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of September. Save them in an envelope over winter to sow in February. You'll get a wonderful mixture of different flower shapes and colours from the resulting plants.More tips on sowing seedsVideo guide to sowing bluebell seeds, with Chris BeardshawCarol Klein

had developed, providing blooms until now, in November. The shape of their flower resembles a cup and saucer, hence their common name, but another descriptive name for them is cathedral bells. From the centre of the bell emerge a tight clump of stamens

or so semi-bonsai topiary trees. Many are sculpted into bobble 'cloud' shapes or manicured to form miniature hedges and climbers around the intricate buildings. They really make the place a magical world and produce a series of spectacular vistas

species of rove beetle regularly turn tail and disappear into the morass when I lift off the lids. Last week I found a shiny black domed beetle about the size and shape of a kidney bean - Hister merdarius. It's very scarce, so has no common name and being

of stairs. Instead of a tight whorl forming the usual globe shape, the helix is stretched out into a point.I'm guessing that no matter how much I go on about snails, most people will regard them as a nuisance and a pest. But maybe this is because we haven