February Flowers
Reading time 8 minutes
It’s that time of year when galanthophiles (the polite name for snowdrop bores) start to bombard social media with images of their pearly-white treasures. […]
Bhutan
Daily Flower Candy: Magnolia doltsopa
Reading time 5 minutes
Magnolia doltsopa: Michelia doltsopa, sweet michelia There are trees and then there are trees. Queens among their ranks are the magnolias; strong, majestic, ebullient […]
Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New
Reading time 2 minutes
In his famous poem “In Memoriam”, Lord Alfred Tennyson included the verse: Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across […]
BlueBell Arboretum and Nursery
Reading time 6 minutes
I have been meaning to get better acquainted with the larger members of the plant world for some time. Being a ‘small’ gardener, my […]
Sheffield Botanical Gardens
Reading time 8 minutes
Over the years I’ve gained mixed impressions of Sheffield. It was neighbouring Rotherham that I encountered first, so one might think the only way […]
Daily Flower Candy: Hippeastrum (Amaryllis)
Reading time 1 minute
They are big, brash, uncompromising flowers, but I love them. Hailing from South America, Hippeastrums are often confused with their South African cousins the Amaryllis. […]
Chelsea 2013: My Top Ten Plants
Reading time 7 minutes
At a show on the scale of Chelsea picking out just ten plants which really get you excited is a tough job. Every year […]
A Spring Spectrum – Sandling Park, Kent
Reading time 7 minutes
There are those that frown upon the lusty delights of rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas. I am not one of them. I expect these naysayers […]
Paradise Found – Bumthang to Punakha
Reading time 8 minutes
First off, meet these cheeky grey langurs we met steeling bags of salt near the pass at Pele La. They’re not rare, but they […]
Prunus serrula var. tibetica
Reading time 1 minute
As shaggy and appealing as an Irish Setter, this is the trunk of a magnificent, mature Tibetan cherry, Prunus serrula var. tibetica, which we […]
Flowers of Bhutan – Arisaema nepenthoides
Reading time 1 minute
Bhutan’s forests may bear a passing similarity to the great gardens of Cornwall, but you know you’re somewhere exotic when the forest floor is […]
Bumthang in Bloom
Reading time 8 minutes
You’d be forgiven for thinking we’d transported ourselves to Switzerland but, no, this is Bhutan’s cultural heartland, Bumthang. Four bucolic pine-clad valleys make up […]