Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
My shed and I are about to part company - a pre-emptive strike really before it slumps into the ground - but an opportunity to replace it with something that will be a combination of potting shed, workshop, highly organised tool store and folly. My Dad had two sheds to his name, both solidly built…
Continue reading ➞ Shed Hunting….
Vanessa' is a selection of Persian ironwood that develops a more upright, columnar habit than the species. This durable tree is beautiful in every season, as its foliage, branch structure and bark are all exceptional. Its leaves are oval shaped with somewhat scalloped edges. They emerge green edged with burgundy, maturing to midgreen in summer.…
Continue reading ➞ Welcome to February with Parrotia persica Vanessa
Traffic, traffic, rat-run, traffic, late! late! ..... aaah! I had to pull over and admire the view this morning, of the Thames at Isleworth. Birds wheeling around, mist clearing, colour seeping into the landscape, white sun. I'm reminded of one of my favourite poems, Leisure, by WH Davies - I'm sure to have quoted it…
Continue reading ➞ Early morning, the Thames at Isleworth
I featured this plant on the 18th January, bemoaning the lack of information on the label and finding out just a little about what the index numbers might refer to. Happily more than a few questions have been answered by a friend who has been able to look up the details from the original plant-hunting…
Continue reading ➞ Berberis – A Dectective Story
And a larger specimen, less than ten years old and already 4-5m tall, in the garden I look after in Kew. Unworried by recent cold spells, hard frost and snow - even the prolonged minus-zero that was March 2013. Urban heat island effect.... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/3346137/Mimosa-How-to-grow.html http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Rosemoor/About-Rosemoor/Plant-of-the-month/January/Acacia-dealbata
Hellebore Penny's Pink Photos only this time - I've talked about this particular hellebore - and Rodney Davey's other creation, Anna's Red, beforehand so shan't repeat myself.
Fruitful abundance - Malus x robusta, by the Victoria Gate cafe at Kew A crab apple smothered in glossy red fruits and making quite an impact, with me and my furry friend, by the cafe at Kew Gardens. Red Sentinel is a commonly available named variety of this cross, with an Award of Garden Merit…
Continue reading ➞ Malus x robusta – an abundant crab apple
Read all about it! Nandinas tall and short - I think the variety on the left is Purple Passion. A favourite plant, this, and worthy of the name Heavenly Bamboo - though it is not a bamboo. Nandina are in the Berberidacea family, though they bear little resemblance to a Berberis, and they have no…
Continue reading ➞ Minka House at Kew/Heavenly Bamboo
Betula utilis var. jacquemontii - one of the most desirable forms of Birch tree, with clean white bark. Brand new flesh, here.... with a gentle blush Betula szechuanica, above A young trunk which will mature to display chalk-white, textured, peeling bark. There is a grove of Birch trees, of many different varieties, at the top…
Continue reading ➞ Birch – Himalayan and Szechuan
The Teddington Gardener 