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Shows of Hands – Chelsea Fringe 2014

From a dreich garden in Scotland I’d like to wave my hands and say hello to everyone around the world that might stumble across this blog. For regular blog visitors I’m waving to say hello again and I’m still here! Please do read on… perhaps you have a show of hands photo you might like to share?

This morning, during my current mega photo sort (which has lasted a few weeks and kept me away from blogging) I came across the photo below which is just perfectly topical from me at this time. Photo sorting is still ongoing with a deadline to getting them uploaded and organised in a 100 page book for the end of the month (when the offer I purchased for a photobook runs out). I’m trying not to panic 😉

The hand above is a reminder to take time to enjoy looking around your garden as many little treasures can be hiding there just waiting to be discovered. It also reveals the beauty and detail of simple flowers and how tricky it can be to take their photos at times. Windy weather, crowds at garden shows and holding a camera with one hand all add to the challenge. The hand above recommends taking lots of garden record photos 😉

However, the hand also reveals the real gardener here. Yes, I chat about birds and wildlife in this blog but I truly am a plantswoman at heart and this is my hand. My photobook is going to be a celebration of the flowers and plants that have graced my garden at some point over my gardenwatching years and before. I’ve been working in my own personal Chelsea Flower Show Marquee awarding gold stars as I sort 😀

Chelsea Flower Show mega celebrates plants and gardens but is now over for 2014. It is pretty well known around the world but not everyone is able to visit. Have you heard of the Chelsea Fringe? If you are in London, Brighton, Bristol, Vienna, Ljubljana, Turin, Kent or Norwich this could be of interest to you with events running until June 8th.

“The Fringe is all about harnessing and spreading some of the excitement and energy that fizzes around gardens and gardening. The idea is to give people the freedom and opportunity to express themselves through the medium of plants and gardens, to open up possibilities and to allow full participation.

Entirely independent of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (though acting with its support), the Fringe explodes out of the showground geographically, demographically and conceptually. Its events encompass everything from grassroots community garden projects to avant-garde art installations. Our open-access principle means that just about anything goes – as long as it’s interesting and legal, and on the subject of gardens, flowers, veg-growing or landscape.”

Chelsea Fringe/About

Still too far away? I’m clapping my hands now to fellow blogger VP at Veg Plotting for registering her online event of Shows of Hands for the Chelsea Fringe 2014. Once my photo sort is complete I might come back with a second blog. I have an idea but will need a bit of time for it 😉

I’m waving my hands to you again to say come along and join in with VP’s event…

“The way you choose to present your Shows of Hands is entirely up to you. It can be a single photo, a set of photos, a collage or even a video. It or they can be your hand(s), someone else’s or a group – how about a photo of everyone on your community gardening project waving their hands in the air? The hand(s) can be clean, or the muckier the better! They can even be non-human as long as there is a garden context. All are welcome.”

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands – Episode I

Full details can be found here where you will find a blog list to add your posts and browse other shows of hands. My photo sort break is over now but before I go I should say I’ve a gardenwatch photo sort to do very soon. I have to share pics of our Great tit nestbox family who have been entertaining me in the corner of my monitor. We have four chicks now which are growing fast – one egg didn’t hatch.

I’m waving again, this time to say bye for now & hope to see your hands soon 🙂

This post was published by Shirley for shirls gardenwatch in May 2014.

6 thoughts on “Shows of Hands – Chelsea Fringe 2014

  1. Here's waving back at you Shirl 🙂 It's certainly been a dreich weekend but ideal for photo sorting and indoor projects in general. Hope that you manage to meet that deadline.

  2. Hello again to you both 🙂 I hope you had a good weekend despite the rain. Our garden plants certainly appreciated the drink. It's been a tad dry up here for a change 😉

    Sue, no it’s not a blurb book – although I have thought about one. It’s just a standard photo book from PhotoBox although (if I have time) I will use the captions feature for some chat. However, I have considered doing a Blurb book in the past – goodness knows how I would select blog posts for one of those! If you are seriously considering doing a blurb book (maybe you have done one already?) VP (mentioned in this post) has done one and I’m sure would share tips with you 🙂

    Anna, I’m waving to you now 😉 Absolutely, it’s been a perfect day for ducks and indoor photo sorting. Fortunately it was a nice day yesterday for an Open Garden village visit with my friend. I was delighted for the garden owners too as they only open their gardens every three years (not under the yellow book) raising funds for the local area – this time they were raising money for a local hospital. It’s just great to chat to the garden owners and hear their enthusiasm isn’t it 😀

  3. Hi Shirley, it's great to have you join in ith my virtual Fringe project again 🙂

    I'm a latecomer to the charms of hellebores, but I've finally succumbed!

    Good luck with the photobook – they're such fun to do. I'm pondering doing one of my garden benches, perhaps photobox may be the way to have a go for this one.

    Sue – I found it very easy to do,Blurb allows you to import the blog posts you want and go from there. I'm currently doing one for the company blog I look after, editing down 500 posts into 160 pages is proving more tricky though!

  4. Hello again to you both, what a great time of year this is for the garden isn’t it 🙂

    I’m delighted to report my photo book arrived this morning and I’m delighted with the quality inside. I didn’t have as much time at the editing and uploading stage as I would have liked so I’ll call this one a practise although I’ll keep my updated edition for the dark winter nights 🙂

    Sue, yes, my photo selection was time consuming enough.

    VP, you are most welcome once again! I had hoped to get another post to you but alas time ran away from me. I can’t say I completely enjoyed working on the photo book with a time period to work to but now seeing the finished result I am inspired to have another go 😀

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