Primrose!

"If one had to select the flower, which would be the most pleasing to the greatest number, it would be the primrose." This is a quotation from an anonymous author 'L.S.B. (F.R.S.)' who contributed an article, 'On Growing Primroses' to the Selborne Magazine in 1888. The same statement could be made today and be equally …

Getting out again…a little!

As with everybody else, our movements and outings have been considerably restricted since early March of this year. The daily morning 8 - 10Km walks were abandoned quickly after the first restrictions were announced and we haven't returned to them yet. They were something we enjoyed very much; good exercise, plenty of fresh air and …

Six on Saturday, 26/09/2020

A Review of the Week in the Garden: Any hopes or delusions that summer might continue for a while longer, that autumn and winter might be kept at bay just a while more, have been blown away by the chilling breezes of the past two days. Working in short-sleeved shirt in the garden is suddenly …

Britain’s Orchids – A New Book!

Orchids by nature are inclined to be variable and identifying them accurately can be quite a challenge. Those who come to an interest in orchids from a non-botanical background quickly find that their previous experience of colour-organised identification guides is now of little relevance as their search for identification moves from colour to morphology – …

Six on Saturday, 19/09/2020

It has been a beautiful week, a week of recovery, of new flowerings and the start of a new season. After an extraordinarily wet period, with two storms and a great amount of damage done to plants, it has been wonderful to have a week of beautiful weather and the opportunity to work again in …

We’re Launching!

I'd be sipping my glass of wine - I imagine it might be a Beaujolais nouveau; it's what I fancy at the moment, anyway - and I'd be holding the book open, at page 130, and wandering the room. Everybody is happy, cheerful, as everybody is on occasions such as this. Everybody is cheerful, positive, …

Six on Saturday, 12/09/2020

Another week has passed and the air is certainly a little more chilly than we have been used to. The evenings are certainly cooler and the days are clearly shortening. It brings to mind that summer is passing and we ought to appreciate and make the most of the remainder of the season. During the …

An Irish Nature Year.

Hot off the presses, An Irish Nature Year, is a collection of 365 short, quirky and fabulously interesting articles from Jane Powers. This is Jane's third book and is, by and large, a selection of her nature notes from The Times. She is the one who cannot pass a wildflower, insect, bird or whatever without …

The Ins and Outs of Gardening.

Sunday last was one of those days; one of those days when it strikes you that, when gardening, we are on a repeating cycle, day in and day out, year in and year out. There was a touch of the Hokey Pokey about our day with one plant going in and and another coming out. …

Six on Saturday, 05/09/2020

It was not an especially good week for gardening. I seem to have been occupied with other things, some garden-related but I feel I have done little hands-on gardening this week. Nonetheless, the grass was cut and edged and I made good inroads into tidying up the vegetable patch in preparation for winter. The damsons …