Daily Flower Candy: Ranunculus Pon-Pon Series
Reading time 4 minutes
Ranunculus asiaticus: Persian Buttercup I am not sure I have the patience to be a plant breeder, nor the stamina to go hunting for […]
Daily Flower Candy
Daily Flower Candy: Vigorous Vincas
Reading time 5 minutes
Vinca: periwinkle First, a health warning: periwinkles, especially the kind that appreciate the British climate, can be complete thugs. Just this weekend I spotted a quarter-acre […]
Daily Flower Candy: Eranthis hyemalis
Reading time 3 minutes
Eranthis hyemalis: winter aconite, winter hellebore, winter wolf’s bane. Jack Frost has arrived in the south of England, wrapping his icy arms around our […]
Daily Flower Candy: Euonymus japonicus
Reading time 4 minutes
Euonymus japonicus: evergreen spindle, Japanese spindle On days like these, when we’d all rather be indoors, wrapped in a blanket with a glass of […]
Christmas Flower Candy: Cobaea scandens
Reading time 3 minutes
If you live in the Northern hemisphere, you may consider Cobaea scandens, otherwise known as cup and saucer vine, an odd choice of Christmas Flower […]
Daily Flower Candy: Geranium ‘Rozanne’
Reading time 3 minutes
I will admit to being underwhelmed when the RHS named Geranium ‘Rozanne’ their ‘Plant of the Centenary’ in 2013. The hardy perennial was chosen […]
Daily Vegetable Candy: Mesembryanthemum crystallinum
Reading time 4 minutes
Mesembryanthemum crystallinum: bingcai, common ice plant, crystalline iceplant, ice greens. When in China, my general policy is to eat every food I am presented […]
Daily Flower Candy: Balanophora harlandii
Reading time 2 minutes
My knowledge of parasitic plants is limited to say the least. It extends no further than dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) and toothwort (Lathraea clandestina). But […]
Dahlia Week: Classy Collerettes
Reading time 2 minutes
Dahlias come in all shapes and sizes. This is why, like other extensively hybridised flowers, dahlias are classified by flower type. There are waterlilies, […]
Dahlia Week: Big and Beautiful
Reading time 4 minutes
When I was a boy, most dahlias looked a little like D. ‘Lady Darlene’. They were bold and brazen, not afraid to be bi-coloured […]
Daily Flower Candy: Streptocarpus saxorum
Reading time 5 minutes
Streptocarpus saxorum: False African violet, Cape primrose. Streptocarpus and I have an on/off love affair. I buy them from the garden centre looking fresh […]
Daily Flower Candy: Lilium ‘Scheherezade’
Reading time 4 minutes
The number of occasions during the day when I feel I am starting to lose my marbles is increasing steadily, to a point where I […]