I catch myself in the ridiculous position of wishing time away, urging my garden to catch up…

In the world of the houseplant enthusiast, a bicolour leaf seems to be far more greatly prized than such a thing would be in the parallel realm of the outdoor gardener…

Spurges generally don’t get to come into the house, but over Christmas, we welcome in the poinsettia, or Cuetlaxochitl to the Aztecs…

I love a Christmas mystery as much as the next person, but today’s has less to do with a body in the library and footsteps in the snow than it does the identity of one particular begonia…

Christmas is wonderful, of course it is, but when the frenzy is done and the motorway miles have been reeled in, a kind of peace descends until the new year…

The camellias bask in the pale golden light of the morning sun, dew beginning to gather along the surface of each leaf…

As the years passed, I began to feel a bit sorry for the tree on Christmas day…

Mild winters make the birds less eager to strip every twig and branch of their convenient energy snacks…

I’ve been holding out for a frosty end to the year though, other than the dusting we received yesterday, it looks as though I’ll be disappointed…

Yesterday, as you’ll no doubt have noticed, was the winter solstice. The year turns once again and, ever so tentatively at first, we begin to leave the darkness behind…

Calocephalus, or cushion bush, or Leucophyta brownii, is a strange and enchanting plant…

By all that’s good and right and holy, December in this part of the world should be cold and crisp and clear…

I’m a bit of a sucker for a furry plant. I’m also a fan of scented-leaved pelargoniums…

For all the work there is yet to do outside, it really does feel as though in early December the garden decides to reward itself with a few weeks off…

There are two or three varieties of the European, or bloodtwig dogwood Cornus sanguinea that pack a considerable punch…

Thank heaven for creeping woodsorrel (Oxalis corniculata). Not really for any intrinsic value the plant possesses…

That’s the thing about self-seeding plants – you can’t rely on them to self-seed themselves where you want them to…

It’s as well I serviced my secateurs recently (the little black rubber bumper that acts as a shock absorber had gone AWOL)…

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being given a second chance…

There’s a magic about mistletoe (Viscum album), one that’s not entirely comfortable…