Cutting Garden

A timely guide to spring-flowering bulbs – choices, tips, techniques and planting ideas for a display from January to May

Categories Alpine, Bee Friendly Plants, Bulbs, colour, container gardening, Cottage Garden, Cutting Garden, Dry Garden, Fragrant plants, Garden Design, General comment, herbaceous, Iris, Magnolia, my projects, Open to the public, Organic Gardening, Petersham Nurseries, RHS London Show, RHS WIsley, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Savill Garden, Seasonal colour, shade, Snowdrops (Galanthus), spring flowering, Spring Garden, Woodland Garden2 Comments on A timely guide to spring-flowering bulbs – choices, tips, techniques and planting ideas for a display from January to May

  More thieving from my back catalogue of articles, this one doubly so since it originally featured in September a few years ago, featuring images taken from 2014 onwards - and repeated again in April of this year. But spring-flowering bulbs are available now so this time of year is probably the most useful as bulbs can be…

Continue reading ➞ A timely guide to spring-flowering bulbs – choices, tips, techniques and planting ideas for a display from January to May

A few days …. all manner of early autumn – should I say late summer despite the current chill Bank Holiday weekend ahead? – herbaceous-ness, roses, dahlias, sunflower, more herbaceous perennials, heuchera and Solenostemon (finishing up with Crinkly Bottom….). 2015 here we come …

Categories Alpine, Architectural Plants, Autumn garden, Climbing plants, colour, container gardening, Cutting Garden, Dahlias, dark foliage plants, David Austin roses, Dry Garden, Fragrant plants, General comment, Grasses, herbaceous, Hydrangea, late summer border, Roses, Seasonal colour, Vegetables, Woodland Garden1 Comment on A few days …. all manner of early autumn – should I say late summer despite the current chill Bank Holiday weekend ahead? – herbaceous-ness, roses, dahlias, sunflower, more herbaceous perennials, heuchera and Solenostemon (finishing up with Crinkly Bottom….). 2015 here we come …

  Once more wandering through the archives of garden-visiting, photography and plant inspecting - at RHS Wisley right at the beginning of September in 2015 (four days hence and five years back). These gardens are not entirely the same now, in design, layout and content (what garden is?) but suspect that many of the plants…

Continue reading ➞ A few days …. all manner of early autumn – should I say late summer despite the current chill Bank Holiday weekend ahead? – herbaceous-ness, roses, dahlias, sunflower, more herbaceous perennials, heuchera and Solenostemon (finishing up with Crinkly Bottom….). 2015 here we come …

It’s all going Vincent van Gogh – Sunflowers on trial at RHS Wisley

Categories annuals, Architectural Plants, Autumn garden, Bee Friendly Plants, colour, Cottage Garden, Cutting Garden, General comment, late summer border, Open to the public, Organic Gardening, RHS WIsley, Seasonal colour, Seeds, Summer gardenLeave a Comment on It’s all going Vincent van Gogh – Sunflowers on trial at RHS Wisley

More from the Trial Fields at RHS Wisley, time-travelling back five years but a sight that still sticks in the memory. Such variety in height, flower size, colour, texture and bringing out the child in every one of us who ever grew them and watched them tower above us with delight. So, 2015 it is…

Continue reading ➞ It’s all going Vincent van Gogh – Sunflowers on trial at RHS Wisley

An Afternoon at RHS Wisley – the Double Herbaceous Borders, Cottage and Jubilee Rose Gardens, a touch of woodland and more …

Categories Architectural Plants, Bedding, Climbing plants, Cottage Garden, Cutting Garden, David Austin roses, Dry Garden, Fragrant plants, Fruit Trees, General comment, herbaceous, Hydrangea, Open to the public, Plants for a shady garden?, RHS WIsley, Roses, Seasonal colour, Summer garden, White Garden, Woodland GardenLeave a Comment on An Afternoon at RHS Wisley – the Double Herbaceous Borders, Cottage and Jubilee Rose Gardens, a touch of woodland and more …

  Another - sigh -trip down memory lane though I have booked our timed visit for mid-July and hope the gardens might look something like this, from a visit a year or three ago. Always something to admire, some combination of plants, a design feature, something new you might not have seen before. And such…

Continue reading ➞ An Afternoon at RHS Wisley – the Double Herbaceous Borders, Cottage and Jubilee Rose Gardens, a touch of woodland and more …

