Favour the Ferns

Many years ago The Financial Times sent me to do a feature on the RHS ‘Flower Show’ at Tatton Park . I was totally naïve and had no idea what I was supposed to do or to write about. So my excitement was tempered by acute anxiety. The term ‘imposter syndrome’ could...
Snowdrop mania is coming…

Snowdrop mania is coming…

In the UK, right now, the horticultural world is about to drive us all mad with snowdrops. Pictures of. Articles about. Gardens with them. Anything people can think of to bash us over the head with snowdrops.

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Brilliant Brecon

Brilliant Brecon

Recently we made a visit to Brecon. This is not far from us, in case anyone was getting over excited about the possibility that I might have been travelling again. It’s in Wales, in the Brecon Beacons, recently re-christened Bannau Brycheiniog.

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You should have been here Next Year

You should have been here Next Year

Charles made a complaint recently when we were walking in the garden.
When I complained about him complaining he told me that it was good for me to have complaints about the planting.

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The Joy of Succulents

The Joy of Succulents

Well, it’s frosty outside and the sun is shining and you probably want me to write about snowdrops. There’s a lot of snowdrop waffle at this time of year, (I’ve done it myself) totally ignoring the freezing cold out there and the requirement to bend to see them. No, I...

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Messy with good bits

Messy with good bits

So, it’s good to be dogmatic and do the ‘put your garden to bed’ thing (, or equally, leave it all for the hoar frost (which never comes) – or the wee beasties who prefer it standing. (which are?)

But really, it’s rather more complicated.

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Box Blight: another hedge goes.

Box Blight: another hedge goes.

If you look carefully at this wonderfully out of focus photo you can see the blight. We have fought it for years. All over the garden. And we have been removing it from all over the garden. This year, after a drought, we got much pouring rain and the worst blight we had ever seen.

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My favourite plant right now.

My favourite plant right now.

I still love these two flowers together though. Maybe proving (rightly) that I know nothing of colour in gardens and understand even less.

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Gifting the Ephemeral.

Gifting the Ephemeral.

Knowing we won’t live forever, (we have not had a nasty diagnosis) we’re thinking about what will happen to the house and garden when we die.

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Words and Things in Gardens

Words and Things in Gardens

’m not sure why I originally wanted to make a garden. I started with a need to grow things, which grew and grew until I needed to leave London to find more garden space in the country

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To the Woods!

To the Woods!

So after some rather futile years, losing as much as we planted, we made a radical decision: to keep the big old trees, which appear able to weather the wildlife.

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Droning on…

Droning on…

Drone pictures are wonderfully versatile. They are not simply pictures from above but may give views of a garden from a variety of places.

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