Wildlife
Blog (continued)
Blooms In A Bag For The Novice Garden Diva!
Posted by Gilly on Tuesday 24th February 2009
At the moment it would seem I cannot turn on the television, open a newspaper
or listen to the radio without hearing the words recession or credit crunch.
This week I happened to notice a feature on Anglia News encouraging a scheme
entitled “Get Digging”. The programme featured celeb gardener
Monty Don speaking about the benefits of growing your own produce. Here
at Garden Divas we are a huge fan of this concept! Not only will it save
you plenty of time and money at the supermarket, it tastes better and is
also a fun form of exercise.
The feature focussed on the aspect that not everyone is a “natural gardener”. Although we believe everyone can succeed, we have a couple of products perfect for the novice gardener who don’t want to venture out into the cold just yet!!. If you are new to gardening, keen to get started but don’t have a greenhouse, why not try the American Modern Blooms in a Bag which can easily be grown on a windowsill. We thoroughly recommend the Tomato option to grow some extra sweet Red Robin tomatoes.
Alternatively
if you’d like to try and grow some herbs, the Basil,
Parsley and Chives would be perfect on your kitchen windowsill so you could pep up
your cooking anytime!
As an incentive we have discounted these products by 10%.
Do let us know how you get on!
Camouflage Company Cool Bag For Your Packed Lunch!
Posted by Gilly on Wednesday 18th February 2009
I was listening to Woman’s Hour yesterday and the topic was taking your own lunch to work to beat the credit crunch! In fact you can listen to the discussion yourself online on the BBC radio 4 website. A great idea I think to prevent you paying a fortune for those prepared sandwiches from the local shop. Plus on a personal note it’ll hopefully encourage my healthy eating!
To keep your food fresh and safely stored,
the Camouflage
Company Cool Bag is a perfect size for your lunch. Available in
either Evergreen or English Rose, and at only £10.50, you’ll
soon be the envy of your work colleagues!
In these final winter months,
if you are finding you can’t resist
those cups of coffee on the way to work, why not save the pennies and take
your own in a Wild
and Wolf Flask.
These are perfect for the stroll to work, as neither size is bulky, plus
you can soon refill it for your journey home at the end of the day. Of
course we made sure our flasks are only suitable for divas- check out the
fabulous Daisy and Grass designs! It’s only £10.00 for the
smallest flask - just compare this to the amount you spend on coffee in
a week!
Gardening Gifts For Mother’s Day!
Posted by Gilly on Thursday 12th February 2009
The snow is lingering so it’s still not time for getting back in the garden – the greenhouse has been cleaned and the seeds have been ordered!! However all at Garden Divas are inspired by our fabulous new products, for inside and out. With new items arriving weekly, we love unpacking the boxes and testing the products (one of the perks of the job)!
Before
you know it, Mother’s Day (22nd March) will be upon us and
we think your Mum will love our new gifts! Firstly we’d like to recommend Wild Wood
and Rose Bathing Bliss.
This is perfect for the Mum who needs a relaxing treat at the end of the day. This pampering product will make your Mum feel truly appreciated and it’s prettily packaged too.
If your Mum likes to keep active and you can’t keep her out of the
garden, perhaps you can brighten up her Sunday with one of our new Pretty
Useful Patchwork Tools. With the option of the Garden
Tool Set or the Secateurs,
these beautiful new tools are guaranteed to be a hit!
Snow!
Posted by Gilly on Thursday 5th February
2009
Despite the countryside looking particularly beautiful, we can’t exactly get out in the garden in this weather! I hope you’re all enjoying a few snowy days and have stayed in the warm and dry (or are having great fun out sledging!).
Whilst
devouring a hot chocolate, I was having a read through Gardeners’ World
Magazine and spotted one of our products! The one and only Alan Titchmarsh
can be seen using a fabulous purple Tubtrug to transport his produce. If
you fancy one of these have
a look at our selection.
And although he is sporting a bright orange fleece, I think you ladies
would prefer a pink
alternative.
I am thrilled to see you’re supporting the Garden Divas’ style
Alan!!!
Credit Crunch Blues!
Posted by Gilly on Friday 30th January 2009
It’s been a while since we’ve written a Garden Divas blog and unfortunately the credit crunch and the cold weather is enough to give anyone the “January Blues!” However we’ve come up with a few ideas that may kick start your 2009...
We hope you have enjoyed our online sale and grabbed yourself a bargain. If not, you have until Saturday evening, 31st January, so put your order in quick!!!!
At the moment we are
really looking forward to launching our new products which I think all
you Divas will love! We are currently awaiting the arrival of “Grow
Your Own” products. These items will allow you to
grow your own veggies, herbs or salads whatever size garden you have as
they are especially designed for people with limited space - perfect for
balconies or patios!
