Organic Gardening

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

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

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)

Explaining a little about fertilisers; What N:P:K means; the benefits of Organic Matter, mulches & green manure – and making your own compost & manure brews. Some steps towards Organic Gardening

Categories Bee Friendly Plants, Composting, container gardening, General comment, jobs to do in ..., Organic Gardening, Pest control, Roses, Spring Garden, Wildlife gardening2 Comments on Explaining a little about fertilisers; What N:P:K means; the benefits of Organic Matter, mulches & green manure – and making your own compost & manure brews. Some steps towards Organic Gardening

I had quite a few ideas about gardening that I believed wholeheartedly but quite without foundation - that is before I started my formal horticultural training. One of these truths was that there was no such thing as the over-use of fertilisers. A little more would surely provide extra benefit. Well, no, it turned out.…

Continue reading ➞ Explaining a little about fertilisers; What N:P:K means; the benefits of Organic Matter, mulches & green manure – and making your own compost & manure brews. Some steps towards Organic Gardening

Planting for Honey Bees and other pollinators ….

Categories Acid-loving plants, Architectural Plants, Bee Friendly Plants, Climbing plants, colour, container gardening, Cottage Garden, David Austin roses, Dry Garden, evergreen perennial, Evergreen shrubs, Fragrant plants, Fruit Trees, Garden Design, General comment, herbaceous, Kitchen Garden, Mediterranean Garden, Organic Gardening, Organic pest control, Ornamental trees, Petersham Nurseries, Rhododendron & Azalea, Seasonal colour, Shrubs, Spring Garden, Summer garden, Trees for smaller gardens, Vegetables, White Garden, Winter Garden, Wisteria3 Comments on Planting for Honey Bees and other pollinators ….

Bee Mindful/Planting for honeybees and beneficial pollinators These are some of my notes for a day-long workshop taking place at Petersham Nurseries today, focusing as we have all month on the honeybee, bee-keeping, planting for bees, honey tasting and fermenting and styling with fresh flowers. And lunch, let's not forget that important little bit, and…

Continue reading ➞ Planting for Honey Bees and other pollinators ….

Stylish Summer Containers

Categories annuals, Architectural Plants, Bedding, Climbing plants, colour, container gardening, Fragrant plants, General comment, herbaceous, House plants, Hydrangea, Indoor gardening, Organic Gardening, Plants for a shady garden?, Roses, Seasonal colour, shade, Summer garden1 Comment on Stylish Summer Containers

I'm hosting a workshop at Petersham Nurseries, part of a seasonal series we hold, discussing all things containers, planters, troughs, window boxes, bowls, urns ... for a long-lasting, hopefully interesting, fragrant, colourful, herby, floral, edible and beautiful summer-long display. I shall be looking back at some of the medleys we put together last summer, autumn…

Continue reading ➞ Stylish Summer Containers

Stylish late – late summer containers

Categories colour, container gardening, Dahlias, dark foliage plants, David Austin roses, Evergreen shrubs, Fragrant plants, Garden Design, General comment, Grasses, Great Dixter, herbaceous, Organic Gardening, Petersham Nurseries, Seasonal colour3 Comments on Stylish late – late summer containers

I hosted a workshop a few weeks ago now, at Petersham Nurseries, with the title of 'Stylish late-summer containers. I promised the guests that I would create some notes and have been very tardy I doing so. I hope to remedy this here, jotting down a few of the points we covered, and details of…

Continue reading ➞ Stylish late – late summer containers