Hartley Magazine

All the latest news, hints, tips and advice from our experts

Confessions of a Helle-bore

There’s no question about it. I have too many hellebores in my garden. I know this is true because the famous nurseryman, Bob Brown, once came to my garden and exclaimed in basso profundo “too many hellebores Val.” The late Christopher Lloyd, of Great Dixter, went even further and called people like me helle-bores. Fortunately […]

Marigolds – easy flecks of sunshine

One of the things I use my greenhouse for is raising annuals every spring. One of my very favourites is the marigold because it flowers right through summer until the first frosts. The flowers come in sunny shades of mahogany-red, orange and warm-yellow and these colours attract hoverflies and pollen beetles. The hoverflies look like […]

Sowing the Seeds – better than a Paul Daniel’s Magic Set!

I’ve got two daughters, Frances and Zoe, and Frances used to spend many a happy hour trying to do tricks with her Paul Daniels’ magic set. She’d arrive, complete with cape, top hat and wand, and then she’d entertain us with varying degrees of success whilst we tried to take it seriously. That was the […]