Loving Your Garden – A changing climate
I am delighted to have recorded my first podcast! - well not my own podcast but my first contribution to someone else's brilliant podcast. I was invited to share my knowledge and experience of gardening as we experience hotter and drier summers here in the UK. Planting in the actual Mediterranean region The apparently simple question was "can/should we move to using...
Three gardening cheers for October
Unlike with our children, we are allowed to have favourite months. And whilst like everyone I love the fresh, green growth of spring and bright colours of summer, I must confess to having a soft spot for October. Through September, despite increasingly damp mornings and chilly evenings, we can cling to the idea that summer goes on although we are...
Late summer grass spectacular
Late summer is a great time for grass to star in the garden. However, as most lawns are looking very dry and crisp by August even without the blistering early summer we have had this year, you might deduce correctly that I am not talking about lawn grass, but ornamental grasses in the borders. The banner photograph above this blog...
A Rose by any other name
Certainly many roses have a great fragrance, but like Shakespeare I am not talking about roses specifically in this article, but about plant names and why they change. It can be very frustrating for gardeners, me included, when plant names change, apparently randomly, from those with which we are familiar to a new botanical name that always seems to be...
Awaken your Senses in the garden
If I ask you to imagine a summer garden, most people would call to mind the bright colours of flowers possibly surrounding a rich green lawn. But when you are planning a garden, or perhaps considering replanting a single flower bed, I encourage you to think not only about what you can see, but about how gardens and plants engage...