Glee 2024 – My favourite finds from the show by Melanie Taylor
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Newmarket-based garden designer Melanie Taylor is a gardening columnist for Velvet Magazine – the regional magazine of the year at the National Newspaper Awards 2024. She is an RHS qualified horticulturalist and built her debut show garden, a Countryside Border at the Belvoir Castle Flower and Garden Show in 2023 based on the native flora and fauna of the Vale of Belvoir. Reach out to Melanie via the contact form on her website, www.hazelwoodplantscapes.co.uk
Here she shares her ‘favourite finds’ from this year’s show:
FeatherSnap - Your window to the wild
Ahead of its European launch on October 15th, visitors to Glee 2024 were treated to a preview of the FeatherSnap Bird Feeder – a solar powered, wi-fi enabled smart feeder with AI recognition and 4G technology to send HD quality images and videos directly to your phone. I really love the idea that I’ll be able to watch what’s happening in my garden from wherever I am. The technology is proven, having originated in the company’s trail cameras, and the latency is so quick that it would take just 20 seconds for me to switch to a live feed.
A free-to-use FeatherSnapCam App helps newcomers like me identify the visitors to my garden and has lots of fun facts about species and the right seed mixes to attract them. FeatherSnap’s staff ornithologist contributed to the product design ensuring it was safe for wildlife and trained the AI models for accurate identification. The gamification feature of collecting badges for different birds is great, providing competitive fun for all the family. For avid birders, a premium subscription service is available which enables you to store photos and videos.
Garden design clients often ask me how they can make their gardens more wildlife friendly and I’m certain the FeatherSnap with its sleek design will be a great addition to both urban and country gardens. The camera is robust and durable, and the feeder has a double chamber for different types of feed to attract more species. The seed tray and platform are also wide and sturdy enough to take the weight of the resident squirrel in my garden. It’s reassuring to know that as a UK/ Dutch company, all the data storage is on AWS servers in Germany, so it’s GDPR compliant and secure so I can trust that my data is safe.
BBC’s Springwatch and Winterwatch have made birdwatching popular again and I can’t wait to get up close and personal with the birdlife in my garden when FeatherSnap launches this month.
https://uk.feathersnapcam.com/
Young inventor creates award-winning product - the Kindling CrackerTM
Having already sold over a million units worldwide, New Zealand invention the Kindling Cracker TM is the safe way to split wood without needing an axe.
Made from top-grade recycled cast iron, the ingenious Kindling Cracker TM was the brainchild of Ayla Hutchinson, aged just 13, whose invention is now patented world-wide.
Distributed in the UK and Europe by Fandango Fire Tools, the Kindling Cracker TM with its innovative design with the splitting blade protected by a safety ring, is available in two sizes – Original weighing 4.8kg and 22 x 22 x 31cm or the King size version at 9.5kg and 27.5 x 27.5 x 43cm.
Shipped from their warehouse in Manchester, and already one of the bestselling fireside products for Fandango’s dealers, I believe the Kindling Cracker TM perfectly complements wood burning stoves, fireplaces, pizza ovens and fire pits which I’m frequently being asked to incorporate into the gardens I design.
With the trend for outdoor living continuing to grow, I think the clever design and portable nature of this pioneering product has universal appeal and is perfect for camping trips or use in the home.
Making gardens safer with Invisible Creations
Elderly, disabled or vulnerable clients often ask me for design solutions to make them feel safer in their gardens, so I was delighted to see these innovative, accessible products from Invisible Creations at Glee 2024.
Born out of their existing range of adaptation and mobility products, and inspired by Director Laura Wood's grandmother, the team at Invisible Creations have designed garden mobility products that combine safety with style. The team brought together everyday garden objects such as path lights, plant pots and window boxes with stylish grab rails 'in disguise' to provide both style and practicality.
The new range provides support and confidence with daily activities and gives peace of mind through mitigating the risk of trips and falls in the garden, allowing everyone to live well as they age and continue to enjoy their gardens.
