Not really a hollyhock, but like a hollyhock, a mallow, with leaves distinctly reminiscent of the naughty wonder-plant…
Read moreDay 211: globe artichoke
A peachy violet fuzz has appeared overnight on the globe artichokes, letting me know that I’ve missed harvesting them for another year…
Read moreDay 210: globe thistle
Summer here would be incomplete without the lavender blue lollipops of the globe thistle, Echinops ritro, just coming into flower…
Read moreDay 209: Lucifer lately
The weather this year has been surpassing odd, but never more than in the way that it’s delayed the appearance of Lucifer, the tall crocosmia…
Read moreDay 208: summer growth
Everything is growing like it’s going out of fashion, that last push to bulk up before the light truly begins to fade…
Read moreDay 207: Helenium 'Moerheim Beauty'
Thunder rumbling from a threatening sky and the first heavy drops of intent falling on me, I’m squatting in a border, entranced by the heleniums…
Read moreDay 206: wild teasel
I think I’d almost grow the teasel for its botanical name alone – there’s something very satisfying about intoning ‘Dipsacus fullonum!’, loudly, as if it were some kind of Potterish incantation…
Read moreDay 205: height and volume
Height and volume. It’s what everyone wants in a newly planted garden…
Read moreDay 204: turks cap lily
A couple of years I got confused by the lilies at Great Dixter…
Read moreDay 203: off the ledge
Gravity and physics took a toll on my study today. Throw in some slightly suspect DIY skills and a recent growth spurt…
Read moreDay 202: purple party in the herb patch
There’s a party going on in the herb bed, which is alive with pollinating insects and resplendent in shades of purple and lilac…
Read moreDay 201: an alligator in the shed
Not an ad, but an enthusiastic response to the oddest looking bit of gardening kit that came in genuinely handy at the weekend…
Read moreDay 200: Hydrangea 'Annabelle'
A day, if ever there were one, to make like a hydrangea and head for the shade…
Read moreDay 199: the big butterfly count
Summer has arrived in time for this year’s Big Butterfly Count in the UK, which began on Friday and runs until 8th August…
Read moreDay 198: purple toadflax
The notion of the uninvited guest carries with it an air of something annoying, even perhaps sinister; the character who turns up looking to subvert events to their own agenda…
Read moreDay 197: daylilies
I’m conflicted about daylilies (Hemerocallis spp.). With their bright colours and flamboyant display they should surely be the cause of a roiling passion within me and yet…
Read moreDay 196: Rodgersia pinnata
Here’s the confusing thing about rodgersia: I can never decide whether I’m growing it for the foliage, or the flowers…
Read moreDay 195: magical combinations
I was preparing one of my lovely coaching clients earlier in the week for what to expect in the second year of a newly planted garden…
Read moreDay 194: not weed
One of those meetings where you can’t quite place the individual before you, though something about them seems so familiar…
Read moreDay 193: gardening opinions
We can often find ourselves frustrated with the crowds at plant shows or gardens; so many people, getting in the way of our photographs…
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