The initial cost is nothing in comparison to the volume of produce you can grow.
Home grown vegetables taste great, are totally organic, it’s really rewarding and much cheaper than buying from the supermarket. Plus gardening is a great way to get fit! We’ll let you know when we have these available.
In 2009 we want to get everyone into the garden so our range will be expanding to cater for the younger generation of mini garden divas! We have selected a few of our favourite children’s gardening tools and accessories and cannot wait to see what you think of them. Of course they fit in with our usual bright and funky style!
As you can see we have plenty to look
forward to this Spring, so please join us during 2009, and get in your
garden, get active, get fit and save yourself some £££’s!
In the meantime there are signs that things are improving as the first snowdrops have arrived in my garden. Green shoots of recovery?? –Well we shall see!!!
Burghley Horse Trials
Posted by Gilly on Tuesday 9th September 2008
We have safely returned from our weekend at Burghley Horse Trials. It was, shall we say, a real adventure!
As we headed to Stamford on Wednesday, we
didn’t quite realise what
the weather would hold in store for us! Straight away we happily set up
our Garden Divas trade stand and met our retail neighbours in the Lifestyle
Pavilion. Everything ran smoothly and that evening we fell in love with
our cosy cottage where we were staying for the weekend. At Burghley, we
spent four days converting many more ladies to become Garden Divas!
The displays were refreshed daily to make sure those of you who stayed all weekend had something new to look at. We even got the chance to meet some of our previous online customers- it was lovely to meet you and thank you for your support.
However, at the start of Friday, I don’t think anybody was really prepared for the day ahead… As we awoke to the pouring rain, it continued all day to create what can only be described as a muddy mess! The photo below shows only the beginnings. We were luckily placed well inside the marquee and many brave customers continued to shop and shelter from the rain. As you can see from the photos waterproofs and boots became a must!
The next day in fact, this was our walk to work…
We were pleased
to discover that this did not deter the shoppers over the weekend and many
of you came to join us in this muddy adventure. We even managed to spot
a few celebs, including Katie Price, who was there launching her new equestrian
range. (However we think our new pink fleeces soon to be launched onto
our website are much better than Katies!!!!)
Even the famous couldn’t avoid the mud slide and faced a careful walk through the shopping isles and a delightful view of the ladies loos! By Sunday night we were packing up and looking forward to getting home to the warm and dry, but having laughed at many cars being towed out by giant tractors, we were soon faced with our own car troubles and had to be jump started by a kindly Land Rover owner!!!
Despite the weather, we really loved working at Burghley Horse Trials and are thrilled by all the positive feedback we received. Thank you to all of you who visited us - we do hope you will shop with us again.
Sandringham Show!
Posted by Gilly on Thursday 7th August
2008
Well we are now back home and thoroughly exhausted from an enjoyable trip with Garden Divas to Sandringham Show! We are pleased to say that it all ran smoothly and we even managed to sneak a break to catch a glimpse of the royals as they came past us in their horse and carriage!
After
weeks of planning we headed up to Norfolk in our Garden Divas van early
Tuesday morning, in order to set up our stand for the Wednesday show. It
was great fun driving the van all that way!
As we arrived at Sandringham we faced the prospect of putting up our own marquee- and despite the bright sunshine it proved quite a challenge with the winds. (Luckily we'd bought some help along)!
The van was filled with all our products so the next stage was to set up the displays. As expected this took quite a while but we were thrilled with the results and left mid evening tired but happy and excited about the following day! Here are a few snaps of our efforts- what do you think?
The Wednesday morning bought us an early start and we arrived on site
at 7.30am! The show didn't open until 9 o'clock so we took
a walk around the event to see the other stalls and fabulous show gardens.
At the start of the day we looked like this...
By lunchtime there were thousands
of people attending the event! The weather stayed hot and sunny and it
couldn't have been more perfect for the day. We were situated right by
the main arena, and our bright colourful stand stood out to those passing
by. We loved meeting new people and taking Garden Divas to Norfolk! The
Camouflage shop boxes proved a strong favourite as were the new V and A
watering cans. Here's a photo of just a few of the people we met during
the day...
We'd like to thank all of you who came to support Garden Divas at Sandringham Show and a special thanks to our volunteers- we couldn't have done it without you! Now we have the success of Sandringham behind us, we eagerly await our trip to Burghley Horse Trials in early September. We hope to see some familiar faces and convert some more of you into Garden Divas!
