Colour is such a personal thing and most of us have a favourite. Mine of course is orange and it’s the choice of an exuberant Leo lady. You see I was born on the hottest day of the year, in July, and my mother never let me forget it. I’m unusual I know, for orange […]
A glasshouse gem often seen on a kitchen window sill is the Hot-water plant with its long flowering display of pastel trumpet blooms. Related to Gloxinias several dozen species were introduced from Central America in the late 18C early 19C. These were tropical plants requiring hot house conditions and were soon hybridised to be more […]
In the last 30 years I’ve had two gardens and, although there were only 20 miles apart, they were as different as chalk and cheese, a bit like my children! My old garden in Hook Norton in Oxfordshire, famous for its beer, was a stone’s throw away from the church. The one-acre garden was on […]
Now’s the time of year to buy Amaryllis, (Hippeastrum) ready for flowering for the festive season. Start them into growth in the greenhouse then bring them indoors to flower. Water sparingly at first; trickling a little tepid water around the bulb, and increasing the amount as growth appears. Once they are actively growing, keep them […]
Could a new – and renewable – product on the market provide a nutrient-rich boost for home-made peat-free mixes? Early trials are bearing fruit. Whenever a new and – yawn – ‘amazing’ product blips on my gardening radar, the first alarm bells to go off are perfect twins: caution and scepticism. I’ve seen plenty of […]
It is time to deck my halls and I have found myself foraging in the greenhouse for materials. Of course there are a couple of rules to the making of a wreath, and one of those is that the majority of it must be made of evergreens, and you wont find any of those in […]
