Many apologies to my regular readers for not posting since Oct 20th – here is my excuse!
Since I returned from hosting a two week cruse around Madeira and the Canaries with 49 guests in tow, I have been spending pretty much all my time getting the garden prepared for winter and bringing in all those cherished tender exotics – always a big job and getting bigger every year as everything keeps growing! It took two days to bring in my ever expanding collection of Bromeliads which now totals well over 150 plants of which some are now absolutely enormous – I’m not exaggerating, one Aechmea is now over four feet across and darn heavy! Of course they all have to be cleaned, re-potted, preened and all their funnels drained of water, then artistically placed in my 30x10ft Polly tunnel which now resembles (with all the other exotics) part of the palm House at Kew. Seeing as they are going to be there for approximately half the year, I do like it to be a show piece as I will be spending a lot of time in there over the long dark winter months – I love going in there on Christmas day!
Last week while I was working on the garden with several volunteers in tow, my good friend and photographer Chris Ridley was trying out a new steadycam rig for his HD camera. While we were working away enjoying the late autumnal heat, Chris spent several hours silently gliding around the garden with his camera making a film. A week later the film was complete – after 15 hours editing, 5 hours processing and 8 hours uploading his 3 minute masterpiece was finished. I was amazed that he could make a film about the garden in late October and make it look so – good!
It may be short but never-the-less perfectly formed, so here it is for your edification and enjoyment…
Around the beautiful Exotic Garden from Chris Ridley on Vimeo.
