At first glance some may not think of aubergines or egg-plants as much more than novel foreign vegetables useful for bulking out tastier ingredients. And indeed the supermarket is the only way many are acquainted with these as relatively few gardeners grow them. Closely related to tomatoes, peppers and potatoes these solanum fruits were long […]

You may know of the giant water lily, Victoria regia /amazonica. The remarkably rigid structure of the leaves with their upturned rims and interlaced ribs makes these stiff enough to support a child. They gave Paxton his idea for the iron framework of the Crystal Palace. Unfortunately apart from needing more than considerable warmth this […]

I guess many of us started our interest in gardening with cacti. Despite their obvious drawback of really nasty spines they are so often given to children as first plants. I guess because it’s thought, quite rightly, that these don’t quickly die of neglect. However you can kill them with kindness- too much watering or […]

There are few other flowering plants that will give you such an impact over so many weeks and even many months as a selection of tender Fuschias. Although these can be moved outside for the summer come autumn they need to be brought under cover and it is then that they prove their worth. With […]

I doubt there is any plant ornamental or productive that has had as meteoric rise in popular culture as the hot or chilli pepper. A decade ago few gardeners grew peppers of any sort.

Here’s a really lovely conservatory plant with a bit of a drawback. For once it’s not a poor name, though it’s origin is actually obscure enough to win a Mastermind contest: Strelitzia reginae is named after the 1761 marriage of George III to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Similar in many ways and closely resembling the banana […]

So many of our most interesting and useful tender crops and flowers are closely related and in the Solanum family. All the daturas and petunias, brunfelsias and nierembergias, cropping and sweet scented tobaccos, tomatoes and potatoes, peppers, physalis and aubergines, and even that oddly popular Goji berry. I really cannot bring myself to recommend this […]

Now I must admit these are not the most attractive nor compact of plants however the Physalis family are exceptionally valuable subjects for growing under cover. Closely related to tomatoes but never suffering any of their problems these are surprisingly easy to cultivate and one can even substitute for a tomato crop. The best known […]

Now this is one of the finest conservatory and warm greenhouse plants you can grow. It is not quite, but almost, hardy in some varieties. Well it will survive a single short snap, but will expire if kept too cold for long. However it does not need much heat and it’s easy to grow replacements […]

Angels trumpets, or Angel Strumpets as someone punned, are spectacular, and easy. Once known as Datura now some are reclassified as Brugmansia which is not appealing and rebelliously many still prefer Datura. The most commonly grown form, D. suavolens, has huge lily like white trumpets with the fantastic scent most marked in the evening. There […]

I’ll bet this is not a plant you would ever previously thought I’d be likely to recommend. However wait, yes petunias can be a bit cheap and nasty, but they do have certain virtues other than the exuberant floriferousness they always exhibit. Too long associated only with garish town centre bedding schemes and pub frontages. […]