Garden Divas becomes a "Growing
Friend"
Posted by Gilly on Tuesday 1st July 2008
Garden Divas is pleased to announce that we have become a "Growing
Friend" supporting the work of the "Growing People" Horticultural
Therapy Programme, based at the Letchworth Centre for Healthy Living. Horticultural
therapy helps individuals to engage in gardening activities in as passive
or active way as they wish, but all focused on improving their quality
of life. Initially working with people with severe mental health problems,
the Programme is being expanded to provide a broader range of opportunities
and run a range of projects working with a wide variety of disabled or
disadvantaged individuals and groups.
In
order to become a "Growing Friend" we have made a financial
contribution to the project and we are also donating £1 from every
sale of the American Modern Growing Wishes
Kit.
We hope you will help us support this charity- every gardener realises the health benefits that gardening can bring and we hope you will feel as passionate about this cause as we do at Garden Divas.
Kim Wilde tests Garden Divas
Posted by Gilly on Tuesday 24th June 2008
I just wanted to let you know that we have been lucky enough to have some of our products tested by the female celebrity gardener Kim Wilde. We are thrilled to discover that not only does she love our products but also the website itself. Here's what Kim had to say...
"This is a fantastic web site, brilliant for
buying original and inspirational gifts from the comfort of your own chair!
My goody box was a real treat, beautifully packaged and packed with useful
and stylish things. I especially love the Camouflage shop box (perfect
for impulse buys at my local plant nursery!) and the skin tight gardening
Atlas Glove. I shall certainly be using this web-site in future, especially
around Xmas : )"
Kim
Wilde.
If you would like to treat yourself to the products Kim has recommended, here's a direct link to the pages...
Our
pink packaged boxes - soon to become available in a variety of sizes!
Atlas
Nitrile Touch Garden Gloves - also now reduced to £7.50!
Camouflage
Shop Box - the perfect way to package the shopping!
Networking
Posted by Gilly on Wednesday 18th June 2008
Well the aim of today has been to try and get to grips with the concept of social networking! Following on from the launch of the blog last week I decided to seek help from my daughter in trying to get Garden Divas promoted on some networking sites. Indeed we have had some success so I now just need all you computer savvy people to join and become a Garden Divas friend!
First off we have now become a business on www.linkedin.com. In fact here is the link to my very own page www.linkedin.com/in/gardendivas.
Another big step is the creation of a Facebook group for us
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26239266468.
This link takes you straight to our group so please do become a member.
My daughter will be running this for me so you can leave her a comment
or email me directly (all details are displayed).
Should you already be a member on either of these sites do just log in and search for us and become connected to Garden Divas. And if you are not already a member, it may be worth taking ten minutes to create your own profile. Both networks are great for business and to keep in touch or get reunited with old friends. In fact I can see where my time is going to be wasted...
Floral Hits The Catwalk!
Posted by Gilly on Tuesday
10th June 2008
Just a quick note to mention how even the catwalk is becoming garden inspired this summer! With a vast range of designs available you can pick a floral perfect for your own unique style. Retro bold prints are in, creating an energetic refreshing look for the season. In fact this trend perfectly matches the Garden Divas style! Here are a few of my favourite designer pieces and remember to keep an eye out for this look which will soon be hitting the high street. Let's hope this encourages the sunshine!
Images taken from www.vogue.co.uk.
Garden Divas Events!
Posted by Gilly on Monday 9th June 2008
Hello,
Well today is the start of the Garden Divas blog! Here we will keep you regularly updated with news and events, advice and all things garden related!
At present we are busy getting prepared to exhibit at two of our favourite and most beautiful venues. In fact look at our fab new marquee for our first event- it's currently up in our garden!
We won't show you anymore of our trade stand
yet as we want it to be a bold and beautiful surprise-
so please do come and visit us!
Firstly we are taking a trip to Sandringham Flower Show, on Wednesday 30th July. The show offers a full programme of arena events, craft tents, show gardens and trade stands combining the best in horticulture and family entertainment. You will find Garden Divas located near the Main Arena so pop along to browse our products and on the day don't forget to pick up your £2.50 discount voucher which can be spent online.
We are also pleased to announce that on 4th-8th September, we will be attending the famous Burghley Horse Trials at Stamford, Lincolnshire. Situated in the Burghley Lifestyle Pavilion, you won't be able to miss us with all the work we are doing to make our exhibition perfectly suitable for a Diva! Take a look at the official website for further information. Should you be a horse lover or a shopping fanatic I guarantee this is the perfect day out for you. In fact my daughter, having a passion for both, is a tad overexcited!
Finally we just wanted to mention how pleased we are to now be listed on the Good Web Guide. Here's a link to our website review. It really makes our hard work worthwhile so thanks for all your support!