We’ve arrived at that time of year where I concede that there might be some point in the existence of the snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) – at least for the gardener…
Read moreDay 253: pelargonium cuttings
Pelargoniums must be one of the absolute best things for the clumsy gardener (raises hand) to grow, for the simple reason that any bit you might accidentally snap off is almost certain to grow into a new plant…
Read moreDay 252: Japanese lily
Lilies add just that little flavour of the exotic to the garden. They’re not hard to grow (always assuming you can keep the dreaded lily beetle at bay – squish, ewwww...)…
Read moreDay 251: by the back door
Some of the best advice for new gardeners I’ve ever read (it was in Alys Fowler’s The Thrifty Gardener) is to start your garden at the back door…
Read moreDay 250: hitchhikers
It’s never just about the flowers. The flamboyant attention grabbers (the rude bits of plants, let’s never forget that) might be the gateway drug to a lifelong horticultural habit, but anyone who’s been gardening for more than a single season knows that the garden is a complex web of relationships…
Read moreDay 249: nasturtiums
Nasturtiums are irrepressible, you plant them one year and they come back over and again, wandering out from their anchoring point in the soil and sending questing stems in all directions…
Read moreDay 248: planting combinations
One of the joys of gardening is in trying out different planting combinations. We pour over pictures in glossy magazines and now on social media, visit the gardens of other people when we’re able and dissect their beds and borders to the nth degree…
Read moreDay 247: Eurybia divaricata
I still haven’t got used to this not being Aster divaricatus since the taxonomic boffins changed the names about, but the common name remains the white wood aster and I feel my tardiness is at least partly justified…
Read moreDay 246: Veronicastrum
As descriptive plant names go, Culvers root, or black root, fails rather spectacularly by failing to conjure up a holistic impression of Veronicastrum virginicum, concentrating as it does on the subterranean parts…
Read moreDay 245: Zinnia 'Queen Red Lime'
The annual I have the most fun growing from seed – Zinnia elegans ‘Queen Red Lime’ – has a fascinating flower that’s different every day…
Read moreDay 244: sea kale and rose hips
It takes a hardy character to withstand the harsh conditions by the coast – thin soils, fierce sun and constant buffeting by salt-laden winds, but nature is nothing if not inventive and many plants are perfectly adapted to this situation…
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