I wouldn’t be without irises. In June, they put on a stunning show in my garden, alongside roses, aquilegia and hardy geraniums. The colours are rich and the flower forms remarkable. I can’t imagine having a garden without them, and they really are easy to grow. For gardeners working on light, sandy soil, they are a must-have, giving you vivid, strong pops… Read more →
Author: Rajul
How To Build A Wildlife Pond :: Part 2
I’ve been building a wildlife pond. In Part 1, I ran through the first steps, which mostly involved digging a huge hole and moving loads of soil around. The next steps proved to be both fun and frustrating! So, you’ve got a big hole, you’ve put in your pond underlay and liner, and you’ve filled it with water. What next? Well, now comes the… Read more →
How To Build A Wildlife Pond :: Part 1
We’ve had an exciting and exhausting few weekends in the garden building a new wildlife pond. But before I go on, I should preface this post with a disclaimer… A few weeks ago, I was approached by a company, asking if I’d like to review any of their products. This was a first for me, and I wondered if it was right… Read more →
Embracing This False Spring
I am coming out of hibernation, like the frogs that have been hopping around my garden this week. False spring or not, my brain and body are convinced that it’s time to face the world again. This winter, I experienced the worst anxiety I have ever had to endure. So bad, in fact, that I resorted to drugs (the good… Read more →
Winter Reflections
I’m sitting at my desk, wearing thermals under a woolly jumper, and grabbing a few minutes to write before venturing out into the cold to do a survey for a new garden design. It’s taken me weeks, as usual, to come to terms with and embrace the fact that winter is inevitably here. I have lived in the UK for… Read more →
Autumn Reflections
It’s been quite a year of change for my garden, and for me too, actually. I always find myself reflecting on the past year in autumn, rather than at new year. I think it’s because the gardening season is coming to an end, and most plants are going into dormancy. Perhaps this is the time of year when all gardeners get a… Read more →
Rare Exotics & Tree Hugging :: Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk
In the last week of the summer holidays, we booked a last minute, cheap-as-chips, static caravan, and headed up to the north Norfolk cost for a few days. It was, as always, heavenly up there! We had ice cream every day, ate fish finger sandwiches on the beach, went rock-pooling and fossil hunting, and generally had a jolly British beach holiday. I even… Read more →
Coping With The Drought :: Sun Lovers
This is certainly proving to be the year to judge whether I have planted the right plant in the right place in my garden. Not only are we experiencing the driest summer in Norfolk since 1965 (or something like that, don’t quote me!), I have also lost two large trees this year. A pair of Norway Maples were taken down because they were… Read more →
Gardening Kit :: New Finds & Must-Haves
Having said that I dislike how much of a retail-fest the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show is, compared with the Chelsea show, I have to say that it is a great place to find new gardening kit that ticks all the right boxes and that you might not come across elsewhere. My favourite find this year was the perfect pair… Read more →
RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2018
It’s been a few weeks since the Hampton Court Flower Show. There is always so much garden inspiration to be had there, but visiting the show can be quite an overwhelming experience. The huge crowds, seemingly inevitable collisions between my feet and other people’s plant trolleys, insanely hot weather, onslaught of sights, sounds and smells – intensely fragrant lilies and roses, overheating bins and food… Read more →