Thunberg’s bushclover Sometimes I become fixated on a certain named cultivar of a plant, even if it means driving six hours to collect it! Well, I’ll admit we were already going in that direction and I had long wanted to visit Larch Cottage Nurseries in Cumbria, but this was the opportunity I needed and I […]
or Arizona beggar’s ticks ‘Hannay’s Lemon Drop’ This is a perfect late-season pick-me-up plant; it’s fresh and uncomplicated and able to hold its own amongst its neighbours. As always when one trawls the internet, there are accurate descriptions that have clearly been written by people with first hand knowledge of their subject, but sadly there […]
or potato bean Many years ago I went to a talk given by Bob Brown (founder of Cotswold Garden Flowers) at one of our local Hardy Plant Society meetings. I remembered to grab my garden notebook as I left home, because what Bob recommends will always be worth growing and he introduced me to my […]
This has been the perfect autumn for fuchsias because these trusty plants like it cool and damp. I purchased five plug plants of ‘Delta’s Sara’ 18 months ago and initially they took a while to get their toes stuck in and I began to wonder if I’d bought a dud. However, after a slow start, […]
We are constantly re-evaluating the plants we grow – are we not? Is this one rather too enthusiastic? Is that one turning out to be taller than you expected? Why doesn’t that one flower reliably? And why does that one need staking when really it should be able to fend for itself? In our garden, […]
alum root ‘Autumn Bride’ This not-so-common heuchera has often been a contender for my ‘special plant’ slot. I rather dislike that expression ‘all year round interest’ and it’s an unworthy first description of ‘Autumn Bride’ but this great favourite of mine does make a huge contribution to our garden scene and never more so than […]
Purple leaved grape vine and Jackman’s clematis ‘There is a harmony in autumn’. So wrote Percy Shelley, and how right he was, I have long noticed that autumn seldom needs help from me. It’s true that I planted these two climbers originally but they were both intended to grow in the opposite direction: one through […]
Leafing through a few gardening magazines recently I’ve noticed articles about planting up containers now – for autumn! I’ve been wondering why on earth anyone would need or want to do this. I suppose that if you don’t have any existing planted containers, you might like to start now but they will have a very […]
Variegated tree ivy – Thanks to its invasive habit and seemingly insignificant flowers, it’s easy to dismiss climbing ivy as an irritant with little or no garden value, but nothing could be further from the truth. I hardly dared tell my co-gardener that I’d chosen an ivy as the star of the show this week […]
pear ‘Black Worcester’ There could be a radio programme called ‘Inheritance Plants’ in which various people would remember the plants they grew up with and explain why they felt they wanted to continue the tradition in their own gardens. Well, thanks to my own dear parents, this lovely pear tree would no doubt be on […]
Vitis strawberry grape One of the massive joys of the autumn is the gathering of fruits as they ripen, and the making of jams, jellies and preserves, and occasionally fruit juices and wine. We grow a few vines in our garden, some just for their decorative value – V. vinifera ‘Purpurea’, V . ‘ ‘Brant’, […]
syn. Epilobium canum Californian fuchsia In a corner of our garden, we have a raised bed which is very sunny and very well drained. From about August onwards it is a riot of late summer and autumn colour composed of very drought tolerant, rather assertive plants which include limonium, crocosmia, perovskia, sedum and low grasses […]
The day length is shortening significantly as we near the end of September and in a bid to reduce that slight twinge of autumnal melancholy, I have for many years now tried to ensure that there are plenty of late season flowers to distract us for as long as possible. And so it was that […]
If I choose a clematis as my pick of the week, I can never resist taking a quick look at my clematis bible to see what Christopher Lloyd says about my choice. To my alarm, this time he was not so complimentary. He took issue with the colour, describing the flower as ‘mildly agreeable but of a too dirty […]
It was the sweet scent on the air that first caught my attention when Growbag Laura and I wandered around Derry Watkins’ inspirational garden near Bath: the sort of scent that demands that you discover its source. I wasn’t really expecting it to come from an aquatic plant but was led in the direction of a small pond, almost covered by a carpet of […]
wedding flower Beth Chatto was one of the best known and most inspirational gardeners of the late 20th and early 21st centuries and consequently her garden and nursery have become a sort of plant mecca to the rest of us. But it was her late husband Andrew’s lifelong interest in ecology that helped to establish the ‘right plant, right place’ mantra to which she adhered, and to which we […]
glossy abelia At a time when every gardener I talk to is commenting on unusual flowering events in their gardens, I have been enjoying a shrub which reliably performs at the same time every year, no matter what the weather throws at it! No photograph seems to do it justice but its common name, the glossy […]
common medlar I cannot resist the compulsion to make jams and jellies when various fruits present themselves throughout the year, and without a shadow of a doubt, if I had to choose just one of them, then the medlar it would have to be. This is the jelly that my family and friends love above all others; rich and full of flavour, it goes with just about everything. (Nigel Slater’s recipe is a good one […]
