I love how plants can become members of the family – whether it’s a long-lived aspidistra, or a venerable apple tree such as the one in the photo…
Read moreDay 37: Hylotelephium 'Matrona'
Everyone loves a dazzling floral display in summer, but those plants that can maintain interest through the colder seasons are greatly to be prized…
Read moreDay 36: frosted ironwork
There’s a moment just as the sun rises on a clear, cold winter’s morning, when the growing light still has the blue tinge of night about it…
Read moreDay 35: Daphne bholua 'Limpsfield'
I think William Morris would have approved of the evergreen, Daphne bholua ‘Limpsfield’, seeing as how it manages to be both useful and beautiful…
Read moreDay 34: speedwell
Whether or not your flowerbeds and borders currently boast a covering of snow, within the next week or so this little plant will be making a land grab…
Read moreDay 33: Melianthus major
If you’re a hopeless day-dreamer, you may find the overlapping patterns created by the sawtooth leaf margins of the honey bush, Melianthus major, sufficient to send you into a lengthy reverie…
Read moreDay 32: rex begonias
There are two kinds of houseplant murderers – those that kill with kindness, and those whose horticultural homicides arise from neglect…
Read moreDay 31: winter heliotrope
Okay – not the most attractive of flowers, I’ll admit. But, oh – the fragrance!
Read moreDay 30: Phlomis russeliana
Few plants beat Phlomis russeliana for architectural interest, a spectacle through spring and summer…
Read moreDay 29: rose hips
I wonder if you’re a Big Picture person or whether, like me, you tend to get lost in the details…
Read moreDay 28: Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn'
Winter-flowering plants are rightly held in high esteem – those with scent even more so…
Read moreDay 27: wood avens
The best way to see wood avens (Geum urbanum) is in large colonies illuminated by dappled light beneath a woodland canopy…
Read moreDay 26: umbrella plant
It’s easy to take a reliable plant for granted, and I think I’ve been guilty of this with the umbrella tree, Schefflera arboricola…
Read moreDay 25: heralding spring at Chelsea Physic Garden
A marker at the beginning of the gardening year, tomorrow Chelsea Physic Garden throws open its doors to mark the transition of one season to the next…
Read moreDay 24: Cotoneaster horizontalis
Cotoneaster horizontalis is a conundrum…
Read moreDay 23: ligularia
There’s much to be said for plants that go to seed with style…
Read moreDay 22: periwinkle
No denying – Vinca can be a stinker…
Read moreDay 21: witch hazel
Upon the list of winter-flowering shrubs that stimulate schnoz, witch hazel (Hamamelis sp.) ranks high…
Read moreDay 20: lords and ladies
Who could be unmoved by the wonderful marbled green and cream leaves of Arum italicum subsp. italicum ‘Marmoratum’…
Read moreDay 19: hellebore
Hellebores aren’t the cheapest of plants to buy – but I can’t imagine being without them…
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