Hand-made bits of heaven

We’ve been super-busy at Positive Potions these last few weeks, so this post is long overdue… but rather like our Potions’ six-weeks long cold maceration time (!), when we go quiet online, it probably means we’ve been cooking up something lovely behind the scenes. These amazing hand-made plant labels are a case in point. Each label has been cut separately, and every letter has been set and beaten out into the copper with a hammer by head gardener, Joe Anderson. One of the many incredible things about the garden at Bodorgan is that it really makes you see the value in doing things properly. Hundreds of years of gardening and many gardeners’ lives and dreams have gone into this place. And I remember when I first fought my way in here with a pair of bypass loppers all those years ago, the magic of finding hand-made lead labels, still pinned to the walls – long after the plants they named had disappeared – it really was something else! So this is a nod to all that: we’re hearing those previous gardeners, and loving to think that they might have approved of the way we’re going about things right now, in this age when so much is disposable, mass-produced, high-speed, ephemeral. Here we are, in a gorgeous corner of North Wales, steadily hammering out these precious labels to stand proudly next to our powerful botanicals, fruit trees and vines. (Copper is a resonant material, too, as one of the oldest copper mines is right here on Anglesey.) It’s a great new year task, too, beating out with determination all we’re intending to do this year in the garden! Lovely days of plotting and planning before the growing season really takes off!