Last week it felt as if we had been plunged straight into winter, but today is more like a normal October day with the promise of some warm and sunny days ahead, and as I venture out, I am reassured that the garden still has plenty to offer. Since mid-summer, when ‘Whiteknights Pearl’ started into flower, I have been increasingly taken with this beautiful, award-winning fuchsia, and it really comes into its own in the autumn – partly through lack […]
Sunflower ‘Carine’ There are some gardeners who try to avoid yellow, and I will admit that there are many less than subtle shades; but it’s almost foolhardy to try and manage without any in September, so when it comes to Helianthus, take a bit of time, and choose carefully from the many different cultivars that exist. Helianthus ‘Carine’ is very like H ‘Lemon Queen’, but more refined; it is slightly shorter, has the palest yellow flowers, and noticeably dark […]
Golden Oats Sourcing and buying Stipa gigantea is not a problem, for this magnificent grass is a tried and tested old favourite but do please take a bit of time to position it. This is not the occasion to walk round the garden, pot in hand, desperately looking for a gap. To enjoy it at its best, bear in mind that it needs sun […]
Silver and gold chrysanthemum It’s an irony that just when your summer pots are looking their very best – in other words now – along comes the first frost and that’s the end of their fine display; either that or you really need the pots to plant your spring bulbs. However, my plant today turns […]
There are so many beautiful grasses to choose from and we can’t grow them all; but we can visit gardens and specialist nurseries all over the UK, talk to the growers, look long and hard at what’s on offer and then decide which is the best for us There are around 150 named cultivars of Miscanthus sinensis so it […]
‘Nothing flimsy about them’ – so wrote Christopher Lloyd about rudbeckias. Of course, he hit the nail right on the head, and it reminded me that it is this very dense quality that I often find a little overpowering in the genus. So, a couple of years ago I was delighted to be introduced to R triloba with its open habit and well-spaced wiry stems; in this respect it’s rather […]
When it comes to late summer and autumn flowering shrubs, there are not so very many to choose from, and the pink-flowered indigo is less often seen than it deserves; but this delicate shrub has great charm and I really look forward to its quiet but effective contribution to our garden at this time of the year. I. amblyantha is native to south central China and is noted for its long flowering […]
Now, I realise the photograph of my chosen plant this week may not be everyone’s idea of a horticultural gem, but with each year that passes I become more fascinated with the seasonal change that is autumn. There is an allure beyond the beauty of colour; gentle decay can also be a fascinating, eye catching […]
It is often said of plants: ‘should be more widely used’, or ‘not often seen in gardens’, and I am pretty sure I know why you could say that of my choice today. It is at its peak in October, and often into November, so it’s not going to make many sales in nurseries and even […]
This year, despite having had our first frost a couple of weeks ago, October is brimming with subtle colour; in the early morning the plants are lightly shrouded in dew, often covered in cobwebs, and the grasses stand effortlessly among them all, unifying the picture. Although they have been on the gardening scene for a […]
Everyone loves a daisy, but for me, this is the sweetest of them all. In very wet weather a few of the taller daisies in our garden (leucanthemum, rudbeckia, asters etc) can look a little bedraggled, whereas the Mexican fleabane always looks cheerful! Apologies to those who know it well, (however you will understand why […]
Wikipedia’s answer to the question ‘What is a wildflower?’, is as follows: ‘A wildflower is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted’. So, by that definition, mine are not wild as I grew some from seed and planted them in our garden. However, they are native to […]
Around about the time that Vermeer was finishing his painting ‘The Astronomer’, and in the year that Spain recognised Portugal as an independent nation, a man named Richard Kayse from Bristol discovered this beautiful fern growing on limestone cliffs near Cardiff. Two centuries later it had disappeared from cultivation,and it was not until another 200 years had passed,in 1980,that fern expert Martin Rickard set […]
For years I fought against growing chrysanthemums, probably influenced by their association with funerals, and with those garish bunches wrapped in coloured cellophane on garage forecourts; but recently and most particularly after growing ‘Innocence’ I have come to appreciate their contribution to our garden at what can be rather a sombre time of year. Who could […]
For me it is the ultimate cottage garden plant – the thing is, that at any time from late spring until the end of October, I could have chosen the lovely Diascia personata for this slot. Admittedly it can get overlooked in the summer as there is so much competition, but this week it looks […]
Plectranthus are members of the Lamiaceae or mint family, and they’re my latest craze. All species are tender and are really valuable subjects for container growing, not only for the highly ornamental value of their foliage, but also because many are happiest grown in part shade and some in almost full shade. Even P. argentatus, with […]
Like an eccentric but glamorous great aunt, my plant this week is a wonderful example of how to age gracefully! Going grey yes, but losing any other attributes, no! A bit like going to a big family party, I walk into the garden and there she is, you can’t miss her – tall, willowy and […]
Almost all echeveria will succumb to winter wet and cold in the UK, but not this one … not unless we have a particularly extreme season. It is easily the most able to cope with whatever weather is thrown at it. So I was very excited to come across this stunning succulent (bought from Bob […]