Japanese anemone spotting in another’s garden yesterday. This variety seems a little more compact…
Read moreDay 253: Rudbeckia hirta 'Cappuccino'
It rained last night – a proper, stormy downpour, with thunder and lightning – and, though it was all over by the morning, the garden was full of tiny raindrop lenses on every surface…
Read moreDay 252: a sedum worth consideration
was having a conversation earlier in the week about sedums with someone who loves the leaves, but not the flowers…
Read moreDay 251: Rose ‘Gentle Hermione’
A hot day – proper, sunny summer stuff – and the garden is starting to flag a little…
Read moreDay 250: Anemone x hybrida ‘Königin Charlotte’
‘Queen Charlotte’ sounds like a grand name for a windflower, but since the Japanese anemone attains a loftier height than most of its immediate relatives, I think it’s appropriate in this case…
Read moreDay 249: Pelargonium sidoides
Pelargoniums have a reputation for being a bit showy – and deservedly so. There are the zonals, what most of us grew up calling ‘geraniums’…
Read moreDay 248: hazel
The hazel shells are plumping, fresh and pale green on the branch, evidence of a few having been munched lying on the ground…
Read moreDay 247: elderberry memories
To me, nothing quite says ‘Back to School’ like elderberries…
Read moreDay 246: ivy in flower
There’s been a buzz and a fugginess about my wanderings today, in the garden, the streets and the fields…
Read moreDay 245: biscuits for autumn
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…
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