This week dawned sunny and cold - new and strange too. But life with kids doesn't give you much time to pause and think (a blessing at times), so we're moving onward with a new garden school project involving poetry, nature and art - to get us all out in that bright, life-affirming sunshine. We … Continue reading Garden Schooling: Nature Spells
Once upon a time, when dinosaurs were undoubtedly roaming wild in the garden, I had a previous life as a teacher. I loved working with children - and now I'm looking forward to rediscovering my creative side with my own kids (8 and 11) as we enter this rather surreal period of living, working and … Continue reading Garden Schooling: From Small Seeds…
There is now an updated list with over 70 nurseries across the UK which can be accessed here... This list is no longer updated. While the Amazon rainforest burns, Brexit festers and children all over the world call on adults to join their strike to highlight the climate catastrophe, it can be hard to know … Continue reading Save Our Rainforests: The Peat-Free Nurseries List
Many of us owe our love of plants, gardens and wildlife to early experiences in childhood. Even on a small scale, places that enable young people to connect with the natural environment can begin a relationship that lasts a lifetime. At a time when we need the younger generation to understand, cherish and protect the … Continue reading Year of Green Action Garden at RHS Hampton Court
Beautiful blackcurrants, deep rosy red fleshed apples, delicious patio tomatoes, and a ginger rosemary cocktail that will blow you away - all on offer at Hampton Court this week in the Edible Eden Garden, designed by Chris Smith of Pennard Plants... Edible Eden combines a formal vegetable area, unusual edibles in the forest garden and … Continue reading Fruity New Ideas in the Edible Eden Garden at RHS Hampton Court
Water has been a key focus at this year's Gardeners' World Live, both in terms of garden design and the inclement weather. Professor David Stevens, designer and winner of eleven RHS Gold medals, believes it has never been wetter at the show, yet last year's weather was scorching and all through the summer designers struggled … Continue reading Gardeners’ World Live: Water, Water, Everywhere…
The Wedgwood Garden, designed by Jo Thompson, marks the 260th anniversary of the company, founded by Josiah Wedgwood in 1759. The hard landscaping is inspired by Etruria - the pioneering Staffordshire village that Wedgwood built for his workers - and the canals that transported his pottery throughout the UK. Many of Wedgwood's motifs were based … Continue reading Coral, Peach and Ivory Tones in Jo Thompson’s Wedgwood Garden
1. Wildflower Power Everywhere you turn at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show, indigenous trees, shrubs and perennials are interpersed with native biennial and annual wildflowers. The gardens are awash with hornbeam, birch, willow, yew, guelder rose, cow parsley, foxglove, ragged robin and sedum. The pinks of red campion and ragged robin are particularly conspicuous … Continue reading 5 Environmentally-Friendly Ideas to Take Home from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
For my birthday this year I received the ultimate present - money to buy gardening and nature books. Matthew Biggs' The Secrets of Great Botanists was one of the books I bought and it turned out to be an excellent choice... From Pedanius Dioscorides’ seminal work De Materia Medica to Patrick Blanc’s modern, innovative mur … Continue reading Book Review: The Secrets of Great Botanists
During the People's Walk for Wildlife and the rewilding conference in Cambridge last year, I learnt in disbelief about the dramatic declines in insect, bird, mammal and wild plant populations since the 1970s - the decade in which I was born. This year I have resolved to put nature at the heart of our garden … Continue reading What Nest Box Where?