What I really like about them is how the designs blend in seamlessly with both front and back gardens without compromising the owner's personal style. Because they are disguised, I think they improve security through making homes look less vulnerable to crime by removing the visual cues of clinical looking handrails.
I’ll definitely be specifying these simple, inclusive products in my future designs to make gardens more accessible and safer for people to enjoy for years to come.
www.invisiblecreations.co.uk
Floral magic - the Halliesphere casts its glorious spell in debut at Glee.
Having secured a deal with luxury ceramic manufacturer Duchess China 1888, Jennifer Susan’s original air-dried clay Halliesphere has come a long way in the three years since she designed it at her Cotswold kitchen table.
The Halliesphere’s simple design empowers others to effortlessly create their own beautiful arrangements all year round and magically keeps blooms looking their best for longer by keeping the stems straight.
I love the simplicity of the sphere’s design and how Jennifer is designing a different edging to the pieces to tie in with the seasons, like the new iconic William Morris Seaweed pattern released for Christmas. The hand painted 22-carat gold-rimmed Halliespheres will look beautiful atop any vintage jug or teapot.
A celebration of British craftsmanship and invention, the Halliesphere is a deceptively simple, yet luxuriously elegant product for modern living which will grace many a home for years to come.
www.halliesphere.com
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Halliesphere
POTR flatpack planters – the self-watering innovation for hassle free plant care
POTR’s award-winning flatpack plant pot was born out of the Covid 19 lockdown, when co-founder and designer Andrew Flynn, received broken plant pots in the mail.
Andrew, a former lead product designer at Dyson, and fellow designer Martin Keane, together with brand director Eilidh Cunningham challenged themselves to find a way of designing a plant pot that would use up to 95% less material than traditional planters. Made from recycled polypropylene using local manufacturers for the tooling and die-cutting processes, and designed for letterbox delivery, POTR has slashed the carbon footprint associated with shipping traditional pots.
I love how Andrew and the POTR team have got into the minds of their customers and from the outset were thinking about how they could add additional value to their product. Knowing that plant parents often forget to water their houseplants, they’ve taken the guess work out of caring for your plants and devised the wicking cord to enable the plant to self-regulate its water intake from the reservoir in the bottom of the pot.
I especially like POTR’s approach to solving the end users’ problems. Having teamed up with online florist Bloom & Wild, their patent pending letterbox vase solves the problem of not necessarily having a vase to hand when receiving a surprise flower delivery.
Sustainability and the circular economy are at the heart of everything POTR create. It’s good to see that their best-selling ‘Saved from the Sea’ range of flatpack pots are made from recycled fishing nets and POTR are supporting Ghost Diving UK, by donating 5% of their profits to the ocean clean-up charity. Having won the RHS Sustainable Product of the Year at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, there are yet more exciting developments to come. The POTR team are continuing to refine their products utilising new and innovative materials that could be a real game changer for the horticultural industry.
Feverfew – sustainability and community at the heart of a new business success story
Feverfew, the UK’s first garden wear brand designed for women, by women was created when founder Rachel Eunson couldn’t find gardening gloves to fit her small hands, so she solved the problem herself.
I love the look and feel of these gloves, stylish and hardwearing, yet supple enough to provide dexterity, they even mould to the shape of your hands after a few wears. The palm is padded for extra protection and comfort and the ribbed stitching across them provides a level of grip for holding tools. The reinforced fingertips with touchscreen forefinger and thumb are a useful feature - as a garden writer I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to remove my gloves in the garden to take photographs.
The brand is only a year old, but Rachel has already won the Best Buy Award for Lightweight Gloves from www.gardenersworld.com and has more innovations and collaborations lined up for the future.
www.feverfewgarden.co.uk
Post Glee 2024 guest expert blog – Melanie Taylor Hazelwood Plantscapes
Contact – 07883 914858
melanie.taylor@hazelwoodplantscapes.co.uk
