Search - Articles

My garden - like yours - is looking fantastic at the moment. Plants that were just poking from cold ground a couple of months ago are now enormous and luxuriant. Bees buzz, roses overflow and lawns are lush.Rather than just brag, I thought I

. A mother’s idea of a cool T-shirt was always, always completely wrong.Nowadays I have grown out of most toys (unless you count snazzy gadgets) and my tastes are far more practical. I take refuge in those garden essentials that are really boring but without

, Dorothea) and R.banksiae 'Lutea', a pale yellow version, which is a stunning climbing rose with evergreen leaves and barely any thorns.However, he wasn't just a gardener and, during his 41 year presidency of the Royal Society, he encouraged innovation

've resisted burning much in the way of garden refuse as I compost everything I can.Once a year I rent a great big shredder for a weekend and the peace of the countryside is completely disrupted as I spend a couple of happy days half-deafened and covered

January already: Christmas neatly tucked away and another year of fabulous gardening stretching away ahead of us. The beginning of the year is the time for fresh starts and change but, rather than pestering you with annoying resolutions which few

This is prime iris season: a few weeks when these hugely flamboyant flowers come into their own. I grow two different sorts of iris in my garden: the Siberian iris and the bearded iris. Siberian irises are smaller flowered, have thinner leaves

is so extremely laid back and relaxed.In this garden there isn't much really urgent work that needs to be done. Many plants have done their bit and are just hanging around waiting for the winter; those that are still flowering do so with an admirable air

that are still viable. (iv) Plant the seeds that my very efficient wife has ordered. (v) Divide grasses and some herbaceous plants. (vi) Prune and tie back climbing roses. (vii) Cut back willows and dogwoods - although this can wait a bit. (viii) Plant bare

-like scarlet flowers on long spindly stems.Epilobium 'Stahl Rose' - so pretty but so very dangerous! This is a willowherb relation that is really only suitable for wilder parts of the garden as it has a tendency to run around a bit. Although thankfully it doesn