December in the garden

Whilst the weather remains very mild this December, our gardens are now in winter mode with all the leaves now gone from our deciduous trees and shrubs.  Our planters have been filled with cyclamen and violas and under planted with spring bulbs to provide a continuing floral display.  The silhouette of the trees, the colourful stems of the dogwoods and willows together with all the festive red berries which can be found on our contoneasters and hollies mean there is still plenty of interest in our gardens in winter even without any frost or snow!

Flowers for weddings in December

Winter weddings are becoming increasingly popular and weddings close to Christmas can be extra special.  This month and together with our in-house florist Penny of Crown House Flowers, we decorated for a festive winter wedding using lots of foliage from our gardens and woodland.  Using pine, cedar and silver birch branches, Penny created a stunning door garland and door wreath to decorate the entrance to our courtyard marquee.

Our large slate welcome board was decorated with ivy and white flowering viburnum and the look was complimented with potted Christmas trees, lanterns and candles which have given our gardens a warm and welcoming festive feel.  Beautiful in daylight but even more magical as the sun sets.

The festive foliage theme was continued in our ceremony room and large urns were filled with pine, cedar, white viburnum and silver birch branches together with some white chrysanthemums and roses.  With white lanterns, candles and stars this elegant look would be perfect for a winter wedding even if it doesn’t snow!

 

The new edition of the Norfolk & Suffolk Bride magazine is now available and we are delighted that Gavin and Hannah’s wedding, our first wedding which we hosted in August 2015, has been included as a beautiful three page feature.  The magazine is packed full of wedding day inspiration, tips and local supplier information and can be purchased from local retailers or ordered online.

November in the garden

This November has started with lovely mild weather and our gardens have continued to bloom with lots of colourful flowers.  Our deciduous trees have continued to put on a wonderful show of autumnal colour and our woodland has become carpeted with leaves of all shapes and sizes.  Mild days have been followed by some glorious sunsets and our lime tree drive looked stunning with all the yellow leaves falling like snow at the start of November.

We have lots of wildlife in our gardens and woods but were particularly delighted to have a swan visit our wildlife pond this month – we hope it finds a mate and makes Swanton Morley House it’s home too!

Flowers for weddings in November

November always brings to mind bonfires and fireworks so this month we decided to use our fire pit area and, together with our in house florist Penny, created some wonderful bright and fiery floral displays.

Using pink, orange and red chrysanthemums and dahlias, Penny created a large vase arrangement which was also packed with red dogwood stems, orange crocosima seed heads, copper beech leaves and red berries.  These flowers and foliage which were grown in our gardens, were also used to create smaller arrangements in textured metallic vases.  The warm look was completed with hanging garlands of flower heads and leaves, beautiful rich coloured rugs and cushions and even a hot chocolate pot.

Singing, toasting marshmallows or just chatting with friends over a glass of something sparkly, our fire pit area at the edge of our woodland, is a lovely chilled area and a great space for evening entertainment as part of any wedding reception.

 

Christmas workshops for 2015

Bookings are now being taken for our Christmas workshops on 4th and 5th December 2015.  Full details can be found on our workshops page and please do contact us if you fancy joining in with these fun and festive workshops!

October in the garden

We have had some lovely sunny days this October with lots of our trees and shrubs now showing their brilliant autumnal colours as their leaves start to turn wonderful shades of yellows, oranges and reds.  Warm days mean that even the fruit on our olive trees have ripened and our woodland floor is full of mushrooms in all shapes and sizes.  Autumn is indeed here!

With beautiful sunrises and sunsets, October is a wonderful and colourful month and certainly a lovely month for a wedding.  Think rich and opulent colours contrasted with earthy tones of soft greens and browns with mellow candlelight and luxurious fruits for a bountiful feel – gorgeous.

Flowers for weddings in October

Our hydrangeas have been stunning this month and have slowly been turning the most wonderful shades of blue and green with an antique feel.  This month, our in-house florist Penny of Crown House Flowers made an elegant garland using these wonderful flowers.  Garlands at weddings can be used in many different ways to decorate door arches, marquee poles and even as a runner to decorate tables ready for a wedding breakfast.

Penny also used viburnum with it’s glossy black berries, silver eucalyptus and purple verbena to create this garland.  Similar flowers and foliage were also used to create a gorgeous hand-tied bridal bouquet.

 

September in the garden

This September has brought misty mornings, warm days and the first hints of autumn as the leaves on the trees start to change into their glorious autumnal colours.  Our borders are still full of colourful displays provided by echinacea, rudbeckia and heleniums to name just a few of the beautiful plants which provide late summer colour in our gardens.  The blue agapanthus, which we have planted in many terracotta pots, have also put on a fantastic show this month and these striking flowers really add to the Mediterranean feel of our gravel garden and terrace.

Our fruit trees have also been bursting with apples and pears again adding to the mellow early autumn feel that our gardens have now taken on.   With warm sunny days being followed by some beautiful sunsets, September in the garden really has been a fantastic place to be!

Flowers for weddings in September

Our dahlias have stolen the show this month and have been flowering non-stop in many beautiful colours from whites, creams and pale pinks to bright magentas, oranges and dark reds.  This intricate flower has had a bit of a rival recently and as it is available in so many colours, shapes and sizes is perfect as cut flower for weddings and can be used in bridal bouquets, centrepieces and boutonnières.

