Monday, May 07, 2012
Mark and Gaz
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| Something for a lush, leafy, and tropical themed garden! |
And in relation to my recent post, on a particularly very wet and dreary Saturday morning we made our annual spring pilgrimage to Camden Town in London, to check out the myriads of boheme and alternative shops within Camden Market. For amongst the hundreds of shops there are several stalls specialising in exotic fabrics and accessories sourced from far flung places such as India, South East Asia, and Africa.
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| The boheme Camden Market! |
Exotic accessories for an exotic garden, that's what we need! And we could do with a few new pieces this year just to vary the tone a bit in our garden as well as something new for us to look at. Variety is a fantastic spice, why not drizzle some in your garden too?
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| Fabulous array of brightly coloured fabrics, throws, and cushions evoking of exotic places! |
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| That's one way of announcing 'There's an Asian fabric shop here!!' |
Exotic gardening is a relative term, and can vary depending what area of the world you live at to begin with. But more likely it would mean adapting a style of garden that you would normally not find in your local setting (even if you use 'not so' exotic plants as backbones), conveying a sense of a place from far flung regions of the world, miles away from your own. And you can do that, not just with carefully selected plants but by also using the right accessories.
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| Masks and other sundries...I quite like the carved Indonesian wooden panel at the top end of this photo |
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| The quintessential Buddha statues for that oriental look! |
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| African masks galore! |
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| A trio of bronze Indian gods (or goddesses??). I think they look superb grouped like that, very nice pieces! |
Most of the areas of our garden that we accessorise has a lush, leafy, tropical theme to it so it would be fitting to look for accessories that convey warm, tropical areas where this sort of planting is more associated with. So the items sold in these specialist shops would be perfect for what we're trying to do. A treasure trove of exotic delights to help stage dress our garden!
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| A dazzling selection of exotic sundries!! |
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| I love these two Southeast Asian wooden chairs, gorgeous! Too gorgeous to be exposed to the elements though! |
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| Exotic accessory heaven! |
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| From Asian to African in one corner... |
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| More African wooden masks and sculptures... |
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| Distinctively Indonesian! |
So what did we come home with? A couple of brightly coloured throws, boxes of incense sticks, and a couple of statues which will no doubt feature on one of our future posts.
Now all we need is the ultimate garden accessory of all: the sun!
Mark :-)
This gardening blog follows our journey as we create our Tropical and Exotic themed garden. We hope you'll enjoy the journey as much as we do. We started our Exotic Garden in 2005 and this site will show its development, as well as our travels, both abroad and within the UK to gardens, nurseries and friends.
Well thinking here that the only thing that could maybe go out in the elements by be the statues. Hey you had to buy the other things though, I'm sure. :)
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
The fabrics look beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHi Cher, some of the statues with care and extra treatment applied especially the wooden ones can stay out permanently even in winter. The fabrics can go in and out as needed :)
ReplyDeleteGardenenvy, some of the fabrics are sumptuous! :)
You are so lucky to live as close as you do to all these wonderful places. Is this market on every week?
ReplyDeleteHow did you ever make your selections with so much to choose from? Accessories convey personality to the garden. I am sure yours will not be boring!
ReplyDeleteI'm off to Camden this Saturday! I've been before, but never thought of buying all these exotic trinkets for the garden... wouldn't be interested to see what you do with the throws. Unfortunately here it rains far too much to do anything lovely and fabric-y outside.
ReplyDeleteHi Libby, they are permanent stalls at Camden Market so they are there all the time. If ever you go on a day out in London it's worth popping round there for a couple of hours for its vibe and lovely atmosphere :)
ReplyDeleteI agree Debs, accessories convey so much personality to a garden :) We took public transport to and from the market so were limited by what we can conveniently hand carry back. The selection was dazzling so it was both difficult and enjoyable choosing which ones to get.
Hi Capital Gardens, have fun at Camden Market! I'm sure you'll have a great time shopping :)
I've heard of Camden market but had no idea that it looked like that - I must pay a visit.
ReplyDeleteI must admit I haven't been for 20 years (when I was but a teenager!) and wow it's come a long way! Must revisit. :>)
ReplyDeleteb-a-g and Martin, you really should take a look, its such a vibrant and lively place, and so many interesting shops (as well as some not so interesting ones as well).
ReplyDeleteI wish we had fun places like this where I live! I'd probably go visit and never leave again.
ReplyDeleteIt is a fun place Tom, we try to visit as much as we can, not just for the exotic accessories but for the general vibe and other quirky items being sold there :)
ReplyDeleteThis seems to be just an excuse for a bit of shopping. I think you two would love "Out of the Nomad's Tent" in Edinburgh.
ReplyDeleteSounds intriguing Janet, would love to see "Out of the Nomads Tent", hopefully if we get up to Edinburgh we will check it out!
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