Almost t-shirt weather in the garden again today, pleasant gardening weather if a little gloomy…
Read moreDay 324: foxglove preparation
Foxgloves know all about preparation – the biennial ones at least, like our bog standard Digitalis purpurea…
Read moreDay 323: birch leaves
I don’t care that some think of the silver birch Betula pendula as a weed tree…
Read moreDay 322: the yellowness of the ginkgo
It’s been raining gold from clear blue skies this past day or so…
Read moreDay 321: the West Ham bush
Returning to a familiar garden today, I noticed a shrub I’d whose presence I’d never before remarked upon…
Read moreDay 320: the overwintered pelargonium
November is no time for reticence or squeamishness, at least, not when it comes to pelargoniums…
Read moreDay 319: making room for tulips
Rarely, if ever, moved to dig a tulip up, I just shovel more in every autumn…
Read moreDay 318: hunting the tulip tree
Studying leaves on the footpath a few days ago, surprised to see the unmistakable form of tulip tree foliage…
Read moreDay 317: Echinacea ‘White Swan’
Echinacea ‘White Swan’ has got her feet down now, which I was expecting, as an early autumn planting…
Read moreDay 316: essential objects
One object that you can’t imagine getting through your day without, whose absence would send you into a flat spin…
Read moreDay 315: waiting for hips
I am doing a poor impression of a patient person while waiting for the hips on the dog rose to form…
Read moreDay 314: bull thistle
The bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare) that plonked itself into the back of the new bed has run its course though…
Read moreDay 313: garden milestones
I guess as gardeners, we all measure the passing of the year by the behaviour of certain plants…
Read moreDay 312: not too tidy
Loathe as I am to tidy too much away in the beds and borders at this time of year, there’s a certain amount that needs snipping…
Read moreDay 311: a new bed
Late planted chard, just getting going in here, the latest bed to be carved out of the grass…
Read moreDay 310: November butterflies
I don’t recall having been fortunate enough to have the company of a butterfly in the garden in November…
Read moreDay 309: Strawberry tree
The strawberry tree is not best pleased, and it’s letting its displeasure be known…
Read moreDay 308: first frost
First frost this morning; not a heavy one, but sufficient to rasp the air…
Read moreDay 307: Acer griseum
If you were to make a tree out of flaky pastry, you might come up with something approaching the paperbark maple…
Read moreDay 306: Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’
Daily details from the garden to bring you inspiration throughout the year
There are several good reasons I can think of to grow Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’. It’s good on moderately soggy soils and it has fabulously large and rounded, deep maroon leaves, above which – slightly unexpectedly, if I’m honest – it raises flowering stems topped with rich orange-yellow daisies. And finally, when foliage has died back and petals have dropped, there remain the stems, and pompom button seedheads aplenty. I’d hazard a guess that it’s most often planted for its luxuriant foliage and the flowering interest, but it says something that of all the photos I have of it, not a one captures anything but the seedheads.
A year of garden coaching
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Hello! I’m Andrew, gardener, blogger, podcaster, and owner of a too-loud laugh, and I’m so pleased you’ve found your way to Gardens, weeds & words. You can read a more in-depth profile of me on the About page, or by clicking the image above.
