Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
How to grow: Lily of the valley To Carol Klein, this plant is the very essence of May. Carol Klein The Telegraph 12:01AM BST 01 May 2004 Today, May Day, people all over France will be following Gallic tradition and giving deliciously fragrant posies of muguets des bois as love tokens. The scent of muguet,…
Continue reading ➞ The worst of all delicious weeds – Convallaria majalis
Simple, scented displays here, grouped on tables and terraces in a garden in Kew:- Narcissus Tête à Tête, white Hyacinths (either Aiolos or Carnegie, I forget which - most probably Carnegie, here), taller early-flowering daffodils, primrose-coloured and scented Wall flowers (Sugar Rush - a variety in bloom from Autumn through to Spring) and primroses in pale…
Continue reading ➞ Simple ideas for scented spring containers
Fatsia japonica, in flower - big, bold shiny leaves and sputnik satellites of green flower. A very useful plant for a shady spot in the garden, providing a luxuriousness that is rare in these difficult conditions. Helen Yemm, writing in the Telegraph - is a fan - How to grow: Fatsia japonica Helen Yemm loves…
Continue reading ➞ Fatsia japonica – bold leaves (and flowers) for a shady corner
I've mentioned this pretty thing recently and I thought it deserves another outing - here it is again...
Hebe buxifolia nana - perfect tiny stacking towers of deep green, shiny leaves A dwarf 'boxwood' Hebe, a neat compact domes plant, growing no more than 30cm tall and wide, white flowers in the spring marking this out as something other than a clipped topiary box (Buxus). Native of New Zealand - my town garden…
Continue reading ➞ A hebe that thinks it’s a box
At last! Time for My Garden and taking out a large stand of Prunus laurocerasus (and not a little aucuba, yew, euonymus and pyracantha) which has taken over a sizeable part of the garden over the past five years - revealing a large bamboo which can be seen from the house now - balancing the…
Continue reading ➞ A busy day today – but this time I’m the client…
From goodlifegateway.com - an interesting business selling organic plant fertilisers and a helpful website to visit. You can make liquid fertilisers yourself, with little effort but this comes with a warning, since the smell of the macerating greenery, in the case of nettles and comfrey, can be quite... rich? Well, actually, Awful.... Isabel Hardman writing…
Continue reading ➞ Cossack Comfrey, Nettle Nosh and Worm Wee
This simple little confection caught my eye this morning, a jam jar with scented white hyacinth, creamy white narcissus, leaves and... well, something pink - not cherry blossom - I will have to ask the florist! A perfect little posy, capturing Spring.
Narcissus Bridal Crown A double creamy white and yellow narcissus with the most intense fragrance. One of the earliest doubles to flower, and perfect for forcing indoors. One vase will scent a whole room. Two vases might be one too many! It is a heady fragrance.
The Teddington Gardener 