Daily Flower Candy: Iris confusa
Reading time 6 minutes
Iris confusa: bamboo iris, 扁竹蘭 As the fig, olive and bay have matured, our seaside garden has become partly shaded. Where once plants basked […]
Latest Posts
Daily Flower Candy: Tulipa ‘Rococo’
Reading time 3 minutes
Some of you were not enamoured of the buds of Tulipa ‘Rococo’ when I featured them in a post three weeks ago. The gnarled, […]
Chelsea Flower Show 2016 Preview: The Cloudy Bay Garden
Reading time 7 minutes
In just 11 days the Chelsea Flower Show will fling open its gates to an expectant crowd of RHS members and their guests. Until […]
Feeling Good
Reading time 2 minutes
I’ve been feeling a little bit down in the dumps this week. I blame the headache-inducing, humid weather and lack of time to get out […]
My Top Spring Bulbs 2016
Reading time 10 minutes
For the last two months our seaside garden has been ablaze with spring bulbs. Even if I do say so myself, this year’s display […]
Daily Flower Candy: Pelargonium papilionaceum
Reading time 4 minutes
pelargonium papilionaceum: geranium papilionaceum, butterfly geranium, Rambossie Geranium as a perfume and flavouring is very much in vogue. Its complex, warming, astringent notes are […]
Sunshine and Showers at Saltwood
Reading time 9 minutes
I have met some Americans who believe all us Brits live in quaint thatched cottages and are intimately acquainted with The Queen. We might […]
Daily Flower Candy: Tulipa “Brown Sugar”
Reading time 2 minutes
“Brown sugar how come you taste so good?” So sang the Rolling Stones. I doubt Mick Jagger was referring to this Triumph tulip with […]
In Bud II
Reading time 4 minutes
It snowed today in Central London. From my desk in a muggy office I anxiously check the BBC weather website to see if my […]
My Own Private Keukenhof
Reading time 6 minutes
Tulips are a special passion of mine. They are inexpensive, easy to grow, endlessly colourful and, most importantly, good to look at. I am […]
Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back
Reading time 3 minutes
The star turns in our London garden are performed by those plants that can survive with their heads in semi-shade and their roots in […]
In Bud
Reading time 3 minutes
How often do we take the time to appraise a flower’s bud in quite the same we would its open bloom? Not often enough I’d […]