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to keep wearing the same size trousers. I could fly off somewhere hot, but sadly that's not terribly practical. Instead, my cheap and easy solution is to talk about summer flowers, with the only proviso being that they can be any colour at all except white

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

This week a new type of lawn was born. The flower-rich, low-maintenance, wildlife-friendly sward was launched at a park in Kensington and Chelsea, after its creator, Lionel Smith, wanted to explore alternatives to the traditional grass monoculture

When we think of irises our minds tend to wander towards May and great swathes of big, brassy flowers over sharp-sided, sword-shaped leaves. Either that or drifts of yellow flag iris on the sides of pools and streams. We tend to ignore February. Big

In 15 years of exhibiting at the Chelsea Flower Show, I've never known such a late spring. Here on the farm the blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, is still flowering. Interestingly, because it flowers early in spring, a cold spell of weather at this time

For the past few weeks I've been enjoying the wonderful sight of my weeping wisteria coming into flower. I've grown it in a large terracotta pot, and as the compact branch framework has developed over the years it's produced more and more blooms

proportions.However, the recent soggy, damp weather - which infuriatingly doesn't involve 'useful' rain, which actually penetrates to the plants' roots - has meant that all the later flowers on the courgettes and marrows have quickly rotted. The rot from

Although flowers usually steal the headlines, think how bleak a garden would look without foliage. Leaves are a vital part of every garden. Consider the contrast between the lushness of summer and the bleakness of winter, when tender plants have

Why is it that you rarely see zinnias in summer bedding displays? Do they give the impression of being an old-fashioned flower? Well, I think they're in for a revival, and with some stunning new varieties coming onto the market I'm recommending them

This week is the Malvern Spring Show and the first big Royal Horticultural Society flower show of the year. This is always a fun show not least because the setting is so remarkably beautiful. As you approach the show ground from the pretty town