Want to learn more about choosing and growing Ferns? Our latest booklet is available to buy here.
The special edition last year focused on a single genus, Epimedium. This year it is dedicated to a single family, the Papaveraceae. It is an interesting family with many choice woodlanders. Corydalis and Meconopsis spring immediately to mind....
Very few plants provide the same reliable charm and blue colour of Anemone blanda at this time of year. If you consider the colour too purple or pink, keep an eye out for other shades as there are variations in other blue tones and even a white variation.
Spring has arrived late in my garden. Early spring flowers are blooming as if it’s the middle of March, not Mid-April.
Let me turn my thoughts to cowslips and other spring flowers. Just past the pear trees that are at the far end of the rose garden, the hillside slopes away in a steep grassy swathe. This grass must originally have been “lawn” but had over the years reverted to a rougher sward, speckled with wild flowers, particularly of horticultural note – cowslips (Primula veris).
“March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.” March 1st 2018 started with -8°C and did not reach zero all day; there was a strong cold wind. Snow flurries were blown around, although there was not a lot of snow (that came next day). For three days I did not venture further into the garden than the bird-table ...
This delightful Iris has been in the Conservation Scheme for around 10 years but its valid name has eluded us until very recently. It is a medium bearded Iris growing to about 30cm tall and ...
The lesser known daffodils tend to be the more interesting varieties or species. For example, not everyone realises that some flower in autumn, such as Narcissus serotinus and the green daffodil, Narcissus viridiflorus. In spring however, arguably one of the most attractive wild species is Narcissus cyclamineus. It is one of the earliest to flower, and unlike some of the other miniature species does not need to be grown in pots or in an alpine house as long as it is in damp soil.
If you have read earlier entries of this blog you may recall one of the first things we did when we moved here was put up a polytunnel, so you may be wondering why I also wanted a greenhouse.
Non-specialist gardening books usually state that snowdrops like shade but that is too much of a simplification. Galanthus nivalis, the common snowdrop, does flourish in deciduous woodland but will also grow happily in open borders where it is shaded by herbaceous perennials later in the year. However ...
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