large gardens and won Silver and the Anglesey Sea Zoo won the Gold in the Business Category.
Can't think of anything else to tell you other than the free coffee and biscuits were very nice. Oh. We also got the choice of plants for a prize which were very kindly provided by a garden centre."
Dear Wendy,
The judge on your right is Anna Williams and the trilingual lady taking the photograph is Anna Budesha.
WENDY'S GARDENING ARTICLES
I am delighted to share you you the most excellent news that Wendy Steele will be writing regular articles about her Award Winning Garden for Anglesey Hidden Gem.
Read MARCH 2012 GARDENING REPORT.
Read JULY & AUGUST 2011 GARDENING REPORT.
FOR THE APRIL TO JUNE GARDEN ARTICLE Please Click Here...
FOR WENDY'S MARCH ARTICLE Please Click Here...
FOR WENDY'S JANUARY / FEBRUARY ARTICLE Please Click Here...
FOR WENDY'S CHRISTMAS ARTICLE Please Click Here...
FOR WENDY'S NOVEMBER ARTICLE Please Click Here...
WHO IS WENDY?
On the Royal Horticular Society’s online community for gardeners, Wendy Steele describes herself:
"I was an A/E nurse for over 30 years until physical ill health meant I had to retrain as a solicitor. We now live on the beautiful island of Anglesey and have a third of an acre garden that is to die for. We also live over the road from the sea. We are so lucky!
North Stack Fog Signal Station, just south of the Port of Holyhead, offers astonishing coastal walk and beautiful views of rugged Anglesey coastline.
Holyhead Breakwater Country Park. Astonishing coastal beauty. Award Winning Anglesey Green Flag Country Park. A superb green space for family fun and walks
White Beach really, really is a hidden gem. By that, I mean it is really, really well hidden. Dinner plate pebbles, nice picnics, CRAZY HORSES and some pretty good fishing.
