Search - Articles

I love daffodils. To get the best from these wonderful flowers, I plant up a dozen plastic aquatic baskets with spring bulbs in autumn, choosing varieties that flower at different times. When spring arrives, I pop one basket after another

18 April 2010. Brogdale is home to the National Fruit Collections, with 150 acres of orchard filled with 2,200 varieties of apple, plus much more: a breathtaking sight!

It's rose pruning time again. I could debate the merits of autumn pruning over spring, but I've always believed spring really is the best time to tackle pruning.Rose pruning isn't a job to hurry. You need time to ponder, step back and deliberate

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

It won’t be long before daffodils, tulips, fragrant hyacinths and a host of other colourful flowers signal the arrival of spring, but if we want summer and autumn to provide similar displays we have to start planning and planting now

Much of my gardening time in September is spent planning for spring colour. I'm not wishing the year away - I love autumn in all its fading glory - but now is the time to buy spring-flowering bulbs for planting over the next couple of months

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

of compost I knew they would be weed-free (and still are after 15 years), and would provide perfect planting conditions.Lastly comes a camellia growing in a large terracotta pot, again filled with ericaceous compost. Despite using the perfect compost I still

Some plant combinations just work perfectly. When I first saw the wonderful combination of ornamental vine and ivy, I had to replicate it in my own garden. All I needed was a couple of bare fence panels (which many, many gardeners have) and two

.While this verbena is often classed as a perennial, most gardeners treat it as an annual. Old plants can be cut down to their base each winter, and new shoots do often develop the following spring. However, for a reliable display (like the one shown in the picture