Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
Dahlia David Howard, among grasses and late flowering salvias, catching the November sun.. The dahlias are almost over - the inevitable frosts are heading our way, to blacken the foliage and signal the time to lift and protect the tubers until next spring. This particular variety, compact and with already dark leaves and small, beautifully…
Continue reading ➞ A touch of orange – Dahlia David Howard
Arbutus unedo - the Strawberry Tree A slow growing, evergreen tree that deserves to be more popular here in the UK - it is already widely planted in the Continent, even used in street planting and is attractive on so many fronts. Evergreen, of course, is always useful - a flowering tree ticks more boxes,…
Continue reading ➞ Strawberry Tree
Cyclamen africanum One of my favourite place in Kew, the dramatic clam-shell of the Davies Alpine House - though if I am honest, I prefer the more traditional layout at RHS Wisley, with a matched pair of raised benches and specimen pots sunk into sand. The plants are all at just the right viewing height…
Continue reading ➞ Cyclamen, three ways…
The rather beautiful Acer palmatum, Sango-kaku, in golden garb, photographed in the Woodland Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, yesterday In fact, this garden was full of delights - more maples, a marvellous Black Walnut, the totems of Cardocrimum giganteum mentioned earlier, Aconitums (flopped but still dangerously blue), Epimediums looking lush and vigorous...
Cotinus obovatus, at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, richly decked in Autumn colours A spectacular rare shrub or very small tree native to North America with great autumn colour, Cotinus obovatus has outstanding foliage, with very large (up to 10 cm), oval leaves. In the autumn these leaves turn stunning shades of red, orange and…
Continue reading ➞ Autumn blaze – Cotinus obovatus
Viola Antique Shades - one of my favourites This, from the excellent Seedaholics website... Some unbelievably coloured violas have come on the market in recent years with little notice. Most gardeners pass up these rugged, cool-season performers in favour of their larger cousins, the pansies. But don't be in too much of a hurry to…
Continue reading ➞ Antique Shades
David Austin rose, Summer Song, flowering today, showcasing a dazzlingly deep sunset red. Roses are of course, mainstays of the summer garden but many varieties, even reluctant repeat flowering kinds, often put on superb Autumn displays (and this goes for shrubs, climbers and some ramblers). Following on from such a beautifully warm and sunny summer,…
Continue reading ➞ Summer Song in November
Grape vine, leaf A rather beautiful vine leaf (I do not know the variety), burnished in autumn colours, came as a gift lifted out of a 'carrier bag of doom' presented to me earlier this week - the bag also contained a very mouldy, stunted bunch of home-grown grapes and a plea for a diagnosis…
Continue reading ➞ Carrier bags of doom….
Forthergilla Mount Airy Fothergilla gardenii - dwarf Fothergilla Fothergillas have assumed their rightful place in American gardens as magnificent shrubs that offer superb flowers and foliage, in both summer and autumn, as well as sun and shade tolerance. They do not have a bad season. The habit of dwarf fothergilla is significantly variable, from a…
Continue reading ➞ All things bright and beautiful
The Teddington Gardener 