This month our in-house florist, Penny from Crown House Flowers used dahlias to create two stunning arrangements for our sofa room.  The first arrangement included a beautifully blousy rich cream dahlia (Cafe au Lait) and cream roses and was finished with sage green and variegated foliage.  The second arrangement included a sumptuous dark red cactus dahlia (Rip City) and the tassel-like green and red amaranthus, ferns, fuchsia and echinacea for a rich opulent feel.

All the flowers and foliage used in these arrangements were grown in our gardens and we think that they make wonderful arrangements for weddings in September.

 

A huge thank you to everyone who came along and supported our open garden at the weekend for St John Ambulance. The sun was shining and the St John’s team did a fantastic job organising the event and serving lots of tea and cake.  Many thanks to Norfolk China Hire for supplying the tables and chairs and to everyone who made and donated cakes with a special mention for Hampton’s at The Barn for their delicious red velvet cake. Our thanks to Penny from Crown House Flowers for the beautiful floral displays and of course special thanks to our wonderful head gardener Dan for working so hard to ensure all the gardens looked so wonderful!

St John’s were delighted to raise £1,800 for their charity so once again many thanks!

Open Garden – Sunday 6th September 2015

We are delighted to be supporting the St John Ambulance Open Garden events for 2015.  Our garden will be open on Sunday 6th September from 1pm to 4pm so please do come along and support this great charity.  Home made refreshments will be available and Penny from Crown House Flowers will also be doing some flower arranging demonstrations.

 

Our first wedding!

This month we held our very first wedding at Swanton Morley House and Gardens and we were delighted to host it for Gavin and Hannah.

Gavin and Hannah planned a beautiful wedding with lots of lovely little touches.  They chose to have their wedding ceremony in our elegant ceremony room with family and close friends present to hear them exchange vows and with beautiful music and readings the service was very personal and intimate.

Hannah’s looked stunning in her very elegant satin and lace wedding dress and her bridesmaids looked gorgeous too in their lilac dresses.  Gavin and his grooms men were very dapper in steel blue suits, waistcoats and lemon bow-ties (and of course sunglasses – well it was a very sunny afternoon!).  But we must not forget Isaac (Gavin and Hannah’s little boy) who also looked gorgeous in his waistcoat and shorts.

After the ceremony it was Pimms on the terrace with lawn games available to keep guests entertained – perfect for a warm August afternoon. The wedding breakfast was held in our courtyard marquee which was decorated with potted trees and beautiful dusky pink lanterns.   With lots of laughter (and some tears) the speeches were first-class and set the evening up ready for great entertainment provided by Sophie G and the Good Times , a fantastic live band who had everyone up on their feet dancing the night away.

Flowers for weddings in August

Hannah asked for lots of colour with an English garden feel for her flowers and working closely with our in-house florist Penny she decided to use wooden crates (expertly made by Gavin) filled with beautiful blooms as the main flowers for the ceremony room.  We cut green and dark pink gladioli, purple and cream dahlias, blue, purple and white hydrangeas, blue agapanthus, and blue and pink salvia from our gardens to fill the crates and the jam jars which decorated the wedding breakfast tables. For foliage we used eucalyptus, purple sedums, oregano and nigella seed heads which were all again cut from our gardens.

Hannah’s and the bridesmaids bouquets were beautiful hand-tied arrangements which were made up with similar lilac and dusky pink colours and also included beautiful butter cream and lilac roses.  These gorgeous roses were also used for Gavin and his grooms men buttonholes and also to decorate the aisle chairs in the ceremony room.

With flowers also decorating the wonderful sponge wedding cake this was truly a wedding with beautiful blooms everywhere.

We wish Gavin and Hannah a lifetime of love and happiness and would like to thank them again for being such a wonderful couple and for being the first couple to get married at Swanton Morley House.  But let’s just have one more look at that dress!

 

July in the garden

Our gardens in July are full of hot colours provided by beautiful echinancea, heleniums and dahlias which contrast beautifully against the cool blues of the lavender, delphiniums and hydrangeas and our grass meadow, with its mowed paths, is a beautiful and tranquil addition to our garden in the summer months.  In July, the grasses reach their full height and start to turn a warm golden colour which is further enhanced by the golden light of the sunset.  Also looking lovely at this time of year are our various lavenders which we grow in abundance.  Our roses have also continued to bloom and with our dahlias starting to flower too for this month’s look at flowers for weddings in July, we had lots of fabulous blooms to choose from!

Flowers for weddings in July

Using our meadow as inspiration and together with our in-house florist Penny of Crown House Flowers, we decided to use the meadow as the backdrop for our wedding floral designs which were all made using flowers and foliage grown in our gardens.

Penny created a very pretty bouquet using a delicate peach double rose, together with sprays of a vintage cream rose.  The bouquet was finished with plums shades of astrantia, grasses, lavender and the tiny cream flowers from plum heuchera.

The colours and the flowers were repeated to create a stylish buttonhole and also to decorate our afternoon tea picnic area.

Our meadow, which is surrounded by many mature trees, has a lovely tranquil feel and is the perfect setting for any bride and groom who love the outdoors and would like some of their wedding celebrations outside.  Couples could choose to have part of their wedding ceremony in the meadow, set it up for an afternoon reception of gardens games with a festival feel or perhaps just create a little private space to take some time for light refreshments whilst have some photographs taken!