The life and loves of a time-poor plantsman
I will admit to being underwhelmed when the RHS named Geranium ‘Rozanne’ their ‘Plant of the Centenary’ in 2013. The hardy perennial was chosen by RHS members from a list of 10 plants which included Russell Hybrid lupins, Rosa ‘Iceberg’, and Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’. All are charming, garden-worthy plants but don’t really set my pulse […]
Read More
Long standing followers of The Frustrated Gardener will know that I have something of a crush on hollyhocks (Alcea). So it was no surprise when my heart went all aflutter at the sight of The Botanic Nursery exhibit at Hampton Court last week. In previous years there have been a handful of hollyhocks incorporated into the […]
Read More
Just occasionally, well, maybe a little more often than that, I buy a plant for all the wrong reasons. Invariably my foolishness leads to failure, followed by guilt. I hate to see a plant die, especially when it’s through no fault of its own. I tell myself I should know better than to waste my […]
Read More
One of the joys of writing this blog is having the incentive to seek out and learn about new plants. Today, on a training course at our company conference centre, I took some time out to explore the grounds. In the otherwise flagging herbaceous borders I spied these curious fruits and lush leaves, which belonged to a […]
Read More
Earlier this year I was contacted by Kristel Engelen at Dutch gardening magazine ‘Tuinieren’, asking if The Frustrated Gardener would like to be featured on the publication’s ‘online harvest’ page. Flattered, I sent off an image of RHS Harlow Carr that Kristel had requested (above) with some information about myself. I promptly forgot all about it. It was only last week when The […]
Read More
I have been a little quiet of late and that’s for three reasons. The first is work, which has been abnormally busy. The second and third are garden related. In London we have been building raised beds in which we intend to cultivate vegetables. I am ridiculously excited at the prospect of growing my own, having […]
Read More
Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii has featured once already in Daily Flower Candy, but I couldn’t resist including a photograph taken this weekend in our local park, where it has formed rolling mounds of acid-green flowers almost as tall as I am. In bright sunlight the effect is dazzling; brighter and zestier than any host of golden […]
Read More
With both gardens almost locked-down for winter it’s time to start writing about some of the places that have not yet made it on to The Frustrated Gardener. These half-forgotten visits are like blogging hay – sweet, fragrant and reminiscent of a time when the earth was warm and the sun high in the heavens […]
Read MoreNeed some colour at the back of your herbaceous border in late summer? Then look not further than Eupatorium purpureum, otherwise known as Joe Pye weed. The legend of Joe Pye is shrouded in mystery. He may or may not have been a Native American, living in the 18th or 19th century, and is said to […]
Read More
Forming a perfect, filigree sphere this is the flower head of Echinops ritro ‘White Globe’. I can’t recall why I omitted this work of nature’s art from my original post about Tintinhull, but now seems a fitting time to rescue it from digital oblivion. Echinops (globe thistles) are members of the aster family, but gone are […]
Read More