lucky leanne

I've been away on holiday and am a little slow getting back into the swing of blogging. We had 8 days in Sweden, if you follow my Instagram you'll already have a taste of what we got up to, though I'll share more here in the coming weeks. 

Meanwhile the giveaway I'd been running with the lovely Sarah Raven goodies has come to a close, I was delighted to pop all the entries into a pot and draw a winner. The prize goes to Leanne. Congratulations Leanne! 

Thank you to the Sarah Raven team for allowing me to host such a lovely giveaway and to everyone who entered. Plus a warm welcome to any new followers. 

lately

• you can see me
• more from mum
• our little shed and lights
• mr mouse the adorable
• my moodboard
• from the train
• dinosaurs in london
• my stop

And there is still this.

lately

• tiles 
• strawberries
• ikea
• pickings
• from mum
• oxalis

In case you forgot, I'm hosting a giveaway.

mooching

Just a few more pictures from Berlin. We enjoyed being in a city for a change, after living in London for so many years the life we have now living in a small village is quite different. It was nice to sample city life again, to wander and mooch about, like you do.

lately

• i love tomato
• making dens in the garden
• mouse is such an explorer
• we drove to bristol to buy a planchest
• little mole (a long story with a sad ending)
• the fields are so pretty

Don't forget the giveaway!

round and round the garden...

At the end of June I scoured the garden for flowers and foliage to create this moodboard. I took the camera with me, I like to record the garden every now and then, we work so hard in it and it's nice to look back at the changes we've made, the plants we've planted, what has flourished and what has not. 

Do you remember that rhyme?  Round and round the garden like a teddy bear, one step, two step tickle you under there. My nan used to say it to me, drawing circles with her finger around my palm, before tickling me under the arm! 

memorial

Whilst in Berlin we visited this place, the Holocust Memorial. I'd seen images of the concrete columns designed by architect Peter Eisenman and Buro Happold online before and was curious to see them, I hadn't anticipated quite what an effect this place would have on me. Just standing amongst the columns was incredibly moving, they have an imposing presence unlike that of any structure I've encountered before. Add to that feeling the historical story that unfurls downstairs in the information centre and you can't not be moved. I left in tears, deeply saddened by the horrors man is capable of. Thinking about it now, I'm moved again. 

nature in the home

Lou set the theme of red this week. I picked two roses from the garden and bought them into our home, the first had already begun to drop it's petals, the second now sits alone in front of this picture that my nan stitched for me. It hung on my bedroom wall when I was little, mum recently found it tucked away under the bed and thought I'd like it back.

lately

• flowers in the nature reserve
• giant snails live there
• flowers and veg on the table
• salad days
• geraniums
• peony
• scabious and a bee [the other day this plant had 4 little finches perched on the stems eating the seeds]

It's been a busy week work wise, I'm looking forward to the weekend and some holiday, just one day to go - yay!

P.S. I'm having a little giveaway.

garden giveaway

I'm so excited to share this giveaway with you! The lovely team at Sarah Raven offered me the chance to pick out a few goodies to offer here on nice kind of blue as a giveaway! I really enjoyed choosing these, a mix of some of my favourite flowers, I hope you like them as much as I do. 

The giveaway consists of the following:

Waxed Waterproof Tissue 20 sheets

Centaurea cyanus 'Blue Boy' 300 seeds

Consolida 'Dark Blue' - Larkspur 400 seeds

Ridolfia segetum 500 seeds

Scabious caucasica ‘Fama’ 20 seeds

Nigella damascena 'Double White' 400 seeds

Cerinthe major 'Purpurascens' 12 seeds

To be in with a chance on winning you need to be a follower of nice kind of blue. Just leave a comment below telling me how you follow nice kind of blue and your favourite flower. 

For extra chances you can do any of the following;

• Follow nice kind of blue on Twitter
• Tweet about the giveaway (be sure to include @nicekindofblue)
• Follow nice kind of blue on Instagram
• Follow Garlic and Sapphire

Just let me know in the comments about any extra entries.

This giveaway closes on 19th July. I'll pop all the entries into a flower pot and pick a winner. Good Luck!

Sorry this giveaway is open to UK residents only (due to the nature of the prize). 

(images courtesy of the Sarah Raven team)

guest post

I received a lovely email a few weeks back asking if I'd like to contribute a guest post to the Sarah Raven blog, Garlic and Sapphire. I was really quite excited, Sarah Raven is a gardener I greatly admire, and when her inspirational catalogue pops through our letterbox I'm always eager to flick through it's pages of beautiful blooms in bold and vibrant shades. You can read my guest post here - it's all about picking flowers, something you know I like to do. 

Keep your eyes peeled as I have a Sarah Raven giveaway coming up with a prize fit for anyone who loves a flower or two. 

garden moodboard - june 2013

A day late. I'm joining Karin and Åsa with a monthly moodboard for June - a collection of seasonal flowers, and foliage from the garden, in this case mostly flowers there are just so many to choose from and too many to name.