I understand they were deeply unfashionable for ages, but are apparently back in vogue - who cares? I love Dahlias. Here in Oxfordshire they repay any investment in effort with a long flowering season of knockout blooms, from mid-summer until they are cruelly blackened by the first frosts of November - absolutely unbeatable! They grow just about any soil and come in any colour you like (as long as it’s not blue!). (more…)

Like most gardeners, one of my resolutions is to make my garden interesting all year round, although I admit that even the discipline of succession flowering from spring to late summer - in the same bed - often escapes me, so trying this for the whole year is ambitious.

One way to get winter interest and colour into the garden is to look out for ornamental or colourful bark and in my garden (more…)

I have a small front garden that when we moved in was an untidy collection of shrubs, but is dominated by three handsome conifers. In deciding what to do with this small space, I did what is often good advice in gardening, a few years ago I went with what was already doing well and decided to turn it into a conifer garden. I’ll be honest, I prefer to do my gardening in the peace and privacy of our back garden to working by the pavement, so one of the bonuses of deciding on conifers was that they are easy to maintain. I did some research and this article shares that. (more…)

One of the things I find most rewarding in the garden is making compost, it’s strange. I think it could be the transformation, like the joy of seeing a seed grow, but creating a marvellously crumbly ‘professional’ looking compost from all that garden waste is a good feeling. Of course there are lots of other benefits, that perverse sense of achievement is just my favourite. (more…)

Alliums are easy to grow, with often dramatic, interesting and beautiful flowers after your spring flowering bulbs have gone over and before your summer garden kicks in, around May to early July. Most are purple globes of various sizes, from very small, like flowering chives to enormous blooms up to 10″ wide, but you can also get varieties in yellow and white. They also give extended interest throughout the year as the spiky seed head dries, which is are used in flower arranging. Alliums are from the same plant family as garlic, chives and shallots, although the plants only smell mildly if the leaves or bulbs are crushed or bruised. (more…)

It may not be terribly fashionable, but I am looking forward to a fragrant display of Wallflowers in the spring as last month I planted out a wide variety. Wallflowers are great, inexpensive to buy in the autumn and also easy to grow from seed. They are a perfect space filler, the reliable supporting cast to your favourite stars of a bedding scheme. The young plants are resilient and here in Oxfordshire, can be planted as late as a mild late November day (when the plants are at their cheapest), although it’s traditionally an October job. (more…)

Ever considered getting a bit more exersize, maybe doing a little bit to save the planet, of choosing a simpler, more back to basics way of gardening? How about a hand mower? I recently noticed I didn’t need the longer extension cable to mow the outer reaches of my lawn and it got me thinking about hand mowing. (more…)

Having attended the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and as a member of the RHS, seeing all the show gardens and nurserymen getting their awards - I started thinking about another increasingly significant element of our gardening lives; Gardening Websites. (more…)

Many perennials can benefit from division, giving you free plants, but it really does give the plant a new lease of life too. I am always amazed at how quickly a divided clump becomes as large as the original plant. You can also use this technique on any clump forming shrub or bulbs, such as bamboo, kniphofia, hardy geraniums or a tradescantia as pictured here. (more…)

Here are a list of jobs for your flower garden in June, it’s time to feed and support your growing herbacious border and trim back those unruly spring flowering shrubs. (more…)