This week has seen the summer solstice and the year's longest day in the Northern Hemisphere. It's been a beautifully sunny week and I've been admiring plants best described as sun-worshippers, including alpines, sweet peas and roses. I've also been taking the opportunity to position my armillary sphere accurately. Positioning [...]
This week has seen quintessential June weather - the sunny days I remember from childhood but which have seemed lacking in recent years. The garden is filled with roses and peonies but for some reason I have mostly chosen a series of other plants to talk about, including a couple [...]
Edelweiss is a flower known to many thanks to 'The Sound of Music' but I suspect that few could describe what it looks like. Up close it does look interesting but the word beautiful doesn't spring immediately to mind. If Helen of Troy's face was one to launch a thousand [...]
Alpine troughs are perfect containers to let your garden design skills run riot, but in a small space. Alpines are small, pretty and above all diverse. If you like designing but don't have much space, alpines are a perfect set of plants to experiment with creative combinations. Once you've understood [...]
This week I have been propagating Prickly Pears, indentifying an unknown Iris and admiring roses, clematis, saxifrages and cirsium.
Are you a Dahlia debutante growing Dahlias for the first time this year? Have you grown them before but never tried taking cuttings? Have you got a plant with lots of bushy growth? If so you could double, triple or even quadruple the number of flowers by taking cuttings. Each [...]
This is my first post in a couple of weeks as I have been away. I have allot to do in the garden but so much to share. I hope you enjoy my Six. Greenhouse research Greenhouse - so beautiful but what to put in it needs careful planning [...]
The burning bush Berberis flower cluster This Berberis has been on fire all this week and was emitting a smouldering glow to light up the dreary days before the sun came out again. Judging by it's size It's obviously a fairly old specimen and I think it must [...]
Gardening is a hobby best pursued with the assistance of others. Despite the plethora and accessibility of gardening assistance there is a concern that there is one area that fewer of us are accessing - the kinship of a garden community or horticultural society. Here I share my experiences as a newbie member and summarise the wonder that is the Great British Horticultural Society