An Englishman's Garden Adventures
Watery sunshine lights up the garden at the start of the new year. On this mild midwinter’s day I find a few errant blooms, bravely struggling on long after closing time: The last violet buds of agapanthus trumpet towards the …
Dew-jewelled gossamer frames Hosta “Praying Hands” The spooks have been out over night. Hundreds of tiny garden denizens worked unseen through the night. As the morning mist lifted their work revealed: everything shrouded in Halloween webs. Let’s go and see …
Oh look!There is dew in the grass…All glittering in the morning sun… But you have to get down on your hands and knees to really appreciate it…Take a look…From a spider’s-eye view… No, even closer…See?Do you see it? A tiny …
Brick Tuft Hypholoma sublateritium (I think!), growing from the edge of the oak board veg beds. The appearance of fungi in the garden is always surprising. It is partly their otherworldliness, partly the speed with which they appear, and their unpredictability emergence …
Pallant House Restaurant Courtyard, Chichester I spotted these weird sculptures through a gate of Pallant House courtyard in Chichester. It seems to be a variation on the green-man, but this ‘tree person’ has been espaliered! He’s looking a bit worse for …
Read moreEspaliered tree person thing and real umbrella trees (!)
Pasqueflower, Easter flower or Meadow Anemone (Pulsatilla vulgaris), is one of my favourite plants. Almost every stage of its flowering is interesting: The large flower heads emerge in spring (close to Easter) along with the foliage, all of which is …
6:00 am. The view from the house this morning. Extraordinary quality to the light. The rain clouds have only just lifted a chink and the sun is sneaking under, low, acute, glancing. The greenhouse greets the dawn. The white lavender is shining in …
Out and About in Sussex, England: musings on creative pruning Most of the hedging in my garden is in the formal, rectilinear style, but I really like cloud-pruned hedges too. Here are a couple that are on public display, that I pass on …
This apple tree is a bit of a curiosity. [Update: mystery solved – see end of post] The label from the nursery said “Discovery”. I don’t think so! Discovery is an early-season apple, ready to eat in July or August and …
