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have been a real triumph. It hasn't been an easy growing year, with very hot, dry spells followed by regular downpours, but the pelargoniums have been in flower since spring and are still going strong.One amazingly vigorous variety, 'Calliope Dark Red

I'm passionate about spring bulbs. They're not the poshest of flowers, but I couldn’t bear to live without them – especially daffodils. I'm addicted to miniature daffs, especially tete a tete, and at this time of year when everyone else gets all

and more flower stems. Not all of the flowers are long, elegant show-bench blooms with super-straight stems, but I don't really care, they smell just as fabulous on the plant as in the house. Interestingly, they've not been troubled by pollen beetles

In those wonderful James Herriot stories, there is a woman called Mrs Pumphrey, whose spoilt dog is known as  ‘flop-bot’. With a name like that, there is no need for a description. When a tray of seedlings suffers with the horticultural equivalent, and the whole lot keels over in...

It’s always great fun making Gardeners’ Question Time programmes. Sometimes it comes with an added bonus when we do a feature special, like when I took the opportunity to go and visit the labs at FERA (Food and Environment Research Agency) in York.FERA carries out masses of envir...

The sun is shining and the daffodils are out. Nothing spells the start of spring like a mass of golden, trumpet-shaped narcissi.Among the flowering daffodils are some that are only producing foliage. These ‘blind’ daffodils, either side

and every year they re-appear, flower their socks off and then disappear amongst the rather untamed grasses, mallows and nettles that make up the bank. Next time anyone moans about the price of bulbs and corms I think I'll have to whisk out this picture

For a few years my bulbs have suffered attack from both rabbits and squirrels. I've seen rabbits sitting on pots, their rear ends squashing the winter-flowering pansies, their front ends crushing emerging bulb shoots, long before they have chance

.I find myself buying cyclamen for all areas of the house, including the windowsills and bedrooms. If you shop around you can pick them up from as little as £1.99. And to add to the impact of the foliage and the flowers, many vareities now have a delicate

I love the delicate flowers of prunus, although I'm not so keen on the blowsier, pink varieties I sometimes see in other gardens. The smaller, more delicate spring blossom hits the spot for me.Like most gardeners, I also have a nose for a bargain