Autumn review

November 2, 2015

I am never usually content with the amount of colour I have in my garden, however this season I have been happy to see lots of different shades of bright orange, red, pink and mauve: standing at my front door and just looking around is a colour therapy.  It’s always heartening to have something going […]

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August chaos

September 4, 2015

It is mid-August and my garden has gone to seed.  Dominated by the foxgloves, the bed under the apple tree slumbers on. I grew chard last winter and spring, and thought to get seed from it – so I left the plants.  Even after some hacking out of the wild upward-growing tendrils there is a […]

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Woodland Gardens in Spring Part Two: Evenley Wood Gardens

June 5, 2015

It may be rather late to publish this – the trees have leafed since – but make a note in your diary to visit this lovely wood when the magnolias are out.  These photos were taken on the 2nd of May, however going a week or so earlier would mean you could enjoy the camellias […]

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Woodland gardens in spring part one: the Beth Chatto Gardens

May 8, 2015

I had the pleasure of exploring two wonderful woodland gardens in two weekends recently. On April 26th I went to Beth Chatto’s gardens near Colchester and on May 2nd I visited Evenley Wood Gardens in South Northamptonshire.  This post is about Beth Chatto’s woodland garden and I will write up my visit to Evenley shortly. […]

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Rainy and Wonderful – Cottesbrooke Hall Gardens part 2

January 2, 2015

My last post was about part of a visit to Cottesbrooke, Northants. in the rain in late August, when the blowsy dahlias were at their peak. This is about the rest of the garden – fantastic still-exuberant terrace borders and a completely different feel in the waterside Wild Garden. James Alexander Sinclair was asked to […]

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Rainy and Wonderful – Cottesbrooke Hall Gardens Part 1

December 2, 2014

In late August I visited Cottesbrooke gardens, which surround Cottesbrooke Hall in Northamptonshire. I’ve been meaning to go here for some time, as different designers in different eras have created various gardens here, from Sylvia Crowe to Arne Maynard. So I thought a visit would mean learning about quite a few different styles at once. […]

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How my veg plans worked out

August 7, 2014

In my May post, I gave ’10 vegetables to plant now’.  Here’s how they’ve progressed in my garden, as well as suggestions for what to plant now (late July/early August). Courgette ‘Best of British’ – these germinated well.  I ended up with two plants (when I do more I can’t cope with the glut of […]

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Progress on the meadow and a floriferous herb bed

June 13, 2014

In May, the view from my study window was of my herb bed in full flower: The creamy sweet ciceley flowers were frothing away over the purple globes of allium ‘Purple Sensation’ and the aquilegias were happily dotting themselves around them, surrounded by the ‘proper’ herbs of sage, thyme and ginger mint. By mid-June (this […]

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10 vegetables to plant now

May 12, 2014

It’s the height of the vegetable-growing season and I am very happy to have my greenhouse back (long story) and in full use.  In the Midlands, I tend to hold back on planting quite a few veg. until now so they don’t go out until after the frosts end at the mid-end of May.  This […]

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An Inspiring Urban Garden

February 18, 2014

Now is the time to start planning your garden, if you’ve not spent the winter poring over seed catalogues and design books.  I thought I’d put this post in as it is a fairly small urban garden that has masses of ideas  with which to inspire you! It’s a garden in central Bristol belonging to […]

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