Go Dutch!
“Have nothing in your houses that …
… you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” Flowers from the garden in mid-January, on a day of wind and tempest and pure blue...
Wonderful photographs!
Gardens and plants are so photographic, and here is the proof of it! I so often say, “a photograph is better than a thousand words”. When I am...
A Family Christmas outing to the Courtauld Gallery, London
These two paintings date from 1873 and 1874, when Renoir was just 32 years old. In a gallery full of wonderful paintings, they just knock you over....
Now is the moment!
Not a day to lose, October is bulb planting time and also November! The choice is extraordinary. You can have the most amazing colours of disco...
The BBOWT Environmental Educational Garden
The task was to bring new life to the BBOWT Environmental Education Centre at Sutton Courteney, on land leased from Didcot Power Station. BBOWT is...
Setting the scene, a stage set
The whole world is a play! When you get an entrance right like any of these, with such a strong sense of invitation, one is drawn in. Even the dark...
Lookout! New website
Here is the wonderful Emma DeBanks! who has pulled it all together and it was quite a pull! Without her, it wouldn’t have been possible. Micky...
No problem!
This wonderful tree nursery in north Germany moves huge trees as if they were saplings. Everything is possible, and you can see from the second...
Water Lilies
Here I am looking small and insignificant in front of one of Monet’s enormous canvases in their gallery in Paris. The two close up photographs show...
Seasonal Posts
The Winter Solstice
The sun trying very hard to get through. Misty, mizzley, damp, cold, but completely inspiring. A magical moment of the year. One of my most favourite days and everywhere is sea lavender and thrift to come and seagulls and seals now. A world of promises for the year...
The End of Winter
The days are lengthening fast and after an inspiringly beautiful walk in Suffolk I feel that winter is behind us. Even after it has held it's grip for many weeks, there is so much beauty to be found including the outlines of our magnificent native oaks, pines and reed...
Derry Watkins
On a chilly, grey, midwinter morning at Waterperry Gardens the international nursery woman, Derry Watkins, sparkled with fabulous tales of her expansive planting hunting travels. Her seemingly limitless knowledge of plants and their varieties would surely quench even...
A warm and wonderful welcome
What better than to arrive at a beautifully adorned front door during the festive season? You may be worn out after work or shopping? Or a guest arriving at a seasonal party? A beautiful wreath is, like a Christmas tree, a wonderful reminder of how magical Christmas...
St. Valentine’s Day
On Saturday I whizzed in to the local florist in search of tulips. I just love them – instant reminders of cherished Dutch relatives, and also that long, warm days are on their way. The shop owner was busy unloading and checking flowers, buckets of them and ALL red...
The Joys of Winter
A chalked up board “Who said winter is dull?” greeted me on my arrival at Hardy’s Garden Plants yesterday. I’d travelled some distance to visit this Chelsea Gold Medal-winning hellebore nursery and, up to this moment, the early morning journey had been misty, murky...
