The Shortlist 2019

The Shortlist 2019 It is the end of the year, Christmas is approaching, and it is a time for gardeners to treat themselves and to be treated and few treats are better than a good book. Here is my selection from books published this past year, a top five which, I believe, will not fail …

Christmas Cheer.

The season it upon us! Much as I might wish to resist the earlier and earlier commencement of the Christmas season it is just too difficult; impossible even. The television advertisements have been at full flow for the past while and we were simply bombarded for “Black Friday”, which apparently is the longest Friday of …

The Dirt on Gardening!

Composting will soon become the fashion statement of the gardener. Darling, you will simply be a nobody, a non-gardener, a pretender if you are not making your own compost. My local garden club committee is well ahead of the curve, recognises the need to be avant-garde (avant-garden?) in all matters horticultural and, to ensure all …

Always look on the bright side of life…

Accentuate the positive! - do you remember this one? You got to accentuate the positive Eliminate the negative And latch on to the affirmative Don't mess with mister in-between You got to spread joy up to the maximum Bring gloom down to the minimum Have faith, or pandemonium Liable to walk upon the scene In the …

Squelch, Squelch, Squelch!

Squelch, squelch, squelch and with each step in the garden water rises around my boots as if I needed confirmation that we have had a season of unusually heavy rain. Gardening is out of the question at the moment. To attempt a run of the lawnmower would only lead to cutting up the sod and …

The Great Escape!

Of course, I have been dramatic with the title but there are occasions when small interludes can feel like just that, a great escape. We had days of the most miserable weather; days when we not only had incessant rain but rain accompanied by bitingly cold wind. There were days of being confined to the …

Old Clothes!

Acer palmatum ‘Koto-no-ito’ (Golden Old Harp) was at its autumnal best today and caught my eye. At this time of the year especially it is necessary to capture the moment immediately for it may well be gone tomorrow or even later in the day; the light changes so quickly that the moment can vanish in …

Scent Magic!

Isabel Bannerman describes scent wonderfully: Witch hazel has a clean sanatorium smell of pure alcohol and Elastoplast. The crushed gourd-shaped seed pods of Wintersweet, if crushed, smell of dusty cloves, spiced wines and the depths of unused drawers. The rose, ‘Rosarie de l’Hay’ smells of cucumber, tea and laundered tablecloths laid at a table on …

November 1st Garden Walk

We are enjoying a wonderful break in the weather today – yesterday was a day of persistent heavy rain; tomorrow will be a day of persistent heavy rain with strong winds while today is a day of persistent light rain, such a relief! Pfffffffff! Any thoughts of actually going outside and doing some gardening is …