An Englishman's Garden Adventures
Background Ideas I am in the process of repurposing and revamping the vegetable garden. It’s not really going to be a vegetable garden anymore. I’ll suppose that means I’ll have to rename it. The pond-garden perhaps? Why the change? Well, …
While walking in the South Downs National Park this weekend I came across a meadow with several wild-flower species. None of them are uncommon, but it is lovely to see them thriving and provides a reminder of the long-lost splendour …
Kingley Vale is the site of one of the most impressive natural yew woods in Europe. This national nature reserve is nestled in a south-facing valley in the chalk hills of the South Downs. (Google Map) In the dry valley …
Hydrangea Annabell produces good cut flowers up to 30cm across People seem to have mixed feelings about hydrangeas. Before I started designing gardens I had a rather negative opinion of them myself, mainly because of the ubiquity of the blue …
The Roselily Series was developed by the De Looff brothers who began in 2001 with a chance double-flowered Oriental lily seedling. From there they embarked on a breeding programme which led to the development of a whole series of double-flowered, …
Travelling home along a narrow country lane near Colworth, West Sussex, I was suddenly struck by a large splash of purple-blue flowers growing on the bank at the side of a field. The UK has an impoverished wildflower selection compared …
Amelanchier lamarkii A perfect small garden tree with interest throughout the year The bed nearest our house is filled with woodland plants: clipped box, textured ferns, billowing Japanese forest grass, white foxgloves and irises. It is very close to the …
Read moreSmall Tree – Snowy Mespilus or Juneberry (amelanchier Lamarckii)
Three examples of sturdy, long-lasting, DIY trellis panels TRADITIONALLY, trellis is any open framework used to partition areas of a garden or support climbing plants. In principle trellis — which comes from the latin for “arbor” or “summer house” — …
Trellis Panels in the top section of this 2m fence improve the look, adding texture and visual interest. I used trellis panels to reduce the visual impact of the 2m fence that runs along one side of my garden. The …
Latin: Muscari armeniacum ‘Estha’Season: April-May Height: 6in (15cm)Location: full/half sunSoil: any Certain varieties of garden plants just exude class, managing by some magic to transcend the merely ‘novel’ or ‘interesting’. This variety of grape hyacinth, ‘Estha’, is one such darling …