I have always believed that you should only write or talk about what you know
If dandelions were difficult to grow I am sure we would all have pots of them. And if common bindweed (calystegia) were killed by frost I am equally sure we would value it as an ornamental. But, as it is, I would rank it as the worst of all weeds we have to tackle. Ground…
It may only be the Bank Holiday weekend but with a sharp drop in temperatures it might feel a bit more like autumn and that means, to many of us at least, time for spring bulbs. I mentioned the autumn-flowering bulbs last week, which have to be bought and planted as soon as possible –…
It has been an odd year for weather. I know that gardeners, like farmers, are never happy with the weather, whatever it is like, but this year seems to have been especially trying. Hot, dry weather, just when we needed some moisture, in spring, made planting tricky. Then extreme hot weather was an issue. But…
One of the joys of having a garden is being able to cut flowers for the home. I know that not everyone likes to take flowers from the garden but I don’t see an issue, especially if you grow a few plants specially for the purpose. A lot of these are annuals, plants that need…
But hydrangeas can be red or blue! I think that, via various means, I get more questions on hydrangeas than any other plants, closely followed by camellias and clematis. A contributory factor is undoubtedly their popularity but there are also lots of things to understand about hydrangeas. When I built and manned a display at…
When I was working at Nags Hall, for some of the time I was in charge of buying the houseplants. It was something I enjoyed but my judgement was sometimes clouded by my training at Kew Gardens. Unfamiliar plants that no one wanted to buy were like old friends to me after working in the…
At the moment I am glad I went to the trouble of sowing annuals in spring. So many people say they like these bright and colourful flowers but they are too much work; needing to sow and plant out young seedlings and keep them protected from slugs till they bloom – and repeat the whole…
When I worked at Nags Hall in the 80s, at this time of year, if the weather was good, I would sit on the sun-warmed peat bales (thank you Bord na Mona) to have my lunch. My sandwiches were augmented by mulberries from the tree that stood at the back of the car park or…
One of the joys of the summer garden is to see butterflies feeding on flowers – except cabbage whites of course. It is not difficult to plant to encourage these brilliant visitors and there are options other than the ubiquitous buddleias. You do not have to leave your garden to go wild to have them…
Patio containers are a lot more exciting these days than in the 80s! Not only are the pots themselves more varied and attractive, the choice of plants is vast. In addition to new forms of all the old favourites such as petunias and marigolds, there are diascias, nemesias, bacopa and callibrachoas (above) which we had…