Garden Wildlife | The Frustrated Gardener

Posts from the ‘Garden Wildlife’ category

January is a unique month in the year when plants, on the whole, demand very little from gardeners. House plants are an exception, but even these have minimal needs when light levels are low and days are short. January is the perfect month for gardeners…

Ten Things To Do In The Garden in January

January 11, 2019

Comments

The elements just keep on giving this year. In the space of three months we’ve had record cold and record heat; now record rainfall, at least in some parts of the country. As for East Kent, we’ve largely swerved the dramatic…

Whatever the Weather

June 2, 2018

Comments

I like bees, but I love bumblebees more. The sight of their comedically cumbersome bodies ambling across an umbel, or alighting delicately on a gossamer-thin petal never fails to amuse me. Bumblebees are amiable little creatures, disinclined to harass or sting humans, unlike some of their…

The Plight of the Bumblebee

September 7, 2016

Comments

I was in the garden early this morning, the very best time to be out there, enjoying the collared doves’ soft cooing between bursts of raucous squealing from the circling herring gulls. Whilst ducking down into the entrance of our undercroft for tools I spied an enormous bumble bee clinging pathetically to a pile…

To Fly Another Day

August 7, 2014

Comments

I had never heard of Vestra Wealth before this year’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and that’s for one very good reason – I have no wealth to manage. Should I come up trumps in the lottery, I would have no hesitation in beating a…

Hampton Court Flower Show 2014: Vestra Wealth’s Vista

July 16, 2014

Comments

A cool, wet start to May has been just what the hostas ordered. Plants in our London garden are emerging lush and leafy, so far untroubled by slugs and snails. The latter are notable by their absence, but I refrain from commenting too loudly lest…

Happy Hostas

May 13, 2014

Comments

Just two flights of stairs away from one of Britain’s busiest retail floors, six storeys above Oxford Street, lies London’s newest urban green space. The Frustrated Gardener visited today, just a few days after it was revealed to the public. In honour of 150 years trading on London’s Oxford Street, John Lewis…

Up on the Roof

May 7, 2014

Comments

This Christmas our friends Travis and Beth at Trevoole sent us a copy of ‘Dear Friend and Gardener’, a collection of correspondence between distinguished gardeners Beth Chatto and the late, great Christopher Lloyd. I got stuck in immediately, relishing the robust exchange of opinions on…

Bursting Forth on Boxing Day

December 26, 2013

Comments

Over the summer, we removed most of our bird feeders for cleaning and to reduce the amount of spilled seed on the terrace. I know we should probably keep food out year-round, but our neighbours do a very good job of that. Now bleached and…

Welcoming Back the Birds

November 23, 2013

Comments

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. I love this quote from Henry David Thoreau, American author, poet, philosopher and naturalist. It sums up entirely my new outlook on leaving our friends’ smallholding after a week’s holiday. My aim…

Trevoole, et vous?

August 31, 2013

Comments