Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
Pure white crocus, streaked with lilac and tufts if egg-yolk-gold Narcissus Jetfire, a strong sturdy, early narcissus, excellent for naturalising in grass. Primroses coming to the party now too - all manner of colours but I always revert to these more natural tones, if not the original species. Coronilla valentina glauca Citrina - compact evergreen…
Continue reading ➞ White, yellow, pink – three colours Spring
Galanthus nivalis f. pleniflorus 'Flore Pleno' A classic double snowdrop, something to whet the appetite and perhaps prompt a visit to one of the gardens where these diminutive beauties are currently out in force, in all their myriad forms. The best varieties to choose and how to grow them - LINKS - https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/197933/Galanthus-nivalis-f-pleniflorus-Flore-Pleno-%28d%29/Details http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/plants/11370238/Wonderful-snowdrop-varieties.html https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/articles/graham-rice/10-agm-snowdrops…
Continue reading ➞ Snowdrop time….
The Osterley Park estate, including Robert Adam House, formal gardens, parkland and extensive farmland, is rather a surprise, a great swathe of greenery within the urban sprawl of Hounslow, airplanes cutting across the skies from nearby Heathrow. It is one of the last remaining 'country estates' in London and under the care of the National…
A light dusting of snow in the woods around Ham, though at home in Teddington there was enough for a serious game of snowballs between the children heading to school. (below) The churchyard at St. Peter's Church by Petersham Nurseries. While the Cutting Garden, while not exactly deep and crisp and even, had a wintery…
Continue reading ➞ What did I say about February? Tricky already…. A Snow/No Snow day
Hellebores running wild in the woods of Battleston Hill at RHS Wisley. I have an inkling that these are just a little wild, I have never seen any them labelled (and pretty much everything else thereabouts is name-plated). There will be more of them in due course, these are the vanguard of a great swathe…
You are met, as soon as you walk into the gardens at RHS Wisley, by the seductive scent of Sarcococca, the Winter Box, in this case with pure white threadlike flowers on arching stems, set against deep green leaves. It is a fragrance that carries on the wind, a siren-call to the few pollinators out…
I visited Standen at the beginning of April 2013 and took these photographs then. March, as I recall, had been a frozen tundra of a month with temperatures barely reaching about freezing day or night. The first daffodils were only just coming through, so different to the early Spring enjoyed last year. I am minded…
Continue reading ➞ Standen – A meeting with some Remarkable Espalier Apple Trees
and the Museum reflected in the lake, late afternoon sun Winter Box, Sarcococca, heavily fragrant by the Victoria Gate complex. Meanwhile, in the Davies Alpine House These Hamamelis on sale in the Garden Shop. Vesna (above and below) The sun is shining (well, it is now) and Kew Garden beckons with so much to…
A touch on the chill side this morning, with pretty much everything rimed with frost until the sun was able to warm things up just a little, though I think a repeat is due tomorrow morning. These hellebores were unfazed by the deep freeze though not everything will be as forgiving, so a roll of…
Continue reading ➞ A Touch of Frost
The Teddington Gardener 