The Early Season

It was rather a weak start to the snowdrop season here, a little disappointing but not entirely unexpected. The earliest flowering snowdrops here are of the Greek species, Galanthus reginae olgae and its cultivars and these don't enjoy the conditions in my garden. I suppose that should come as no surprise when their native range …

Mid-November Saturday Look-Back.

Saturday, 14th November, Waterford, south-east Ireland. With the exception of a few hours on Friday, this was a non-gardening week. We had days of light rain, others of heavy rain and some torrential downpours. Rainwater ran down through the garden in sheets and the lower end was under water for most of the week. The …

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 …

Winter Gardening.

E. A. Bowles saw the possibilities of all seasons and winter was not without its interest: “So, if only the owner of a garden will plant enough plants of the most different types and habits  procurable, there ought to be never a day in which he cannot find some pleasure in watching growth or decay, structure …

Queen Olga’s Snowdrop

The snowdrop season has started! Yes, it may be hard to credit it but we are into the new snowdrop season. It begins with the watering of potted snowdrops in the glasshouse. These are snowdrops which will not grow for me in the open garden, mainly Greek species which demand a hot and dry summer. …