The life and loves of a time-poor plantsman
Part of my day job is buying Christmas trees for British department store John Lewis & Partners. It’s a task I particularly enjoy since I can apply a modicum of horticultural expertise to my decision-making. Over the years, artificial Christmas trees have become increasingly realistic, to the extent that many models now have ‘tips’ that […]
Read More
If you’ve not put two and two together yet, I’ll let you into a little secret: when I am not writing this blog and working in my garden, you’ll find me buying Christmas decorations, food and hampers for a well-known department store. At work they call me Mr Christmas rather than The Frustrated Gardener. […]
Read More
I am acutely aware that my blog risks going to dogs …. or dog to be precise. That dog is called Buster. You may have seen him on social media today. If you haven’t, I can only assume you live on the moon, in which case I expect you are acquainted with the star […]
Read More
Every year my team and I dress a hundred or more Christmas trees for product reviews, press shows, store displays and special customers, but when it comes to dressing our own trees it’s a different story. Having explored every look going, we find ourselves stymied by choice and just a little nervous about what people might […]
Read More
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 has created a vibrant new garden on the roof of […]
Read More
The River Test in Hampshire is one of the world’s finest chalk streams, renowned for the quality of its dry fly fishing. I am no angler, but it doesn’t take an expert to see that the water is as fresh and clear as anything that ever came out of a tap – probably cleaner too. […]
Read More