Postcards from Sussex – the extraordinary Arundel Castle and Gardens

Categories annuals, Architectural Plants, Art in the landscape, Bee Friendly Plants, Climbing plants, colour, container gardening, Cottage Garden, Cutting Garden, Dry Garden, Exotic, Fragrant plants, Fruit Trees, Garden Design, General comment, herbaceous, Kitchen Garden, Mediterranean Garden, Open to the public, Organic Gardening, Ornamental trees, Seasonal colour, soft fruit, spring flowering, Spring Garden, Summer garden, Travel broadens the mind, Trees, Tropical, Water gardening, Winter Garden2 Comments on Postcards from Sussex – the extraordinary Arundel Castle and Gardens

  To prevent a general revolt over a daily onslaught of postcards from June 2017, you'll be glad yo note I've left out at least four more galleries from David Austin Roses in Shropshire, the delightful Chastleton House and a mooch around Woodstock and Blenheim Palace. For the not so feint-hearted, please search for stories…

Continue reading ➞ Postcards from Sussex – the extraordinary Arundel Castle and Gardens

A guide to spring-flowering bulbs in the garden – planting ideas from January to May in kaleidoscopic style

Categories Alpine, Bee Friendly Plants, Bulbs, colour, container gardening, Cottage Garden, Cutting Garden, Dry Garden, Fragrant plants, Garden Design, General comment, herbaceous, Iris, Magnolia, my projects, Open to the public, Organic Gardening, Petersham Nurseries, RHS London Show, RHS WIsley, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Savill Garden, Seasonal colour, shade, Snowdrops (Galanthus), spring flowering, Spring Garden, Woodland Garden1 Comment on A guide to spring-flowering bulbs in the garden – planting ideas from January to May in kaleidoscopic style

  Bulbs in the spring garden. The text and images are timely in this piece, looking through the late winter and spring months January through to May, though it was originally written for a September story when the bulbs and corms would be available for planting. There are practical tips and hints planting of course,…

Continue reading ➞ A guide to spring-flowering bulbs in the garden – planting ideas from January to May in kaleidoscopic style

Remembrance of An East Sussex Odyssey and the jewel in the crown, Great Dixter (2018)

Categories Architectural Plants, Bulbs, colour, conifers, Cottage Garden, Cutting Garden, Dry Garden, Exotic, Flowering Cherry, Fragrant plants, Fruit Trees, Garden Design, General comment, Great Dixter, herbaceous, Kitchen Garden, Magnolia, Mediterranean Garden, Open to the public, Organic Gardening, Organic pest control, Ornamental trees, Seasonal colour, shade, spring flowering, Spring Garden, Travel broadens the mind, Tropical, Vegetables, Wildlife gardening, Woodland Garden1 Comment on Remembrance of An East Sussex Odyssey and the jewel in the crown, Great Dixter (2018)

  An impossibly bright day, just like today, but taking us back two years to 2018 and a late spring coming back after the Beast from the East chilled (froze) the country over several weeks. Too bright for really good photography but a pleasure to remember. Enjoy. Well this time I'll let the pictures do…

Continue reading ➞ Remembrance of An East Sussex Odyssey and the jewel in the crown, Great Dixter (2018)

Roses, what else? Two new arrivals but many obituaries …

Categories Cottage Garden, Cutting Garden, David Austin roses, Flower Shows, Fragrant plants, General comment, Roses, Summer garden13 Comments on Roses, what else? Two new arrivals but many obituaries …

  Lady Emma Hamilton Familiar readers of these pages, and anyone who has met me to talk about roses, will know how much I admire the roses from the stable of David Austin in Shropshire, and I am looking forward to seeing Silas Marner and The Country Parson, new introductions to be showcased at Chelsea this…

Continue reading ➞ Roses, what else? Two new arrivals but many obituaries …

Green

Categories Abstract Photograpy, Alpine, annuals, Architectural Plants, Autumn garden, Bedding, Bulbs, Clematis, climbing plant, colour, conifers, Cottage Garden, Cutting Garden, Dry Garden, evergreen perennial, Evergreen shrubs, Exotic, floristry, Flower Shows, Fragrant plants, Garden Design, General comment, Grasses, herbaceous, House plants, Hydrangea, Japanese Maples (Acers), late summer border, Lawn Care, Open to the public, Ornamental trees, Plants for a shady garden?, RHS WIsley, Savill Garden, Seasonal colour, shade, Shrubs, Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, spring flowering, Spring Garden, Summer garden, The Savill Garden, Trees for smaller gardens, Tropical, White Garden, Winter Garden, Woodland Garden2 Comments on Green

  Well I thought I had created a monster gallery of pink, but it turns out that Green really has the stage. Again, all photographs from 2015, and pretty much everyone has the name of the plant embedded in the data. Very organised I was then, and how many photos, especially in July, August and…

Continue reading ➞ Green