The Remains of the Day
Reading time 6 minutes
There comes a point every year when I begin to lose sight of our London garden. It’s nothing to do with my failing vision […]
Plants
The Winds of Change
Reading time 4 minutes
I’ve just come in from the garden, where the temperature has dropped dramatically since lunchtime. A brisk, rain-laden breeze has whipped up, carrying away summer’s last […]
Daily Flower Candy: Lilium ‘Kushi Maya’
Reading time 3 minutes
‘Lilies in October!?’ I hear you exclaim. Maybe in the southern hemisphere, but not in England, surely? Well yes actually, these wonderful, fragrant flowers […]
Daily Flower Candy: Colchicum ‘Waterlily’
Reading time 3 minutes
These flowers may faintly resemble those of a Nymphaea, but here the resemblance of Colchicum ‘Waterlily’ to an aquatic plant ends. Like other colchicums, the flowers […]
Getting Noticed
Reading time 2 minutes
It’s always nice to be noticed, and even nicer to be appreciated. Today I am walking tall and smiling like the Cheshire Cat as not […]
Daily Flower Candy: Kniphofia rooperi
Reading time 3 minutes
Before the Second World War kniphofias, better known as red hot pokers, were one of Britain’s most popular garden plants. They sustained gardeners’ Victorian […]
Lost for words
Reading time 1 minute
Rarely do I find myself lost for words but tonight, as I consider my return to work and the inevitability of autumn, I feel a […]
Daily Flower Candy: Fuchsia magellanica var. gracilis AGM
Reading time 2 minutes
Few plants hold their flowers as gracefully as fuchsias. Whether large or small flowered, the blooms typically tremble at the end of fine wiry stems. […]
Picturesque Perfect: Hotel Endsleigh, Devon
Reading time 17 minutes
‘A Cottage’ is how Georgina, sixth Duchess of Bedford, described her country home at Endsleigh in Devon. Most visitors today, whether to the garden […]
Top Tips: Preparing Your Garden for a Summer Holiday
Reading time 10 minutes
The school summer break is over and the kids are back for the autumn term, which means it must be time to take our holidays. […]
Daily Flower Candy: Begonia ‘Glowing Embers’
Reading time 2 minutes
Begonias are such stalwarts of the summer garden that they are often overlooked, even sniffed at, by so-called fashionable gardeners. I’m not attracted by […]
Sissinghurst – Fire and Ice
Reading time 7 minutes
By late summer both of our plots have started to run out of puff, so I am always keen to seek out gardens which manage to […]