What an extraordinary spell of weather we have been having. It’s so hot that I am relieved to be returning home to the coast every evening to enjoy a gin and tonic or glass […]
Category: Bulbs
Daily Flower Candy: Lilium martagon ‘Arabian Knight’
Phew! What a scorcher the weekend was. Whilst I had the right idea on Saturday, spending much of the day at my friend’s beach hut in Whitstable sipping chilled rosé, on Sunday I needed […]
Last Hurrah
Slowly but surely the petals are falling from my tulips, one by one, leaving skinny seed pods where yesterday hovered fat balloons of shot silk. The first to fade were ‘Christmas Orange’ and ‘Portland’, […]
My Perfect Ten Tulips
In spite of late planting and a cold April, it has been an exceptional year for tulips at The Watch House. They have flowered and flowered, and I have discovered some ravishing new varieties; […]
Drama Queens II: Tulip ‘Orange Dynasty’
Choosing tulips from a catalogue is rather like deciding which confections to buy from a sweet shop. Each variety has something to tempt – colour, shape, perfume, size – and all are guaranteed to […]
Drama Queens I: Tulipa ‘Slawa’
Ladies and gentlemen, for my 800th post, may I present you with the first of two floral drama queens; a bold, brassy diva of a Triumph tulip named ‘Slawa’. Those who speak the language […]
A week is a long time in gardening
It was British Prime Minister Harold Wilson who first said ‘a week is a long time in politics’. Almost sixty years later, his words have proved as sage now as then. Had Harold Wilson […]
