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Thank heavens for winter-flowering plants. These hardy specimens often have tiny, inconsequential blooms, but they more than make up for them with their powerful, sweet fragrance. I rarely notice the flowers of Sarcococca hookeriana, but I’m always

For me, the competition to grow a giant sunflower is over. My six sunflowers are either in flower or just about to bloom, which means they're not going to grow any taller. They look good, particularly the two that are providing support for the rogue

out of its comfortable pot into some frozen snow-covered ground, but this was a ceremonial planting, which (I hoped) would symbolise the success and glory of my new garden.In March it started to produce lots of healthy foliage and a flower spike

I'm not sure I like moth orchids. They're pretty to look at when in flower, but a bit of a pain to care for if you want them to bloom again. And I think it's a bit sad that these beautiful plants, which should be growing in the canopy of an exotic

of bumblebee rely on chalk grassland, hay meadows and other disappearing habitats that our gardens cannot provide for them.The problem for bees is that their favourite food plants are often considered to be 'weeds'. They don't go for highly bred double-flowered

There are some plants which everyone agrees smell bad. The titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) and the dragon arum (Dracunculus vulgaris), for example, both smell like rotting corpses when in flower, to attract pollinating flies. Happily, not all

'll be raising mine indoors in a peat-free sowing compost.After that, I don't really know. In the past I've just planted them out and given them a good water when they've needed it. I've never fed a sunflower (I don't feed flowers, as a rule). A record breaking

I might move house this year. It’s very early days, but the possibility of having a bigger garden is sending my plant-collecting gene into overdrive. I currently grow plants in my small, shady courtyard garden. But after four years of this, I long

There are so few plants that do well in my small, shady garden, but those that do thrive deserve a medal. This week, honesty is taking centre stage, with its tall spires of brilliant white flowers, towering above more subtle spring blooms.I love

pot of tiny seedlings by an auricula grower at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. There were around 30 plants crammed into this pot; many of them have blossomed into healthy specimens, which now adorn our garden walls in decorative hanging pots.One of my