A pattern I have noticed when rambling with my husband is he likes linear walks whereas I prefer the circular.

He is half Danish and likes things ordered, symmetrical and known. My genes seem to enjoy not knowing what is round the corner!
Our choice of art on the walls of our house also mirrors this difference. His choices are documentary in style whereas mine are interpretive and, more often than not, pattern.
I had been ogling Diana Heynes’ Conker mandala on Facebook and looking forward to making my own. However, after several ‘reccies’ round our village it seems the horse-chesnut trees are not quite ready to relinquish their treasure! We did manage to find one and, although partially white, it makes a great central point for the mandala.
I never knew there was so much history in mandalas. You can scratch the surface into a wonder world of Buddhist, American Indian or Hindu cultures to name but a few.
Just the process of collecting the natural materials is relaxing and fun. Very basically you need a central eye in my mandalas that is the dried thistle (I don’t know its technical name but I call it a Ruff) in the first picture and the solitary conker in the second. Then you radiate outwards in a circular manner with whatever you choose to use. The pattern should then be enclosed with a square which is achieved with ease in a photo frame!

Words and pics by Jo Green, a former allotmenteer, forager, amateur herbalist, pickler and jam maker who squeezed her allotment greenery into her tiny garden