Standen – A meeting with some Remarkable Espalier Apple Trees

I visited Standen at the beginning of April 2013 and took these photographs then. March, as I recall, had been a frozen tundra of a month with temperatures barely reaching about freezing day or night. The first daffodils were only just coming through, so different to the early Spring enjoyed last year. I am minded…

Kew Gardens starts the year with both colour and scent. @kewgardens – nothing dull here…

  and the Museum reflected in the lake, late afternoon sun Winter Box, Sarcococca, heavily fragrant by the Victoria Gate complex. Meanwhile, in the Davies Alpine House These Hamamelis on sale in the Garden Shop. Vesna (above and below) The sun is shining (well, it is now) and Kew Garden beckons with so much to…

A Touch of Frost

A touch on the chill side this morning, with pretty much everything rimed with frost until the sun was able to warm things up just a little, though I think a repeat is due tomorrow morning. These hellebores were unfazed by the deep freeze though not everything will be as forgiving, so a roll of…

Love your Apples and Pears: Winter Fruit Tree Pruning – Formative, Regular, Renovation and Rejuvenation

Care of apples and pears and a winter pruning guide   We are looking at fruit trees - apples and pears just now - and specifically winter care, pruning and management. Young trees, old trees, productive trees and lost souls alike. We have a lot of ground to cover here but don't panic, we can…

Daphne odora Aureomarginata, Edgeworthia chrysantha, Double Primulas, Hellebores, Crocus and Almond Blossom – A Day in the Life….

I am blessed with the scent of this beautiful plant - drifting across the nursery and Siren-like, it calls to me so that I can breathe in more of this delicious fragrance. Sweet, honeyed, hints of lily and jasmine, citrus, intense but not cloying. Fleeting too on the breeze, caught and then lost again. I…

Up the Apples and Pears – A Fruity Tour of RHS Wisley: Fruit Demonstration Garden, Fruit Collection and Fruit Fields

A tour earlier this week around the Fruit displays at RHS Wisley in Surrey - the Fruit Demonstration Garden and Fruit Collections showing a variety of trained forms especially of Apples and Pears, but also a whole range of stone fruit and soft fruit. I moved on into the extensive Fruit Fields. The Fruit Fields…

Teddington Gardener Review of the Year – December 2014 – Petersham Nurseries, RHS Wisley (twice), Hampton Court (Cabbages & Kings)….

December - ending with a severe chill, here in London, and snow elsewhere- but still much colour to be found. Hellebores and winter cherry blossom, Cotoneaster, Camellias and Anemones, early Narcissus and Hyacinths, some tropical loveliness in the Glasshouse at Wisley, Cabbages and Kings at Hampton Court and a bevvy of Heraldic Beasts. Happy New…

Teddington Gardener Review of the Year – November 2014 – Madeira, Kew Gardens, RHS Wisley, Isabella Plantation (Richmond Park), Petersham Nurseries, Salvias, Ginkgos and prepartions for Christmas. Tropical Island Gardens while Autumn makes an appearance at home.

Teddington Gardener Review of the Year – October 2014 – Dahlias (a lot), Petersham Nurseries, Thug, Wild Food Foraging, Pruning Climbing Roses, A Cutting Garden. Hints of Autumn.

Dahlias all the way at Petersham Nurseries Echeverias - tender (-ish) succulents with perfect rosettes Wild Food Foraging with Claudio Bincoletto at Petersham Nurseries Thug, the Petersham cat, nap interrupted and none too happy for that! Rose pruning at Peteresham Nurseries - making sense of a very overgrown climber Colour elsewhere in the Cutting Garden.…