One day into autumn, and three weeks off by another reckoning, and shades of biscuit are beginning to creep into the borders…
Read moreDay 244: Geranium whatsisface
Every garden should have a mystery geranium. If I can build this into an article of horticultural faith, one of those guiding principles by which we populate our beds and borders, I tell myself I’ll feel better…
Read moreDay 243: Pelargonium 'Vectis Glitter'
Stellar Pelargonium ‘Vectis Glitter’ is doing her best, but could do with a little sun in which to sparkle…
Read moreDay 242: hawthorn
Do not plant a mixed native hedge down one side of your garden if you’re concerned about your neighbours grumbling at you…
Read moreDay 241: Japanese lilies
Yet one more casualty of a year when few things went according to plan, the later flowering Japanese lilies (Lilium speciosum var. rubrum ‘Uchida’) got sidelined…
Read moreDay 240: ragwort
Day 239: Dioscorea communis
The dog days of summer never arrived this year and, as one season begins to give way to the next, I find myself peering into the hedgerows, and feeling distinctly autumnal about it…
Read moreDay 238: free plants
Some of the beds in this garden are almost totally filled with plants that nobody paid for (no, we didn’t nick them)…
Read moreDay 237: Begonia rex 'Fireworks'
The leaves on the kitchen windowsill begonias are the headline grabbers…
Read moreDay 236: Hydrangea quercifolia
The oak-leaved hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) is big on leaves this year, but less so on flowers…
Read moreDay 235: caught knapping
Knapweed (Centaurea nigra) is not nearly as widely celebrated by gardening types as its shorter, bluer relative…
Read moreDay 234: tatting fern
The tatting fern is back. There are many splendid things about this particular plant, not least it’s botanical name…
Read moreDay 233: the persistence of the field poppy
Possibly lacking the glamour of their near relatives the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) and the oriental poppy (Papaver orientale), the field poppy (P. rhoeas) could be considered the scrappier cousin …
Read moreDay 232: thug life
I’ve been talking with friends about thugs today. The kind in whom you identify a certain promise that perhaps no one else quite sees…
Read moreDay 231: Hydrangea 'Zorro'
Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Zorro’ is not having a great year. Handsome foliage and deep, black stems to die for…
Read moreDay 230: solidago
Someone, it seems, has been splashing mustard about the garden. Even on this lamentable excuse for a summer’s day…
Read moreDay 229: brushing Melissa
Of all the unlooked-for encounters in the garden this week, the accidental brushing up against Melissa is perhaps the most invigorating…
Read moreDay 228: embracing hollyhocks
I was confounded earlier by some advice on how to make sure your hollyhocks don’t self seed…
Read moreDay 227: ban urban pesticides
A petition has been doing the rounds; created by Professor Dave Goulson, it aims to put an end to the indiscriminate spraying of chemical pesticides in urban areas…
Read moreDay 226: let it go and let it grow
Lovers of neat edges might find the garden a particular challenge at this time of year…
Read more