People, Plants + Places

As winter draws to a close, my attention is focused on the swelling flower buds of the Viburnum x burkwoodii which is very deliberately positioned close to my kitchen door. ...

Two genera dominate our spring gardens and yet they are so different.  Exploring these differences is a good way of understanding plants more generally.  Most gardeners will tell you that...

I have just returned from an inspirational couple of days in Nottingham attending the Flowers from the Farm annual conference.  I am not a flower farmer or floral artist but...

“What's that scent?, where's it coming from?”.  This sensation is not what you expect on a cold winter's day, and not from a flower.  There are a few very early...

At this time of year, structural planting will come into its own, as the last leaves fall and the frost nips the perennials we are left with the ‘bones ‘of...

Once upon a time, gardeners would cut all herbaceous growth back in autumn, often once things started to get just a bit 'untidy'.  Winter would be a desolation of bare...

Autumn is the time of year when the garden takes on a mellow and relaxed mood but us gardeners are far from relaxed and already planning for the year ahead. ...

We all love a daisy!  Something about that radiant sun-like shape.  Echinaceas have been around a long time, but the revival of interest in perennials have really brought them to...

We have passed high summer in the garden and for some people at this time of year there is a fear of what comes next.  In the period leading into...

I am very proud to be a patron of a charity called Tuppenny Barn in West Sussex, situated on the south coast near Emsworth.  It was set up and is...

May is the time for the peak flowering of this vast and extraordinary genus.  They are not universally popular however.  Anyone who gardens on alkaline or even conventional 'good' garden...

April is the month to visit Wildside in Devon, well every month is worth a visit, but this month is extra special because of a certain plant.  Wildside is located...

Somewhat, and surprisingly, rare as a British native, the Oxlip makes the most amazing early spring flower for gardens.  Combining the upright form of the Cowslip with the subtle pale...

I would like to make the argument that front gardens are more important than back gardens and not just because they under the glare of every passing person!  My reason...

Starting to flower at the end of winter, hellebores can continue to look good for months.  These ones here, displayed in what I think is the best way to treat...

It has been called ‘Vita’s other garden’, in fact this garden was Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson’s first ever garden in the UK.  As newlyweds they lived in Istanbul (then...

November used to be the nadir of the garden year, with nothing in flower, autumn colour fallen and all borders cut back and bare.  No more!  Ornamental grasses, discussed recently...

  Is it too early to be thinking about garden visits for next year?  Well I don’t think so and if there was one garden that I would say should...

Few perennials are as useful as Rudbeckia fulgida.  There are a seemingly endless number of yellow daisies for the last few months of the gardening year – nearly all North...

In my role as a garden designer and lecturer I have found that ornamental grasses can divide the room, people tend to love or loathe them.  A shame when people...

“Life without phlox is not worth living” said the German gardener, nurseryman, plant breeder and writer, Karl Foerster.  This year is the 150th anniversary of his birth, and has been marked...