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Plants make the perfect gift at Christmas – low-carbon, no calories and beautiful. Traditional choices are poinsettias, azaleas and cyclamen. But orchids are a practical and exciting alternative and they are wonderful and thoughtful gifts. Who wouldn’t want to receive a beautiful orchid? Although they are wonderfully exotic in appearance, most orchids are not difficult…
It is hardly a shock, but it looks as though winter is here. We have been very lucky with the temperatures until this week, and now the cold is starting to bite. With lower temperatures, what should we be doing in the garden? 1 Time for digging Winter is the perfect time to get the…
With the Festive season fast approaching, it is time to think about Christmas potplants. In the ‘old days’ the choice was usually of poinsettias, cyclamen and azaleas, and although there are more flowering potplants available today, especially orchids, these are still the big three. I have a love-hate relationship with poinsettias: I joke about them…
Winter is impossible to ignore and we can’t fight it. So why not embrace it and plant something that’ll look good and cheer us up, just when we need colour and fragrance. It is surprising how many plants are looking great right now and here are just a few of the plants that are making…
We have ‘enjoyed’ an exceptionally mild autumn and I have been slow in protecting some of my tender plants. A few were lifted and prepared for winter a while ago but the mild weather in recent weeks has made me complacent. There were dahlias in flower, though looking tatty, and it can be confusing to…
Autumn is not the obvious time to think about magnolias, after all, they bloom in spring. But National Tree Week begins at the and of the month and we all know the importance of planting trees. A tree in the garden offers so much: shade, privacy, habitats for wildlife and so much more, including converting…
Hedges have a multitude of uses in the garden. They can define boundaries, offer protection to other plants and divide the garden into sections. They take a lot longer to achieve an effect than a fence or a wall but they are much cheaper and you don’t need brick-laying skills! They do need maintenance –…
As autumn merges into winter, the question in the garden is whether to tidy up borders now or to leave them till spring. There are benefits on both sides. Those who argue that they should be left, enjoy the dead seed heads of summer flowers and remind us that nature drops leaves over the borders…
The hot, dry summer was a challenge for gardeners and gardens and one of the saddest sights was our brown lawns. We tend to panic unnecessarily about the turf and, unless you need to care for a bowling green, we can allow the grass to take its chances. It will green up in autumn when…
It is time to plant up pots to brighten up winter and spring. Although there is still some colour in the garden, that won’t last much longer and now is the perfect time to plant up some pots that will look bright all winter and into spring. Even if you can’t pack your borders with…