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. Undeterred, I thought I’d try something else for 2013: yew, Taxus baccata. I’m very fond of yew; I love seeing gnarled old trees in graveyards, exploring the patterns and fissures of their bark. Left alone, yews can grow for centuries. One specimen

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

A few days ago some bright yellow no-parking cones were lined up along the kerb a few doors down from me. Tree works, it seemed, were taking place. It wasn’t until the whine of the chainsaws started up that it dawned on me what trees were being

guises of the harlequin. I met my first pine ladybird last spring, thanks to a heavy gust of wind blowing it out of a tree on to the pavement I was walking along, and I once found the larvae of tiny Scymnus frontalis (which somehow resembled Dougal

Last summer, while doing a spot of gardening at my mum’s, I was disturbed by the sound of chainsaws as tree surgeons pollarded a huge oak in a neighbouring garden. At first I thought the tree was being chopped down, and I watched as men the size

and peered at the surrounding trees and bushes through our small cheap binoculars. It’s very much a waiting world out there. Hardly anything is moving and the various birds are huddled against the cold; like me they all seem to be thinking “come on, spring

essentials of siting a greenhouse, below.Don’t put your greenhouse directly under trees. They’ll cast unwelcome shade, which encourages green algae to build up, while falling branches and leaves can cause damage and block guttering. Honeydew from insects

Could garden plants reduce your winter heating bills? Some interesting research has been conducted at the University of Sheffield and by other organisations around the world that highlights the value of trees and plants surrounding buildings

the remaining leaves have now been stripped from the trees and shrubs, so hopefully they can be raked up in one go.

or planting a shrub or tree, now’s the time to do it.There’s a small selection of fruiting plants in my garden, namely holly, guelder rose (Viburnum opulus), dog rose  (Rosa glauca) and ivy. All were planted as bare-root shrubs last autumn, except the ivy