As gardeners, we spend an inordinate amount of time waiting for things we shove in the ground to grow away with gusto…
Read moreDay 84: Skimmia japonica
Regularly enveloped in clouds of sweet, honeyed air at this end of March and, for some reason, always slightly surprised at the source…
Read moreDay 83: to see you, nice
That there are flowers on the forsythia this week is testament not so much to my good planning as to the fact that I ignored the plant last year…
Read moreDay 82: the fatness
There’s much talk of sap rising in springtime – both figuratively as, buoyed by brighter days and warmer weather we start to feel an increase in energy levels, and literally…
Read moreDay 81: Ranunculus ficaria
Little yellow-eye, winking up at me from your rosette of mottled green leaves – where have you been?
Read moreDay 80: spring is in
The equinox has come and gone, and here we are, undeniably in spring. Which isn’t to deny the possibility of the occasional petulant wintery echo…
Read moreDay 79: best beloved
A different kind of planting today. I dug a hole, and we sunk our hearts into the ground…
Read moreDay 78: dahlias, and humble beginnings
Lurking at the back of the shed or in a darkened corner of the garage, boxes with perhaps the most unpromising looking contents you could hope to imagine. Lumpy bits, stringy bits, and everything covered in dried mud…
Read moreDay 77: seedy shrub
It’s no great secret that I love a self-seeder. Actually, let’s stop right there a moment. I’m continually having to haul myself up for using horticultural jargon…
Read moreDay 76: nearly tulips
It feels as though it’s been an age coming, but today there was sunshine, sparkles and the very real prospect of tulips...
Read moreDay 75: Celastrus orbiculatus
There’s no denying that wisteria needs a firm hand. Whether it has anything on the round-leaved bittersweet (Celastrust orbiculatus) currently assailing the outdoor furniture of our house, I’m not entirely convinced…
Read moreDay 74: repotting mat
For far too long I’ve been scuffing up the surface of the dining table with my houseplant fettling. It’s not the best recipe for domestic harmony…
Read moreDay 73: reinforcements
A small army of herbaceous cuttings is filling out on the greenhouse staging, having put on a burst of growth in the last week…
Read moreDay 72: cherry plum
Hot on the tails of its cousin, the purple leaved plum (Prunus cerrasifera 'Pissardii’, Day 60), the cherry plum has burst into flower…
Read moreDay 71: goat willow chic
The goat willow (Salix caprea) is bang on trend for Spring/Summer 2021. Every year the people at Pantone name the colour that will be dominating these industries for the next twelve months…
Read moreDay 70: snowdrop hangover
It occurred to me today, as I snuck up on a clump that looked particularly ripe for dividing, that there’s no plant that, once flowered, looks quite so morning-after-the-night-before as the snowdrop…
Read moreDay 69: the tale of the bent spade
It’s been some years since I broke a spade – or a fork for that matter. Time was when I’d use the things in the most inappropriate fashion…
Read moreDay 68: paeony promises
The paeonies have moved into stage two of their above-ground existence; fat, sharply pointed buds transformed in the space of a few days into bloody hands clasped in prayer…
Read moreDay 67: feed me, Seymour
Unlike the plants in our flower beds, those things we grow in containers are entirely reliant upon us for their nutritional requirements…
Read moreDay 66: jumping the gun
I’d imagined my tulips would emerge with grace and synchronicity, a kind of slow-motion dance of reaching and unfurling, something beautiful to behold each day as winter steadily hands over to spring…
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