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When we moved into our house we planted daffodil bulbs by the sackful. The result each spring is phenomenal – our drive is flanked with gold. But at this time of year, when delivery vans and friends visit, the emerging daffodil shoots are often

I've always loved horse chestnut trees and fondly remember a specimen near the house where I grew up. It was massive: beautiful in spring, lush and green in summer and a plentiful source of much-coveted conkers in autumn. Eventually it was deemed

, winter hardiness. In particular, what should be sold as a suitable ingredient for a winter container or bedding display and what should not? Take the cyclamen. Often for sale at this time of year as a small potted plant, it's generally labelled 'winter

I've been spring cleaning. The greenhouse, of course, not the house. Somehow the lure of the compost and seed trays was much greater than that of the vacuum cleaner and duster.Our heavy clay soil has been sodden and unworkable, so the greenhouse

.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

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

About six years ago we planted a number of fruit trees in the field close to the house. We had great expectations, some of which were fulfilled almost immediately, while others were slower in coming (literally) to fruition.This year, for the first

We’ve finished clearing out all the summer containers and started replanting them with winter bedding. I really love potting up plants, especially in late-autumn and winter when any dash of colour is welcome in the garden.A trip to our local market

very favourite garden destinations. I love seeing what we would regard as house plants growing with weed-like vigour on the roadside, or trimmed to form a hedge. Poinsettia always looks wonderful there, not to mention the tangled jungles of Opuntia

their absolute best.When we moved into our house we planted several beautiful liquidambar trees. More than twelve years later, some are virtually stately. Liquidambar 'Lane Roberts' is the one to choose for the deepest red-purple foliage. We bought one, plus a