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About six years ago we planted a number of fruit trees in the field close to the house. We had great expectations, some of which were fulfilled almost immediately, while others were slower in coming (literally) to fruition.This year, for the first

tree is under discussion again, with only one of us voting for the chainsaw option. Today I'm determined to make that voter change his fatherly mind. You see, the tree is now in blossom, covered from head to mis-shapen toe with gorgeous white, pink

We're getting ready for winter: the chimney has been swept and the logs have been chopped. In the garden the leaves on the trees are starting to turn, marking the beginning of what I hope will be a fabulous display of autumn colour.Now is probably

Home-grown fruit is something I find difficult to resist; fruit trees make great ornamental, as well as edible, plants. I’ve notice that some of my espalier and cordon fruit trees are passed their best, so I’ll have to remove them. This always makes

I've always loved horse chestnut trees and fondly remember a specimen near the house where I grew up. It was massive: beautiful in spring, lush and green in summer and a plentiful source of much-coveted conkers in autumn. Eventually it was deemed

We all forget to do things sometimes, but I’m rather ashamed about this omission. As I walked around the fruit trees in our mini-orchard last week, I was horrified to discover that a few of them had grown too big for the ties I’d used when staking

I'm not usually lost for words, but the other day a tornado arrived (yes, a real tornado) and I sat in the bay window, gawping silently. It was like watching two minutes of a particularly scary Hollywood film.The huge horse chestnut tree opposite

Many years ago I planted a palm in a pot and popped it on the newly constructed steps by our outdoor seating area. It looked great, for a while. The palm was a good size, and so was the pot.But the palm has grown and, sadly, the pot hasn't. Over the last couple of years the palm ...

stride and fill my lungs with fresh air.One of the great things about visiting arboreta is seeing plants that would never fit into an average domestic garden. Winkworth has a magnificent collection of more than 1,000 mature trees and shrubs, including

It's been a great year for stone fruit crops, apparently, with commercial cherry growers reporting bumper harvests. We have a couple of cherry trees here, but I've yet to taste a ripe fruit from them – the birds always get there first. I know we