People, Plants + Places

When we think about horticultural heroes, we often think of an individual - a designer, grower or presenter making waves in the industry.  This month, however, our Modern Hero of...

Dead hedges have been around for some time but in the last decade or so have become a feature in many gardens, woodlands and nature reserves. It’s not so common...

The vine on the garage, originally planted as a crimson glory vine (Vitis cognetiae) has never given the stunning, bright scarlet leaves that are its primary feature -  a mix...

I planted tulip bulbs this week.  260 of them not a huge amount, but enough to fill six troughs and a large, round, stone planter.  With the threat of colder...

The garden medlars (Mespilus germanica) have reached a state of perfect decay this week.  It’s not often that we look forward to rotting fruit but this one is improved vastly...

Wandering around the meadow this week I spotted a burdock leaf starkly etched with a maze of silver arteries, the giveaway signs of a leaf miner.  These creatures, the larvae...

With summer planting in troughs and containers coming to an end I’m already looking forward to next year.  This involves propagating plants that will be required in relatively large numbers...

The weather may have turned, our thick socks are on, and the waterproofs are constantly hanging up to dry, but it doesn’t mean that all signs of life have stopped...

I wrote a few weeks ago (see Mast years - time to fill the larder) about the exceptional year it’s been for fruit and nuts after the long dry hot...

It’s been confirmed.  I’m having babies next year.  Lots of them!  While recently cutting back some untidy looking plants I came across seed heads of Silybum marianum, the milk thistle. ...

Anybody with a garden or access to the countryside can’t have missed the abundance of fruit on trees and shrubs this autumn.  Blackberries, hawthorn, apples, sweet chestnuts, walnuts, and medlars...

We haven’t grown Black eyed Susan -Thunbergia alata - for a number of years but 2025 and its prolonged hot summer appeared to appeal to her adventurous nature.  Planted in...

It was time to celebrate this week after noticing that our quince tree planted 5 years ago has finally produced its first fruit.  Quince, known scientificically as Cydonia oblonga, are...

Carrying out some late summer pruning of the wisteria this week I came across several leaves with semi circular ‘bites’ removed by the Pac-man of the insect world.  These were...

This year's exceptional weather has just been crowned as the hottest on record for the UK and, as gardeners, we’re all seeing the results of the prolonged hot spell.  Brown...

For a plant with such tiny seeds it’s always a surprise when Amaranthus comes into flower with its bright tassels at head height.  We love it and have decided to...

I’ve gone for decades without seeing the giant yew hedge in Cirencester, Gloucestershire being clipped, but this year and last year I spotted the operation underway as I wandered through...

I’ve been adding to our stock of plants over the last week not because of careful planning but due to an unfortunate incident.  Several pots were blown over after a...

Buddleja globosa, sometimes called the orange-ball tree, is an underrated plant, perhaps because of its ubiquity and use in supermarket car parks and public planting schemes. But there's a reason...

We’ve written on several occasions about the joys of growing sweet peas, even mentioning and growing the wonderful Tutankhamun pea reportedly found by Howard Carter in Tutankhamun's tomb.  We’ve never...

Malva moschata, the musk  mallow, has been a favourite in my garden for a decade now.  A native plant in the U.K. it has beautiful pink flowers that are held...