On a recent holiday to the Suffolk coast, I assiduously planned the gardens to visit while I was in the area to ensure I received my dose of greenery, despite holidaying by the sea. Well, I needn’t have bothered! I arrived to discover this eastern English coastline to be full of great swathes of plants [...]
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RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2011
Posted on Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
Dating back to 1913, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is a firm favourite in the gardening calendar. This year’s exhibition has done nothing to dim the gardener’s enthusiasm for this annual display of horticultural glamour, showmanship and innovation.
This year there are 32 gardens to entice and inspire, over 100 growers and [...]
Daft about daffs! Narcissus collection at Trevarno Gardens, Cornwall
Posted on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
During a visit to Trevarno gardens in May 2010 I had a taste of the potential of their daffodil collection. I found a large field, neatly divided into well-labelled rows of narcissi. Unfortunately they were rather battered by age and wind, and only a few were still carrying their blooms so late in the season. [...]
Full details of Daft about daffs! Narcissus collection at Trevarno Gardens, Cornwall
Strulch!
Posted on Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
I’m a great lover of composted bark as a garden mulch. It binds together to give good coverage, is pretty well composted so won’t draw nitrogen out of the soil while breaking down (which bark chippings can do if they get dug into the soil) and it as a beautifully dark appearance. So this year, [...]
Gardening and Murphy’s Law
Posted on Monday, March 7th, 2011
Yesterday I made a determined effort to catch up on gardening jobs, my priority being to get the shrub pruning done. So merrily I set myself to work, the hydrangeas lost their now raggedy mopheads, the cotinus was trimmed to maximise the foliage display, the eucalyptus pollarded for cute, rounded, juvenille leaves and the buddleja [...]
An audience with Christine Walkden
Posted on Thursday, February 24th, 2011
There is something about celebrity that fills me with nerves. I’m not sure what it is. After all, celebrities are just flesh and blood with the same foibles that we all have, but the fact that they are celebrity sends a shiver down my spine. I’m not sure if it’s the fame that does it [...]
Hell’s belles! National hellebore collection at Broadview gardens
Posted on Friday, February 18th, 2011
On a cool February morning I made my way over to Broadview Gardens in anticipation of a fabulous display from one of my favourite winter blooms; the hellebore. Broadview Gardens, well known to me as I studied horticulture at the neighbouring Hadlow College, holds a national collection of hellebores in its 10 acres of gardens, [...]
Full details of Hell’s belles! National hellebore collection at Broadview gardens
Tidy workspace = tidy gardening
Posted on Sunday, February 6th, 2011
Imagine somewhere truly awful. A place you would avoid visiting at all costs. Think leech-infested swamps, the pits of hell or a teenager’s bedroom. Got the visual image? Good. Now ratchet up the horror level a bit and you’re getting close to how I feel about today’s job…clearing out the garage!
The garage in question is [...]
Introduction
Posted on Wednesday, January 26th, 2011
Welcome to the blog of a would-be gardener…
I say ‘would-be’ as I seem to find precious little time to practice the many gardening activities we preach about at Oak Leaf Gardening! So is dedicating even more time to my computer by writing this blog a bit counterproductive? Perhaps, but the fact is there’s so much [...]