Search - Articles

business, but I remember pouring over old Kelways catalogues, crammed with colour plates of pristine fields with row upon row of pink, purple, white and red peonies. How I would love to have seen them. People must have travelled miles for a peony pilgrimage

long, gradually fading with age. 'Roma' adds a lovely pink to the display, but there are lots of other equally generous astrantias available in greens, whites and deep reds. Some even offer variegated foliage, but this isn't really to my taste

spathes in pale shades of pink, yellow and cream through to white, and lance-shaped leaves. Elliottiana hybrids have wonderfully speckled leaves and bright, brash spathes, while the rehmannii hybrids have mainly deeper green leaves and often deep purple

will hopefully be as big as theirs!I think some varieties have rather wishy-washy flowers, like 'September Charm', whose blooms are pale pink; I prefer either a pure white flower, like 'Honorine Jobert', or something providing a deep, rich, colour. 'Pamina

varieties available offering the usual purple flowers or a pure white form, and even one that produces attractive variegated foliage (not sure if this is quite to my taste).If budgets are currently tight it’s worth asking gardening friends whether they have

their thick, white, fleshy roots completely fill the pot. I'm never sure quite where the compost goes, but remove the pot from the rootball of an established plant and almost all you'll see is roots, with little compost remaining - just what's required

. The problem with bindweed is that it gets into flower borders, where its thick white roots mingle with those of perennials and shrubs, making it very, very hard to dig out. I've tried to remove bindweed, but even the tiniest piece of root left in the soil can

. There have been occasional cabbage white butterflies, too, but I hardly dare whisper their name in the same breath as the gorgeous peacock.Good garden design will ensure the nectar keeps flowing with a continuous progression of nectar-rich flowers opening

hyacinth produces a mini forest of stems, each carrying a small head of flower. It comes in blue, pink and white, and I'm hoping that a single bulb per pot will produce a really good display.

of apple trees to swell, flushed with pink, before the pure white flowers burst open. As my main reason for growing apple trees is for their fruit, I'm keen that the trees produce abundant blossom, and also that there will be plenty of bees to enjoy it