Mango Popsicle

Kniphofia 'Mango Popsicle' and Lythrum 'Robin' I'm experimenting with colour combinations and this is one I might try to recreate with tulip varieties when I come to look at container displays later this year. I am not a big fan of the red hot poker, in the more traditional guises at least, but this mango…

Three colours blue, orange and purple

A Moroccan influence here I think - tangerine rose Lady Emma Hamilton, deep blue Agapanthus Northern Star, Lythrum Robin and Veronica Purplicious. The colours sing out in this combination. Now where can I use this...?

Clints and Grykes

Having just come back from a Yorkshire tour and visiting Malham Cove, where there is an excellent example of a limestone pavement, complete with clints and grykes au naturel, this garden spoke to me! One of the Conceptual Gardens, a category unique I think to the Hampton Court Flower Show, this jigsaw of polished limestone…

Garden for Joy

Garden for Joy, a garden created for QEF (Queen Elizabeth's Foundation for Disabled People) at the RHS Hampton Court flower Show, which finished yesterday. "Purple is the colour that appeals to QEF's disabled young residents and was chosen as our logo colour - the planting scheme revolves around purples e.g. salvias, eryngium and echinops mixed…

Parcevall Hall Gardens, Yorkshire Dales

Just pictures, for now, of this fascinating Arts and Crafts Garden in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. Such a magical place and combining the best of all worlds - a cultivated garden amid so much wild beauty.

A Yorkshire Tale

Newby Hall & Gardens, Ripon A week exploring North Yorkshire and much to see was there! Newby Hall & Gardens, near Ripon, was near the top of the list of attractions and a real plant hunters delight with much that is rare and unusual. The National Collection of Cornus kousa, a whole garden of salvias…

Return to Roehampton

My first visit in over six months, to the borders I created last Spring in this large Roehampton Garden. Deep breath, eyes open, great relief! They have had to look after themselves following the tidy-up I was able to give them before Christmas and I am thrilled that they have survived such a cruel and…

Kew Green

An architectural digest of some of the houses, and gardens, on Kew Green. I missed Open Gardens there a little while ago, so losing out on the opportunity of seeing the back gardens, which promise much. Next year then.

Blue Fin Roof Garden, community gardens, Wren churches and The Temple.

As part of London Open Garden Squares Weekend, the roof garden at the Blue Fin Building (IPC Media) on Southwark Street was opened and provided a real treat, a surprising garden and panoramic views across London.40m/ten storeys up above London's streets, it is a substantial terrace on three sides of this distinctive building, with extensive…