Latest news with #Allium
The Sun
17-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Sun
All the Middle of Lidl plants being sold in supermarkets this week with prices starting at £1.99
WITH summer now in full swing, many people will be getting their gardening gloves on and looking to spruce up their outdoor spaces. For those looking to give their garden a glow-up on a budget, Lidl has launched a new range of outdoor plants, with prices starting from just £1.99. Starting from this week, shoppers can get their hands on British bedding plants and assorted flowering plants, which are perfect for brightening up flowerbeds this summer. A £4.99 pot of French Lavender, perfect for attracting bees and butterflies, is among the plants hitting the Middle of Lidl from this Thursday, June 19. Those looking for something brighter can pick up the Bougainvillea plant for £7.99, featuring "vibrant tropical-like pink flowers". Gardeners will also be able to find a beautiful light pink Fuschia plant for £6.99, and an Allium plant, which features feathery white flowers, for £5.99. The cheapest finds in the new range are the Assorted Flowering Plants and the British Bedding Plants, both at £1.99. Not only are the assorted flowers budget friendly, but you can also expect them to bloom every week until October. More flowers will be hitting the Middle of Lidl from June 22, including a garden staple, the Hydrangea, for £8.99. Garden Roses, which are perfect for patios, will also be available for £9.99, as well as assorted Calla Lillies, which can be grown indoors or outdoors, for £5.99. More dramatic Oriental Lillies will also be hitting shelves for £8.99, which the supermarket says will add a "wonderful frangrance to your garden". To help you look after your new plants, Lidl is also offering a range of plant food and compost. Five Lidl rosés you need this summer, according to a wine expert - a £6.99 buy is as light & crispy as £22 Whispering Angel The Levington Tomorite Concentrated Tomato Food is being sold for £3.99, while the Miracle-Gro Pour & Feed Ready To Use Liquid is also £3.99. A 20l pack of compost is selling for £1.99, while decorative bark chips are available for £3.49. Lidl's plants are some of the cheapest available right now, with Sainsbury's selling a garden lavender basket for £20, and Wilko selling a similar Fuschia plant for £7.99. The flowers are available in the 'middle aisle' of Lidl across stores nationwide, although you'll want to be quick as they're expected to fly off shelves. You can also call up your local store in advance to check if they have the products you're looking for in stock. Other Lidl summer deals Also in the 'Middle of Lidl' from this week, shoppers will be able to get their hands on some budget cycling gear, perfect for those planning on spending the longer summer evenings and weekends outdoors on their bike. The CRIVIT Adult's Cycle Helmet with Rear Light is selling for £12.99, while the retailer is also offering a Premium Cordless Compressed Air Pump for £24.99. A dual power carpet cleaner is also going on sale for £79.99, and a handheld garment steamer for £19.99. The supermarket is even offering a dupe of the trendy Stanley Cup for just £5.99, available in a range of colours including green, pink, black and beige. How to bag a bargain SUN Savers Editor Lana Clements explains how to find a cut-price item and bag a bargain… Sign up to loyalty schemes of the brands that you regularly shop with. Big names regularly offer discounts or special lower prices for members, among other perks. Sales are when you can pick up a real steal. Retailers usually have periodic promotions that tie into payday at the end of the month or Bank Holiday weekends, so keep a lookout and shop when these deals are on. Sign up to mailing lists and you'll also be first to know of special offers. It can be worth following retailers on social media too. When buying online, always do a search for money off codes or vouchers that you can use and are just two sites that round up promotions by retailer. Scanner apps are useful to have on your phone. app has a scanner that you can use to compare prices on branded items when out shopping. Bargain hunters can also use B&M's scanner in the app to find discounts in-store before staff have marked them out. And always check if you can get cashback before paying which in effect means you'll get some of your money back or a discount on the item.
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Yahoo
14th-century 'picture-perfect' Cumbrian restaurant with a 'glorious garden'
A 14th-century 'picture-perfect hamlet' in the Lake District has been described as having 'a restaurant with a glorious garden'. Crowned by the Good Food Guide, the publication held nothing but praise for Askham Hall. Chef Richard Swale's restaurant has wowed critics for years, and it's clear to see why. Views from the 508 Bus from Penrith to Kendal that goes over Kirkstone Pass this evening — Angela Brady (@AngellinaBrady) June 2, 2025 They said: "Dining at chef Richard Swale's Allium at Askham Hall is like being a house guest in a small château. The 14th-century Pele tower in the picture-perfect hamlet of Askham was, until 2012, the family home of the Lowther family. "Sensitively converted for human-scaled hospitality, it remains family-owned and an integral part of the wider working estate. A hand-drawn sketch within the daily changing six-course menu illustrates the provenance of the vast majority of ingredients direct from their own perfectly tended market gardens, farms and upland game areas. "Produce this fresh demands cooking of absolute integrity and authenticity, and this Allium is certainly one lily that needs no gilding. The result? Uber-local dishes of joyous celebration, technical excellence and maximum flavour. "The Askham garden salad with sheep's curd, truffle and a duck-gizzard vinaigrette is a dish with nowhere to hide, offering simple perfection, leaf by carefully placed leaf. The bold approach to sweet Mull langoustines with red curry and cauliflower pays dividends, while tender red deer with summer savory, beetroot and elderberries captures the essence of this distinctive place on a single plate. "A geranium set cream with rhubarb evidences a lightness of touch and preparedness to elevate humble plants to elegant status. "Dining in the airy garden room, sensitively appended to the original castle walls, emphasises its proximity to the produce which is the bedrock of brilliance underpinning this 'charming experience'. Recommended reading: Men arrested in Carlisle as part of robbery investigation Kendal Calling pay tribute after Brian Wilson death Free heart screening weekend set up to honour Liam Dodd "To match the quality of cooking, an awe-inspiring leather-bound wine list navigates an A-Z of the world's great wines from the private cellars of passionate collectors. Despite some unique rarities costing an average UK annual salary, there are many well-chosen options at prices accessible to ordinary mortals. "All is lovingly stewarded by charming house manager/maître d'/sommelier Nico Chieze, who approaches customers of differing wine knowledge with equal grace and curates flights that cut through any complexity or concern. "Some restaurants may appear arbitrary in their location, but Allium and its close-knit family at Askham Hall has deep roots into the local land, history and community."
