2018 is Humphry Repton's bicentenary year and over the next few months events and exhibitions all over the country will be celebrating his life and work. The first person to use the title of 'landscape gardener', Repton (1752-1818) began to practise in 1788, five years after Lancelot Capability Brown's death. His designs reinstated the importance … Continue reading Humphry Repton: Art and Nature for the Duke of Bedford
I was chatting to a friend at the community garden yesterday as we collected leaves and pruned the willows about the beauty of oca with its lush trailing leaves and jewel-like edible tubers. To my mind, harvesting these colourful tubers is one of the most joyful moments in the winter garden, along with watching the … Continue reading Creating A Winter Garden (Part 3)
Last weekend, the first part of Creating a Winter Garden considered structure and flowers. Thanks to everyone who shared images of their winter gardens: precious moments that lift our spirits on these short winter days. Stems and Bark The scarcity of winter flowers means that a wall liberally covered in clematis 'Freckles' is a precious sight, … Continue reading Creating A Winter Garden (Part 2)
The speckled flowers of Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles’ and its creamy white counterpart ‘Jingle Bells’ are twining along the bare apple espaliers with some intrepid stems nearly reaching the ground. I planted the clematis by the post closest to the dining room window so that we could see it from the table and judging by the … Continue reading Creating A Winter Garden (Part 1)
Growing alliums makes me happy. I love their versatility, their diversity and their sheer brilliance in the spring borders. They are equally at home in cottage gardens, amongst perennial grasses, in containers and as an architectural feature throughout contemporary planting schemes. I've grown quite a few varieties over the years and have reliable favourites which … Continue reading 7 Best Alliums To Plant This Week
Last month I wrote about my allotment woes which had resulted in an accidental potato monoculture, but since then the allotment has been working hard, producing an exciting range of cut flowers by the bucketload. After an inspiring spring harvest of daffodils and tulips, I planted summer corms and tubers, and sowed a host of … Continue reading Cutting Patch: Into The Limelight
We took the kids to RHS Tatton Park this year and they thoroughly enjoyed the children's activities - decorating plant pots, studying butterflies, sky-riding on the big wheel and learning about the history of the site on the discovery trail. But when my 8 year old asked to explore the floral marquee (it had been … Continue reading 3 Floral Favourites at RHS Tatton Park
Wild, evocative show gardens like James Basson's M&G Garden, inspired by the landscape of Malta, new plants to discover (my favourite this year is Raymond Evison's Clematis 'Pistachio') and new technologies like the use of microalgae to capture energy at Capel Manor's 'Compost, Energy, Light' Garden: these are all part of what makes RHS Chelsea such a captivating … Continue reading Gardening For A Sustainable Future
I started a cutting patch in the back garden last year. It was a disaster. I planted Echinacea purpurea, Monarda, Calendula ('Indian Prince' and 'Porcupine'), sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus 'Barry Dare', 'Cupani' and 'Arthur Hellyer'), Gladioli ('Flevo Cool', 'Flevo Flash' and 'Flevo Sylvia') and nasturtiums. It was a bit of an odd mix with little forethought, just plants … Continue reading Planning a Cutting Patch: Bulb Time
It's been a dreamy summer holiday. We've been swimming in the sea, learned to ride without stabilisers, lost baby teeth, wandered around maize mazes, explored woodland dens and returned from the allotment stained with raspberry and blackberry juice. Now, in the first week of September, there's school on the horizon for both my 7 year old and … Continue reading Banish the September blues with my top 10 tulips