In both Britain and Singapore I enjoy visiting garden centres looking for plants and pots, especially sale price end of season colourful orchids, perfumed standard roses for the patio. My current searches are for pretty perfumed roses, herb pots, and fruits, especially vines with eating grapes, wine-making grapes and vine leaves you can eat.
Orchids are a speciality of Singapore. You can have fresh cut orchids delivered every week to your home from a florist or freelance seller. Also go to the orchid gardens and shops, and some supermarkets and department stores sell plants. Ex-pats enjoy shopping for china elephants to place either side of the front door of their apartment or condo. You can stand a plant pot on the flat top of elephant. I have also bought them in England from Homebase. Look at both the indoor and outdoor sections for plants and pots.
I started making pot pourri from flower petals in the kitchen. I had a bowl of pot pourri from a supermarket, probably Homebase, in a large bowl, and it was losing its fragance. On the same work surface I had a perfumed rose cut from the garden now in a vase.
When the petals started falling I scooped them up and put them in a nearby empty bowl near the pot pourri. My next progress with this idea was to go to the garden and try to cut fresh perfumed roses. But the roses were too far in bloom and as I grasped the rose to pull it near and cut the stem the petals fell away into my hand.
I sniffed the petals and checked the label. The rose was called Perfumed Sheila. This time instead of, as usual, merely discarding petals, I took them back into the kitchen and added them to my rose petal collection. I am now scanning the catalogues. But I phoned some UK rose suppliers to find out the prices and what they had in stock and could deliver. I was unable to find any bargains. I decided that if I had to pay full price plus postage, I preferred to drive to a garden centre and check the perfume of the roses as well as the colour before buying.
As you probably know from spraying yourself with perfume, sometimes perfume wears off after a few hours, sometimes you get immune to it and only notice a change in perfume. However, it might still strike other visiting friends as pleasant. Or it might add an antidote to cooking smells. or just something subtle which makes your house a home, a place where you feel content.
Just type in garden centre, or roses, or orchids, or perfumed roses, and you will find garden centres selling what you want. You may have to phone to check what is stocked as stocks are seasonal.
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/roses/fragrant-garden-roses/#page=1
https://www.thefragrantrosecompany.co.uk
homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/roses
http://www.styleroses.co.uk
http://www.trowbridgegardencentre.co.uk/product-range/140/roses-for-scent
To visit in London, England
http://www.squiresgardencentres.co.uk/garden-centre/stanmore/ Drive there. Especially if collecting a large plant. Has a cafe.
Squires Garden Centre
Common Road
They run gardening workshops.
Several Squires centres are around England.
Many London suburbs have a garden club which holds summer competitions, photo competitions and sales of plants, for members and guests, often open to the public and opened by a local VIP such as a local councillor or MP.
Royal National Rose Society has a garden to visit near St Albans in Hertfordshire north of London.
http://www.rnrs.org.uk/visit-us/
I am now looking for garden centres in the USA and Singapore, and searching for a London garden centre with a car park opposite an underground railway station:
(I shall update soon or later.)
Diversions
While searching for familiar and new attractions in Singapore I came across the Gardenia Factory visit, nothing to do with flowers but a bakery. It's on my wish list, for a tastes and smells tour.
UK Garden centre with a train
http://www.thegardencentregroup.co.uk/garden-centres/wyevale/Marple-Garden-Centre/1A/marple-dmr
Orchids are a speciality of Singapore. You can have fresh cut orchids delivered every week to your home from a florist or freelance seller. Also go to the orchid gardens and shops, and some supermarkets and department stores sell plants. Ex-pats enjoy shopping for china elephants to place either side of the front door of their apartment or condo. You can stand a plant pot on the flat top of elephant. I have also bought them in England from Homebase. Look at both the indoor and outdoor sections for plants and pots.
I started making pot pourri from flower petals in the kitchen. I had a bowl of pot pourri from a supermarket, probably Homebase, in a large bowl, and it was losing its fragance. On the same work surface I had a perfumed rose cut from the garden now in a vase.
When the petals started falling I scooped them up and put them in a nearby empty bowl near the pot pourri. My next progress with this idea was to go to the garden and try to cut fresh perfumed roses. But the roses were too far in bloom and as I grasped the rose to pull it near and cut the stem the petals fell away into my hand.
As you probably know from spraying yourself with perfume, sometimes perfume wears off after a few hours, sometimes you get immune to it and only notice a change in perfume. However, it might still strike other visiting friends as pleasant. Or it might add an antidote to cooking smells. or just something subtle which makes your house a home, a place where you feel content.
Home made pot pourri from standard roses.
Just type in garden centre, or roses, or orchids, or perfumed roses, and you will find garden centres selling what you want. You may have to phone to check what is stocked as stocks are seasonal.
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/roses/fragrant-garden-roses/#page=1
https://www.thefragrantrosecompany.co.uk
homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/roses
http://www.styleroses.co.uk
http://www.trowbridgegardencentre.co.uk/product-range/140/roses-for-scent
To visit in London, England
http://www.squiresgardencentres.co.uk/garden-centre/stanmore/ Drive there. Especially if collecting a large plant. Has a cafe.
Squires Garden Centre
Common Road
Stanmore
Middlesex
HA7 3JF
tel: 020 8954 4628.They run gardening workshops.
Several Squires centres are around England.
Many London suburbs have a garden club which holds summer competitions, photo competitions and sales of plants, for members and guests, often open to the public and opened by a local VIP such as a local councillor or MP.
Royal National Rose Society has a garden to visit near St Albans in Hertfordshire north of London.
http://www.rnrs.org.uk/visit-us/
I am now looking for garden centres in the USA and Singapore, and searching for a London garden centre with a car park opposite an underground railway station:
(I shall update soon or later.)
Diversions
While searching for familiar and new attractions in Singapore I came across the Gardenia Factory visit, nothing to do with flowers but a bakery. It's on my wish list, for a tastes and smells tour.
UK Garden centre with a train
http://www.thegardencentregroup.co.uk/garden-centres/wyevale/Marple-Garden-Centre/1A/marple-dmr
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