Oh, Please, let me be Undisturbed and Unimproved!

It a treat to come on a spot of land where conditions have dictated that nature rather than the work of man will hold sway and then to enjoy the wild flowers which have benefitted from this chance happening, especially those which would otherwise not have survived. The Green-Veined Orchid, Anacamptis morio The Green-Veined Orchid, …

A Most Peculiar Plant – or is it a plant at all?

There are some plants which when we encounter them in gardens we kindly describe as “interesting”. This immediately dispels any thoughts that they might be considered pretty or beautiful but yet we have to admit that there is something about them which is intriguing, beguiling and even wonderful. It must be the case or why …

F.F.F.F.F.F.F.F.F………..Fairies!

Those wretched, rotten, accursed (f…ing) fairies are threatening to take up residence in my garden! For years I have looked in astonishment, amazement and disgust at the vomit-inducing and incongruous bad taste shown by those who placed fairies, fairy doors, fairy houses, fairy paraphernalia etc. in their gardens. It has baffled and bewildered me that …

Forest Bathing

A “friend” on Facebook recently put up a photograph of woodland and added the caption, “Forest Bathing”. A quick “Google” lead to an article in The Irish Examiner where I read: The Japanese have a word for it: "shinrin-yoku" or forest bathing. It's the sensory experience of being among trees. It's a rich form of …

Just Perfect!

During the week Harold McBride, a gardening friend in Northern Ireland, forwarded a photograph taken at the recent Alpine Garden Society show at Cabinteely, Dublin. The photograph was taken by Paddy Smith of the A.G.S. and was of a plant displayed by Billy Moore, a long time AGS member and perennial exhibitor at the Cabinteely …

Catching up!

I have given up! I try to be diligent with my books - read one and write a review - but my routine was broken and I have failed to recover. Earlier in the year  my laptop went on the blink for about a week so there was reading time but no facility to write …

Mount Congreve’s Magnificent Magnolias

What were they thinking?

How often have you looked at a designed landscape and wondered what had inspired the creator to develop the area in this particular way! This book has been both a revelation and a comfort as there are times when the source of inspiration may be clear and obvious – for example, when the garden is …

Roy Lancaster: My Life with Plants

Roy Lancaster's first interest in flowers was in the wild flower of the countryside around Bolton where he was born in 1937. He began work with the Bolton Parks Department, spent two years in Malaya as a national serviceman, two years at the Cambridge Botanic Gardens as a gardening student and 18 years with the …