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As usual, during the Easter holiday break, we find ourselves watching garden wildlife in sunnier climes -- in the Isle of Wight. At St Lawrence, on the southern tip of the Island, not only are we significantly nearer the equator than East Dulwich

We've had to cut down most of the Clematis montana. It had already done some damage to the featheredge and was threatening to bring down the entire fence. Oh well. It was a fast grower when we first planted it and has provided us with a huge drift

worked on.Some people are very precious about trees. This is because the tree has become one of the green super-icons of the environmental movement. Very simply — planting trees is good, cutting down trees is bad. Except it’s not that simple

Butterflies have a starring role in the July 2011 issue of Gardeners' World magazine. There's a cut-out-and-keep ID guide, a feature on plants for butterflies and another on gardening for all three stages of their lifecycle. This wealth of content

will be cut short, and how many swifts, sparrows and starlings will be denied a dinner at the hands of gardeners with kettles of boiling water this year.So Flying Ants Day is important, not just for broody ants but for our declining bird species, too. I

trying to smother for the last two years. Like the vine mentioned in Adam's blog, it's a Vitis coignetiae, or crimson glory vine. The cultivar in our garden is 'Claret Cloak', and beautiful though it is, it's gone too far and needs cutting back. The tree

In the October issue of Gardeners’ World magazine, I ask Richard Jones and James Alexander-Sinclair for their views on autumn tidying in relation to the harm it can cause overwintering wildlife. As their recent blogs demonstrate, they don't see eye

the weather here in London.The garden is still looking remarkably green, even after we cut down the now wilting and blackened dahlias. In fact we already have a perfect bird-feeder growing out there - the apple tree. And the bird that best takes advantage

completely forgotten about them when they arrived last week. Roses do very well in London, and so too do the insects that feed on them.Apart from the leafcutter bees, which cut out those beautiful semicircles, the insects I most associate with roses

On holiday in northern France last week I was struck by the similarities in the landscape, but very subtle differences in the wildlife.With its gently rolling hills, hedges, grazing meadows, small woods, narrow lanes and winding streams, I could