Search - Articles

November is the month to plant tulips. There are few things more wonderful in this world than to cradle a tulip bulb in your hand; the rustling wispy-crispy skin and the smooth, slightly clammy flesh. Supremely organised and efficient gardeners

I think it is time for another deeply prejudiced personal rant about my least favourite plants. Spring is, if not exactly just around the corner, then definitely packed, dressed and on its way. With the spring comes the return to our gardens

The whole world seems to be teeming with life at the moment: the birdsong is delightful, the snails are on the march (in spite of my discovering at least three huge hibernation areas during the winter) and the plants are growing at phenomenal speed

next week my wisteria started doing exactly the same thing. First the leaves looked a bit droopy and exhausted, then they turned crispy and finally fell off, leaving the plant naked and neglected. Since then I have heard of three other wisterias

and dusty radish.However, I think it is generally an excellent thing to try and get children to grow stuff - if only so that they understand how plants behave. Schools are now much more proactive in encouraging gardening clubs and planting up areas around

The time has probably come to say something a little contentious: there are some plants that are so dreadful that they should never have been invented. (I use the word 'invented' advisedly as the culprits are almost always those plants that have

One of the best looking plants in my garden this week is the Pokeweed or Phytolacca americana. It is always interesting when plants that are noxious weeds in some parts of the world are regarded as something interesting and unusual in others

I have always found plants with big leaves fascinating. I love hearing raindrops pattering on leaf canopies whilst pushing through an overgrown path, surrounded by plants that are bigger than me. It is probably a deep-rooted jungle instinct. I have

On the RHS website (and in innumerable books) is a list of plants that are supposedly rabbit proof. The problem with many of these is that nobody ever bothers to consult the rabbits. No pollster ever knocks on the door of the burrow: "Mr and Mrs

garden is really too small then plant them in somebody else's (if necessary under cover of darkness).Update: read James's follow-up blog on trees for small gardens, Trees for small gardens 2.