This is the seedpod of the sweet gum tree, Liquidambar styraciflua. I was once compelled to sack a client for, among other things, an infuriating insistence upon pronouncing the Latin name, “Likwee-ambar”, with great gusto…
Read moreDay 323: birch leaves
I don’t care that some think of the silver birch (along with the ash, another of my favourite trees) as a weed tree. Like all pioneer species, it moves in to newly disturbed ground quickly and makes the most of the situation…
Read moreDay 322: fly agaric
Mention the word ‘toadstool’ to anyone and they’re more than likely to conjur up a mental picture of the fruiting body of fly agaric (Amanita muscaria)…
Read moreDay 321: indoor plant faffing
The weather has been filthy all week and, though here in Kent we’ve got away pretty lightly this time around and I’ve been able to garden right through, it’s still made a pleasant change to spend some time with plants indoors…
Read moreDay 320: staghorn sumach
The staghorn sumach (Rhys typhina) has not had a vintage year in terms of autumn colour, but it’s hardly alone there. Usually by now it’s a veritable bonfire of yellow, orange and red…
Read moreDay 319: lifting dahlias
Those lucky enough to have soils that stay relatively dry can leave their dahlias in the ground over winter, but it’s wise for the rest of us to lift and store them till spring…
Read moreDay 318: mush
The season of mush is upon us. It’s getting damp in the border, and lines begin to blur…
Read moreDay 317: structure
I have a small window now, before things get too soggy out there, to tighten up the structure in the garden. At least in terms of evergreen hedging and lawn edging…
Read moreDay 316: cats
Cats are magnificent creatures – anywhere but in my garden. Actually, I’ll modify that statement – anywhere but in my flower-...worse still, vegetable-beds…
Read moreDay 315: Salvia 'Hot Lips'
Almost mid way through November, and this shrubby, tough as old boots Salvia x jamensis ‘Hot Lips’ is still in flower. Full disclosure – I did not love this plant at first sight…
Read moreDay 314: wheelbarrow woes
Barrow number one has finally succumbed to a puncture. After eight years of almost daily abuse, well over a hundred tonnes of manure shifted and constant trips between border and compost heap…
Read moreDay 313: stonecrop
It upsets me when people take the bigger stonecrops, like Hylotelephium (formerly Sedum) ‘Autumn Joy’ for granted...
Read moreDay 312: Lindheimer’s beeblossom
Early on in a mild November, certain plants are making a darn good show of clinging on to life. Lindheimer’s beeblossom (Oenothera lindheimeri, formerly Gaura lindheimeri) is one such plant…
Read moreDay 311: pear trees
This is fruit country, and when it’s not, it’s nut country. Driving through the lanes of Kent, you’re rarely far from a cobnut platt or an orchard…
Read moreDay 310: black bryony
Bindweed is done for the year. Black bryony (Dioscorea communis) too – the strangling, clambering vines with their heart shaped leaves and pretty white bell flowers rendered innocuous by the passage of days…
Read moreDay 309: a peculiar alchemy
A peculiar alchemy occurs when outside meets in. If you’re dead posh, you can remodel your house so the dividing line between indoor living space and garden is little more than a shimmering veil…
Read moreDay 308: garden taming
Give me a wheelbarrow, bright November sunshine and some batteries for the radio and I’m set up for a day of happy garden taming…
Read moreDay 307: beardtongue
The big daisies are over, and any colour remaining in the border now tends to be from the last of the roses, hardy salvias and penstemons…
Read moreDay 306: leopard plant
I cannot for the life of me work out why Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’ is known as the ‘leopard plant’. Perhaps someone will enlighten me…
Read moreDay 305: biscuit tones
There’s danger, I realise, in clamouring for the bright colours of autumn (I’ve been getting impatient this year), lest you miss the subtler hues and textures that contribute just as much to the season…
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