Drought tolerant planting
I have seen quite a few articles in the last few months promoting the idea of UK gardeners changing their borders to include more “drought tolerant plants”. Although it may seem intuitively as if ‘drought’ goes with ‘global warming’, the reality is not that simple especially in gardening terms. Whilst the UK may see higher temperatures in summer, the...
Colourful Evergreens
As April is probably the peak plant buying and planting month for many gardeners, I thought that I would give a shout out for a category of garden-worthy plants sometimes overlooked in our quest for flower power – evergreen shrubs. That label certainly sounds more ‘worthy’ than exciting but, of course, evergreen does not have to mean green. There...
Spring means Daffodils
It seems appropriate to write about Daffodils in March, not just because they are the emblematic flower of St David’s day on March 1st but because we have been enjoying their display through February and will continue right to the end of April. What other spring bulb is so reliable in giving flowers for such a long period? Granted...
Pests and diseases in the garden
Pests and diseases in the garden are an evergreen topic of conversation for gardeners and seeing holes munched in leaves or whole plants struggling is equally frustrating whether you grow fruit and vegetables or ornamental plants. I mentioned last month that gardening is part of the mainstream move towards a more sustainable and nature friendly lifestyle, and we are...
Greening up our gardens
My thoughts for the New Year turn to how we can ensure that as well as being happy and productive green spaces, our gardens are as green as possible in the planetary and sustainability sense too. This has been a direction of travel since the start of the 21st century across pretty much all aspects of life and gardens...
