I’ve reached that point in the year when the number of posts I have time to write is overtaken by the number of subjects there is to write about. It happens every spring and causes me a rising sense of panic and frustration. There’s only one thing to do: take a deep breath and […]
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 monoculture of Vinca major ‘Alba’ (below) covering a stretch of chalk cliff beneath Charles Dickens’ Bleak House in Broadstairs. The wandering stems formed an undulating green custard, studded with thousands of pure […]
The sharp eyed among you will have noticed that I travel a lot. Whilst it’s not always as glamorous as it sounds, it takes me to all sorts of interesting places and into some astonishingly beautiful hotels. The new breed of five star Asian hotels are in a class of their own when it comes […]
Dwarf comfrey, or Symphytum ibericum, is a hardy, creeping perennial that can spread up to 1m. This makes it a great choice for a ground cover, particularly beneath trees and shrubs where it is difficult to establish other plants.