Gaia landscape

Gaia landscape Gaia Landscape is named after Gaia - the Greek goddess of the Earth. Specialist Seasonal Care. High finish maintenance. http://www.wutheringhikes.co.uk/

Mindful gardening and restorative landscapes Sculptural garden design, construction & maintenance.

Hot day tidying the conifer hedge with Dylan—he’s working hard to earn his holiday job pay today.
12/08/2026

Hot day tidying the conifer hedge with Dylan—he’s working hard to earn his holiday job pay today.

Buddleja davidii and red admiral
11/08/2026

Buddleja davidii and red admiral

Peruvian lily
11/08/2026

Peruvian lily

Happy Lammas, first harvest and mid point between the summer solstice and autumn equinox.John Barleycorn by Robert Burns...
06/08/2026

Happy Lammas, first harvest and mid point between the summer solstice and autumn equinox.

John Barleycorn by Robert Burns

There was three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die.

They took a plough and plough'd him down,
Put clods upon his head,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn was dead.

But the chearful Spring came kindly on,
And show'rs began to fall;
John Barleycorn got up again,
And sore surpris'd them all.

The sultry suns of Summer came,
And he grew thick and strong,
His head weel arm'd wi' pointed spears,
That no one should him wrong.

The sober Autumn enter'd mild,
When he grew wan and pale;
His bending joints and drooping head
Show'd he began to fail.

His colour sicken'd more and more,
He faded into age;
And then his enemies began
To show their deadly rage.

They've taen a weapon, long and sharp,
And cut him by the knee;
Then ty'd him fast upon a cart,
Like a rogue for forgerie.

They laid him down upon his back,
And cudgell'd him full sore;
They hung him up before the storm,
And turn'd him o'er and o'er.

They filled up a darksome pit
With water to the brim;
They heaved in John Barleycorn,
There let him sink or swim.

They laid him out upon the floor,
To work him farther woe;
And still, as signs of life appear'd,
They toss'd him to and fro.

They wasted, o'er a scorching flame,
The marrow of his bones;
But a miller us'd him worst of all,
For he crush'd him between two stones.

And they hae taen his very heart's blood,
And drank it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,
Their joy did more abound.

John Barleycorn was a hero bold,
Of noble enterprise;
For if you do but taste his blood,
'Twill make your courage rise.

'Twill make a man forget his woe;
'Twill heighten all his joy;
'Twill make the widow's heart to sing,
Tho' the tear were in her eye.

Then let us toast John Barleycorn,
Each man a glass in hand;
And may his great posterity
Ne'er fail in old Scotland!

Almost there.Lammas — the first harvest — falls geometrically on the 6th of August this year, though tradition has long ...
04/08/2026

Almost there.

Lammas — the first harvest — falls geometrically on the 6th of August this year, though tradition has long settled on the 1st.

It marks a paradox. The rosehips are ripe. The Garrya is already setting its velvet catkins for midwinter display. The year is full and turning at the same time.

Hope you all enjoyed the Buck moon these past couple of nights. Named for the antlers that male deer are pushing out fas...
01/08/2026

Hope you all enjoyed the Buck moon these past couple of nights. Named for the antlers that male deer are pushing out fast this time of year — new growth, still in velvet.

Moon phases and planting. People talk about planting and plant care that follows the phases of the moon. There's no real evidence it works. I'd love there to be.

I've tried it. The plants don't grow better — but I'll tell you what I think is happening. The valence of the work changes. What changes is where attention goes. Paying attention to an external clock entrains us to a shared, observable, rhythmic nature that is galactic in scale. These are the cycles that regulate our experiences.

The same impulse that has us tracking the moon also has us marking the solstices and the cross-quarters. Once you start watching, you can't stop at the moon. Which brings me to the calendar.

A normal calendar is a wonky wheel on your bicycle. Seven-day weeks that repeat out of step with everything, months of uneven length, and a leap year bolted on to correct for the drift.

This is the ninth year I've made one of these — an astronomically accurate lunar calendar that follows the natural cycles we can actually observe, and puts the new moon back at the start. The eight seasonal markers are drawn on by hand, each one both a traditional festival and a little symbol I've reconstructed geometrically.

Make the moon phases secondary to weeks and months and your observation falls out of step with the calendar. It's the wrong way round.

The cross-quarter days are exact harmonics of the earth's journey round the sun. They fall at the same point in that journey every year — it's our day-numbering that's inconsistent, not the days themselves. Imbolc is the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and this year it lands on the 4th of February. It was measured by watching nature and by building immovable clocks. Some of the stone circles are exactly that.

Our ancestors were scientists. The standard calendar we inherited drifted from those observable markers as it was shaped over centuries by competing traditions — accurate enough for daily life, but no longer tied to what you can actually see in the sky.

The eight markers, with the names that survive across different traditions: Yule (winter solstice, new year), Imbolc/Candlemas, Ostara (spring equinox), Beltane (May Day), Litha (summer solstice), Lammas, Mabon (autumn equinox), Samhain (Halloween). On the chart, each is marked by a symbol — built from the geometric construction of basic shapes, the ones maths uses across every culture. Though that last part's really just my artistic licence for renaming the divisions.

Things i noticed this morning.
01/08/2026

Things i noticed this morning.

This was planted by the client as a tiny cutting over 50 years ago, a gift from a friend who has long since passed.Garde...
28/07/2026

This was planted by the client as a tiny cutting over 50 years ago, a gift from a friend who has long since passed.

Gardens that think with you.

I came across Andy Clark and David Chalmers' extended mind thesis — the idea that the mind doesn't stop at the skull, it reaches into objects, places, and other people. I thought this was so similar to how I understand gardens — as places where we keep and tend aspects of ourselves and that we use to help us process our thoughts.

A cutting from a friend isn't a plant, it's a friendship you can water. The gate is a gap between breaths. Passing through it signals a switch of attention. A path worn by use is a different thing to a path that was planned. Even if it's just the angle someone takes across the lawn — that's information. Place a marker there.

We have an old sink full of rocks and fossils collected on holiday. It holds specific family feelings that would otherwise just... soften

Making some moon themed trellis to cover an unused garage window.
22/07/2026

Making some moon themed trellis to cover an unused garage window.

Persicaria - Red Bistort
22/07/2026

Persicaria - Red Bistort

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