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I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice but, just in case it has, I feel it my bounden duty to point out that there are all sorts of things quietly growing out there. The months of inactivity are drawing to a welcome close; it's time for a general

.It is a big shrub that grows quickly with the result that it is often clipped hard in order that it should not take over the world. Sometimes this results in tightly branched specimens in unusual contorted shapes that look as uncomfortable as vicars in a

of Isatis leaves will produce about 2 grams of dye so in order to colour more that a small handkerchief you need to grow a fair few plants. It is a gorgeous colour though.Jekka also told me that, traditionally, there was a fair bit of urine involved

heathers are Calluna vulgaris and Erica cinerea. These, and many other varieties need an acid soil, although many of their relations (notably E. carnea and E. x darleyensis) will grow in any half-decent garden soil. The RHS has good heather collections

my previous blog and this is their reply:Dear Mr Alexander-SinclairMany thanks for your enquiry. For some years we have noticed an unusual number of wisteria dying, and indeed have suffered casualties amongst the Wisley wisteria. There are probably

in 1840. Obviously these things need time to grow and fruit so we then have a hiatus until 1857. On October 24th that year the RHS held their Grand Fruit Exhibition and, according to the report:"In the class of single dishes of dessert apple the first

perfectly suited to the smaller garden. It has pure white star-shaped (hence the name 'stellata' as in 'constellation') flowers. It grows very slowly and will reach only about 1.5m after 10 years: given perfect conditions it will eventually top out at about

. But it is still well worth growing as the blossom is truly sensational and the leaves turn the colour of plums and bruised cranberries. It gets to about 15m which is bigger than the others, so perhaps your small garden had better not be too small.Maybe I'll think

by the National Dahlia Society. If you can get there on Friday then don't miss Jon Wheatley talking about Growing Dahlias. He is a fine and entertaining speaker.

plants (there was a particularly striking group of them in Tom Hoblyn's Chelsea garden in 2009). These have slippery sides into which insects fall and are then digested by the fluid at the base of the pitcher. There are large colonies growing in both