Dodging the showers for a kaleidoscope of flower and fruit – roses, camellias, hellebores, hollies, decorative leaf, bark and seedheads

The roses too continue to put on a good show, with some near perfect blooms - and other joys - I'm hoping the rain will stop so I can get in an afew hours in my  own garden this afternoon - there are dahlias to lift and a venerable banana to wrap up before the…

Just a little gallery – Acers through to Woodwardia – a horticultural catch-up of the past couple of colourful, autumnal weeks

  Well, Acers first - from Wisley and Kew, Winkworth Arboretum and here and thereabouts! Followed by the rest of the As through to C ..s .... and moving on through the D E F and a touch of the Gs - there's a whole little gallery of Gentians afterwards - the more colourful elements…

A few days …. all manner of early autumn herbaceous-ness, roses, dahlias, sunflower, more herbaceous perennials, heuchera and Solenostemon (finishing up with Crinkly Bottom….)

a little late summer turning to autumn herbaceousness for your delight and delectation.... It has been a few days since my last blog entry and I have been busy working, gardening and photographing. A new camera has already improved the picture offering I think, with more natural and realistic colours. With file sizes between 10MG…

Q… K for Kew – an hour through the woodland, family beds and rock garden…

Aconitum Bicolor (below)   From here, we leave the Family Beds borders and step into the Rock Garden (bypassing the superb Salvia Borders are there is still a long way to go before they look at their best - October at least) First, this extravagant show of seedheads which at first I took for Pulsatilla...…

Roses and what to put with them – two rose gardens at RHS Wisley and some delicious complimentary planting

Hot Chocolate, in the Jubilee Rose Garden at RHS Wisley. I've seen this paired up with dark spiky salvias to great effect - just thinking about it, how about Amistad in the background. How sumptuous would that be? The Jubilee Rose garden, with central terrace and beds radiating outwards between grass paths, is a traditional…

Arabella Lennox Boyd – invention and boundless imagination in the gardens at Gresgarth Hall

A chance remark and the right alignment of dates and here we are, wandering through these remarkable gardens created in the midst of a wooded valley, bisected by a tributary of the River Lune, a showcase for the imagination and talent of garden designer Arabella Lennox Boyd. Up North, in the village of Caton outside…

2 acres of Paradise? David Austin Roses at their Albrighton Nursery & Gardens – the best display in years methinks!

The Long Garden, Lion Garden, Victorian Garden and The Renaissance Gardens at David Austin's home ground at Albrighton in Shropshire. The site is home to these magnificent 2-acre gardens, the extensive plant centre, shop and restaurant as well as the business-end of things, the breeding glasshouses and trial beds, the production nursery for all of…

A Petersham Nurseries Gallery – a feast of roses & perennials and a closer look at the Cutting Garden

I arrived at Petersham Nurseries 45 minutes earlier than necessary with a view to taking a few pictures - and I am a speedy photographer - so here is a little gallery of plants that are both conveniently for sale or at home in the Cutting Garden (a practical resource for so much of the…

Petersham Nurseries at the recent Grow London Garden Fair – a little video

Take a 6m by 6m space, add a rustic chestnut pergola, a wildflower meadow, fragrant roses, annuals, perennials and grasses, herbs, climbers ramblers and vines, tree ferns and a little bedding in there too - the whole contents of a cutting garden with plants for sun and shade but everything speaking of June; an Indian…