Autumn is settling in and, if we’re honest, we start to spend less time actively gardening. More time for the soil to grow what it really wants, more time for us to start dreaming next year’s garden into being…
Read moreThe Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast, Series 3.5 Episode 1
We salute summer as it reaches its peak and, just as quickly, begins to pass the baton on to the next season, and enjoy a reading from the introduction to Jack’s book, from which the episode title’s been shamelessly pinched
Read moreThe Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast, Series 3 Episode 10
Chef, grower, teacher, herbologist – it’s always hard to categorise my guests on the Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast and Maya Thomas is no exception. Suffice to say that a love of plants or people – and usually both – infuses everything she does, and so where better to focus our conversation for this episode than on the subject of herbs…
Read moreThe Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast, Series 3 Episode 9
Love it or hate it (and why would you hate it?), the RHS Chelsea Flower Show offers a fantastic platform for charities to promote their work. In this episode, I’m joined by Hattie Ghaui, CEO of Project Giving Back, whose Gardens for Good Causes initiative brings together designers, landscapers and charitable organisations, creating headline-grabbing show gardens with the power to bring change where it’s most needed.
Read moreThe Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast, Series 3 Episode 8
There’s an intricacy and generosity of spirit to the work of floral artist and broadcaster Hazel Gardiner that betrays her love of story telling, as well as hinting at her ability not just to absorb energy from the creatives she works along side, but to amplify that vibrancy and share it back around. In this episode she joins me to talk about her varied career path, the roots of her artistic approach and, of course, her garden
Read moreThe Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast, Series 3 Episode 7
To celebrate the publication of my first book, To Stand and Stare: how to garden while doing next to nothing, I’m having the tables turned on me. For this episode, I find myself on the other side of the mic as friend of the podcast Alice Vincent drops by to interview me about how the book came about, how it relates to my wider work, and why a title that’s very much not a ‘how to garden’ manual still manages to have so many ‘how to...’ sections in it.
Read moreThe Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast, Series 3 Episode 6
I’m so delighted to have florist and grower Milli Proust on the podcast for the last episode of 2022. Her book From Seed to Bloom was one of the highlights of the year for me, as it has been for many others, and the images of her floral arrangements and beautiful growing space in West Sussex continue to provide a gorgeous backdrop to pleasant reveries. We discuss her emphasis upon the seasons and the land, on story and theatre, and the impact that becoming a mother has had on her work. And laugh, a lot.
Read moreThe Gardens, Weeds & Words podcast, Series 3 Episode 5
Susanna Grant’s mission seems to be to make gardening easy for people; particularly people who live in the city, where space is at a premium and buildings huddle together to crowd out the light. From behind an unassuming garden gate in Hackney, her courtyard store Linda glows, filled with the kind of lush, green growth that thrives in these conditions. We talk of shade and weeds, community gardens and cake, perennial window boxes and sending worms through the post.
Read moreDay 365: gardening into the new year
I catch myself in the ridiculous position of wishing time away, urging my garden to catch up…
Read moreDay 364: prayer plant
In the world of the houseplant enthusiast, a bicolour leaf seems to be far more greatly prized than such a thing would be in the parallel realm of the outdoor gardener…
Read moreDay 363: poinsettia
Spurges generally don’t get to come into the house, but over Christmas, we welcome in the poinsettia, or Cuetlaxochitl to the Aztecs…
Read moreDay 362: a mystery begonia
I love a Christmas mystery as much as the next person, but today’s has less to do with a body in the library and footsteps in the snow than it does the identity of one particular begonia…
Read moreDay 361: Betwixtmas
Christmas is wonderful, of course it is, but when the frenzy is done and the motorway miles have been reeled in, a kind of peace descends until the new year…
Read moreDay 360: a morning cup of camellia
The camellias bask in the pale golden light of the morning sun, dew beginning to gather along the surface of each leaf…
Read moreDay 359: O Christmas Tree
As the years passed, I began to feel a bit sorry for the tree on Christmas day…
Read moreDay 358: Mother Nature's baubles
Mild winters make the birds less eager to strip every twig and branch of their convenient energy snacks…
Read moreDay 357: in the absence of frost
I’ve been holding out for a frosty end to the year though, other than the dusting we received yesterday, it looks as though I’ll be disappointed…
Read moreDay 356: lighten our darkness
Yesterday, as you’ll no doubt have noticed, was the winter solstice. The year turns once again and, ever so tentatively at first, we begin to leave the darkness behind…
Read moreDay 355: cushion bush
Calocephalus, or cushion bush, or Leucophyta brownii, is a strange and enchanting plant…
Read moreDay 354: December rain
By all that’s good and right and holy, December in this part of the world should be cold and crisp and clear…
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