In 2016 my two main plant experiments to improve my knowledge of gardening are going to…
Garden chat
Dahlia experiment: cultivars put to the test!
In late 2013 I discovered Dahlias. As unbelievable as that might sound to gardeners who have grown…
Pot’s Growing On in January: indoor plants, seed catalogues and preparation
January is the time to get organised, wash pots carefully to kill nasties, enjoy browsing the…
Top 6 Best Bee Magnet Flowers of 2015
One of my top priorities for 2015 was to have a garden grown as a nature reserve,…
All hail Helleborus niger leaves!
Back at the start of 2014, when my love of gardening ignited and shot off like…
8 tips for buying a Christmas tree
Christmas trees are brilliant. However the way they are sold can be a bit wasteful, cost…
A reason why the London Garden Bridge might be a good thing
The London Garden Bridge is fairly hotly debated. On the face of it, a tree lined…
Solenostemon scuttelarioides (aka Coleus)
Victorian’s freakin’ loved a lot of plants. They thought plants were cool. Because plants are cool.…
One amazing gardening year
Warning: look away now if you don’t want to read self-reflective pointless twaddle. Exactly a year…
National Dahlia Society Annual Show 2015 & RHS Dahlia Trials
I returned to the National Dahlia Society’s Annual Show today after being totally gobsmacked last year. Though…
Ferns at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
I’ve gone fern mad – I don’t even know how it happened. This weekend, on my…
Fuzzy buzz: heuchera think you are?
How cool is this little fella? Buzzin around. Couldn’t get enough of the Heucheras. Cheeky tube…
Designer Edibles 1: Peas (Pisum sativum ‘Meteor’)
I’m on a mission to grow as many different species and varieties of plants as possible…
Brunnera macrophylla ‘Mr Morse’
The plants are still small (they’ve seriously been through the wars after arriving near death!), so…
Big Dreams, Small Spaces: Victorian inspiration
Driven by a renewed love of plants and a brain being filled with RHS knowledge, in…
Dividing a Zamioculcas zamiifolia (ZZ plant)
I’ve had a Zamioculcas zamiifolia for some years now. In the last year, I found the…
Urban Legends: Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, inventor of the Wardian Case
Today I discovered we live only 3 minutes walk away from the last residence of one of…
Gardens: a science experiment we can all try
You know what, the Victorians got it right. Curiosity, discovery, understanding the unknown, adventure!
10 favourite plants of 2014
It’s the last day of 2014 and I’ve been really interested in plants this year (no…
National Dahlia Society Annual Show 2014 at RHS Wisley
It’s not often something knocks my socks off and genuinely makes me say “wow” out loud but then…
Becoming an art student again
In January 2013 my friend Marcos encouraged me to find a drawing class and just give…