The weather has been decidedly un-summery these past few days and further North, it is set to be one of the wettest on record. Us softy Southerners, by geography if not by birth, have it a little brighter but still, dank, damp, humid and overcast. Still, I wanted to see the new retail space and…
Summer garden
A return to Penshurst Place and Gardens, Kent – and this time we definitely have peonies ….
A return, after a years' absence, to the walled gardens at Penshurst Place in Kent. This time around, the famed 100m long peony border was looking fine, colourful and fragrant, growing lush and up through the wire grid, and with a long way to go before it will run out of steam. With the rain…
Kew Gardens – the Woodland Gardens providing welcome shade, dappled and deep and a rich tapestry of leaf, flower & fragrance
A reprisals of a piece from June 2015 at Kew Gardens, as I am hosting a Shade-themed workshop today and have rescheduled several pieces to fill out the subject and which will form the basis of my updated notes. A talk on the beauty and possibilities of gardening in the shade - indeed on a…
The shady garden in summer and into autumn … beginning an A-Z
I'm preparing for a workshop covering the possibilities for gardening in a little - or a lot - of shade and have begun to put together the gallery (above, but more to come) to illustrate some of the contenders that anyone tackling such a proposition might entertain. Damp shade and dry shade, dappled shade…
Continue reading ➞ The shady garden in summer and into autumn … beginning an A-Z
Throwing some light on shade
The Shade Garden in Spring and Early Summer Right Plant / Right Place Here are my cobbled-together notes from a recent workshop on shade gardening, highlighting the planting possibilities for those folk who are lucky enough to have a shady spot in their garden. There is a wide, wide - wide - range of…
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 ….
A Grand Day Out – Loseley House & Gardens – Within the Walled Garden, a Rose Garden, Flower Garden, White Garden, Herb and Edible Garden, and then a Moat, Tudor House, Parkland ….
Thank goodness for that - only having lived within striking distance of this Tudor House, Walled Garden and Parkland just down the A3 between Guildford and Godalming - for nigh on 19 years - we got there! And we were not disappointed. This is a busy estate and a very busy wedding venue - so…
A Riot of Roses at David Austin HQ – An Access All Areas Tour of the Gardens, Glasshouses, Breeding Program, Trial Fields … and musings on Fragrance in the summer and autumn garden –
The Gardens at David Austin Roses, Albrigton, Shropshire They may have been battered by the rains but how beautiful are these gardens still! A veritable riot of colour, in beds and borders, along paths and clothing walls and clambering up and over pillars. Every conceivable space is festooned. Walls have climbers and ramblers flowering from…
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…









