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When visiting large gardens during spring, I always admire the drifts of dwarf flowering bulbs growing up through wide expanses of grass. Catch them when flowers are at their best and they look magnificent. They could be snowdrops or crocus, dainty

Every few days I just happen to look outside at the very moment a large flock (or should that be 'swarm'?) of starlings descends on my lawn. They really are quite a sight.Unlike bluetits or blackbirds, which you might see in twos or threes

James Alexander-Sinclair's blogs on the subject of small trees but wanted to share my own experience - not of growing trees in the garden but in large pots.Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum' is a stunning small, slow-growing maple with the most gorgeous palm

different. Having seen drifts of oleander flowering relentlessly on visits to the Mediterranean in the past, I was tempted by a really large specimen I discovered in a garden centre last spring. Costing about £12, this made the perfect subject for a large

into the recycling bin (hopefully your local authority does collect and recycle a good range of materials), but I'm sure there are still a few gardeners out there who could benefit from doing more.For instance, all cardboard rolls, tubes or egg boxes make great

the melianthus I raised from seed, and quite large pots of agapanthus that I probably couldn't replace, and which would take an age to grow again.A large electric propagator does provide an alternative for seed raising, just warming the area I need for seeds

displays and mixed borders, that conifers don't feature more highly on the shopping list. After all, they deliver on so many counts, and provide striking structural building blocks in any garden.Perhaps their reputation for growing too large puts people off

sharing the garden. One pair has nested near the house in a thicket of boundary shrubs, while the other built a nest close to my greenhouse. I noticed them first when they gave themselves away darting in and out of a large laurel. Closer inspection

at Christmas when relatives out-stay their welcome. But as a gardener my shed is entirely functional... no stove, no bookshelf, no biscuits, just the tools of the trade.One of the previous owners of my house was an Italian family, and Gino, the father

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