Almost mid way through November, and this shrubby, tough as old boots Salvia x jamensis ‘Hot Lips’ is still in flower. Full disclosure – I did not love this plant at first sight…
Read moreDay 314: wheelbarrow woes
Barrow number one has finally succumbed to a puncture. After eight years of almost daily abuse, well over a hundred tonnes of manure shifted and constant trips between border and compost heap…
Read moreDay 313: stonecrop
It upsets me when people take the bigger stonecrops, like Hylotelephium (formerly Sedum) ‘Autumn Joy’ for granted...
Read moreDay 312: Lindheimer’s beeblossom
Early on in a mild November, certain plants are making a darn good show of clinging on to life. Lindheimer’s beeblossom (Oenothera lindheimeri, formerly Gaura lindheimeri) is one such plant…
Read moreDay 311: pear trees
This is fruit country, and when it’s not, it’s nut country. Driving through the lanes of Kent, you’re rarely far from a cobnut platt or an orchard…
Read moreDay 310: black bryony
Bindweed is done for the year. Black bryony (Dioscorea communis) too – the strangling, clambering vines with their heart shaped leaves and pretty white bell flowers rendered innocuous by the passage of days…
Read moreDay 309: a peculiar alchemy
A peculiar alchemy occurs when outside meets in. If you’re dead posh, you can remodel your house so the dividing line between indoor living space and garden is little more than a shimmering veil…
Read moreDay 308: garden taming
Give me a wheelbarrow, bright November sunshine and some batteries for the radio and I’m set up for a day of happy garden taming…
Read moreDay 307: beardtongue
The big daisies are over, and any colour remaining in the border now tends to be from the last of the roses, hardy salvias and penstemons…
Read moreDay 306: leopard plant
I cannot for the life of me work out why Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’ is known as the ‘leopard plant’. Perhaps someone will enlighten me…
Read moreDay 305: biscuit tones
There’s danger, I realise, in clamouring for the bright colours of autumn (I’ve been getting impatient this year), lest you miss the subtler hues and textures that contribute just as much to the season…
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