Chicago Tribune
15-04-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Outdoors column: Ramps have risen, spring beauties are blooming
Once there's even a hint of spring in the air, such as longer days with more sunshine or the plaintive song of the black-capped chickadee, it's time to look for ephemeral wildflowers. In fact, by now in mid-April, if you haven't been out, you've already missed out on seeing some of the early bird ephemerals in full bloom. Spring ephemerals refer to plants that bloom before the leaves emerge from trees and hide the sunlight from the ground. A recent walk at a local forest preserve seemed devoid of ephemerals until we looked closer to discover blooming spring beauties, as well as a carpet of green leaves called ramps. We also found the last of the blooming skunk cabbage tucked in a swampy woods. Ramps, sometimes called wild garlic or spring onions, have two, flat, broad green leaves about 10 inches tall, beneath which are white stalks fastened to small light-colored bulbs under the soil. The odd name for this plant comes from an English onion-like plant called the ransom. Ramps growing in the wild in Europe and those growing wild in the United States are not the same species. But they are in the genus Allium, which includes many odiferous species including onions, leeks and garlic. Kneeling down next to some ramps, I noted a faint garlic smell. It was an odor noticed by Native Americans centuries ago. The city of Chicago was named after a large grouping of ramps seen growing near Lake Michigan in the 17th century. The plant was called chicagou by Native Americans. Ramps are among the first groupings of greenery I notice in early spring in the woods, but they don't flower until June, when they appear as snowball-like flower clusters resting upon a leafless stalk. Ramps are edible, but they cannot be picked at a forest preserve, and in fact they are endangered in Canada due to over-harvesting. Ramps are sometimes available at local markets that open early in the season, for example the Green City Market in Chicago. Occasionally in and among the ramps, we noticed low-lying, delicate, grass-like leaves and small whitish flowers with five white petals painted with dark pink veins. These were spring beauties reaching fewer than 12 inches above ground when flowering. They were nestled in fallen, dead oak leaves. This welcome addition to the forest floor in April grows from an underground tuber or corm, which looks like a very small potato. Native Americans gathered the tubers, cooked and ate them. Look closely at the spring beauties and you might see tiny bees seeking nectar and inadvertently transferring pollen to help the species thrive. A bee called a spring beauty miner specializes in pollinating this delicate bloom. The miner bee lives alone, nesting in the ground. Once the spring beauties stop blooming, sometime in May, the bee's life cycle is complete and it can no longer be found in the wild until next spring. This connection is an example of how native bees evolved with native plants, and if you want to see the plant being visited by bees, now is the time to look. Closer examination of the forest floor also produced looks at the tiny blooms of bloodroot as well as the emerging leaves of ephemerals soon to bloom, including trout lily. It's getting almost too late to see the flowers of the very early blooming skunk cabbage. They're not showy and they're difficult to see, but I was determined to find them this year. This early bloomer starts out as a thick, rubber-like 4-6-inch tall spathe of varying colors such as yellow, red and green. Inside the spathe is a 2-inch-long spadix upon which miniature button-like yellow flowers reside. After blooming, the spathe deteriorates leaving behind cabbage-like leaves that grow all summer. We found some small leaves that day, and then a spathe in which flowers were blooming. Like ramps, skunk cabbage emits an odor, although this one is much more foul-smelling to attract insects. Skunk cabbage can produce its own heat even with the ground is still frozen so that the flowers will bloom. As spring progresses, we will be seeking large stands of blooming trillium, wild geranium and Jack-in-the-pulpit. Watching the earlier ephemerals foreshadows more beauty to unfold in the next several weeks. Sheryl DeVore has worked as a full-time and freelance reporter, editor and photographer for the Chicago Tribune and its subsidiaries. She's the author of several books on nature and the environment. Send story ideas and thoughts to sheryldevorewriter@
