In our London Cottage Garden what happens when……
……… You cut a massive decades-old white wisteria down to the ground because it was strangling the house and covering all the windows? Well, undeterred it puts on a surge of growth and creates a sprawling bush at ground level before climbing up the house again. Moral – if I don’t want something to grow
Tom Stuart-Smith’s new garden at Middleton Lodge Hotel Richmond, Yorkshire
Here are some photos from my recent visit to the new walled garden designed by Tom Stuart-Smith for Middleton Lodge Hotel near Richmond in Yorkshire.
Cottage garden survivors and sacrifices – Six on Saturday July 7th 2018
In this weather I’ve had to sacrifice the look of some plants to protect them and I have some plants that are surviving quite well. I’ll show you both. Re: watering, I give pots a gallon or two each every few days and I don’t water the rest of the garden. I’ve cut to the
Compromises in a town cottage garden – Six on Saturday June 23rd
Six small samples of having to accept things as they are when you have a small garden
Resilient plants desperate to grow – Six on Saturday June 1st
What can we learn from the resilience of plants and their ability to flourish against the odds? Walking from Sloane Square to Chelsea Physic Garden once a week I walk past many town houses with window boxes and basement areas of paving below their front door. I’ve noticed how plants in pots 10ft or more
Cottage garden planting – quotes, ideas, and something to think about
Frank Ronan in the Dixter Handbook of Pruning says that successful pruning is a result of close observation, applied intelligence and luck. We learn by our mistakes and each time we kill something it will be a different error each time. Good to know. Adam Frost says the secret of a good garden is muck,
Cottage garden tulips – Six on Saturday 5th May 2018
Here are 6 tulips that have done well this year despite the crazy weather. Sadly most are over now so I will buy more late season tulips for next year.
Adam Frost Masterclass and the delivery man.
Yesterday the delivery driver on my doorstep spared a moment to tell me how lovely the front garden was looking and what a delight it was to walk down our long front path. He had noticed the scents and the colour and the green lushness. I said a big thankyou and we spoke for a
Six on Saturday 7th April 2018
Photos, thoughts and ideas from my cottage garden this week.
Six on Saturday 10th March 2018
An exciting frog invasion, frogspawn, snowdrops, red berries and more
Six on Saturday 24th February 2018
Today’s Six on Saturday looks at the changes in my cottage garden after I’ve been away for a week in coldest Norway. As I write it’s snowing though……..
Six on Saturday – 10th February 2018
Using Gardeners Guild to find a gardener, shrubs for screening, scented shrubs, pots full of grasses and more