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Landscape as legacy: Roberto Burle Marx
Some time ago there was a TV interview with Roberto Burle Marx, the Brazilian landscape architect, historian, artist, and conservationist. It was framed by a tour of Sítio, his house and extensive garden in hills above Rio de Janeiro. Burle Marx was a plant collector focused on conserving the under-appreciated and thus threatened flora of […]
Seasonal Review
It’s been an interesting growing season this year. First, I had to spend some time repairing my two greenhouses after a spring storm did damage to both. This damage resulted in a slight shifting of some of the larger panes of glass, causing leaks in the overhead. Hopefully, the caulking done will provide a permanent […]
October – it’s not all gloom and doom
As a writer I plough a lonely furrow, sitting at home in my study day after day. I’m lashed to my desk, like a female Odysseus being prevented from the Siren call of the garden just beyond the window. I get a constant urge to dash outside and abandon the task in hand, even in […]
The last of the green tomatoes
Usually there is a morning in October when you open the greenhouse door and the air inside smells more damp and autumnal than steamy and summery. This year the arrival of that moment is taking its time, with the beautiful golden and warm early October trying to fool us that it is still summer. On […]
The Power of Autumn Perennials
Jean Vernon unravels how our garden borders and their plants benefit the little things in and around our gardens. Sometimes when autumn sets in it feels like the garden is over, but actually our beds and borders have very vital roles in the bigger scheme of things. Many of the benefits are obvious but others […]
Like it or loathe it, the Marmite herb
Some of this in your greenhouse and you can divide your friends into two groups. Either, Coriander is delicious adding aroma to salads and spicy dishes. Or, Coriander has a strange mousey odour like a kennel of damp dogs. There’s no in-between position. Apparently this is genetic, not something we choose. So be warned, if […]
The Lawn Goodbye
This year’s drought has devastated lawns and much else besides – but where once there was grass, there’s now the chance to do things differently. This summer’s drought, which in England is far from over, put our gardens through one almighty stress-test. Soil baked. Borders buckled. Seedlings shrivelled. Greenhouses boiled. Crops stalled. Butts ran dry. […]
The Garden Art of Doing Nothing
Sometimes the path of least resistance is the more difficult one to take. Circumstances change, not always for the better, and the easy way out doesn’t show its face until it’s too late to change course. This is true particularly when making a garden, and I’ve made six of them over so many years I […]
Growing Exotic (Well, Slightly Exotic) Plants in a Greenhouse
In a greenhouse, plants can be grown that would never survive in the surrounding environment. Many aren’t just non-native plants. Some are exotic ones from far-away parts of the world, especially tropical regions. Growing such plants can be great fun, and not just because you’re defying the outdoor climate. The fruit of some offer grocery–store […]
Let’s Hear it for the Rose
I can’t remember a more difficult year, gardening wise, than this one! I have arms that stretch down to my knees, or that’s what it feels like, because I have carried countless heavy cans to keep my Daphnes, witch hazels and moisture-loving ferns alive. Or should I say, hopefully alive! You can’t water everything and […]
Darling, but dramatic daisies
As summer slides towards autumn, there’s a group of plants that are still flowering their socks off. The daisies. and I don’t mean lawn daisies, I mean the whole extended family. And that’s the thing about plant families, they really are a miss mash of all the second cousins, the barmy aunt, plus a few […]