There’s one plant I really look forward to in May and that’s the tall, statuesque allium, because they provide strong verticals, round or drumstick heads and vibrant colour. They’re versatile too, because these tall early-summer alliums look equally at home in the vegetable garden, or the flower border, and you can create your own river […]
One of the greenhouse crops that I have never quite cracked is aubergines. Perhaps they just need more than I’ve got: time to get them going early enough; patience and light to nurse them through late spring indoors; and then heat in the summer. Obviously with the eternal optimism of the gardener I am fairly […]
A conservatory or greenhouse can be a heavenly – and heavily – scented environment when crammed full with perfumed flowers like jasmine, citrus, and countless other plants that hold fragrance in their petals and foliage. Pot pourri is an amalgam of plant parts preserved by drying and blending that will conserve the scent of garden […]
The lovely thing about sowing annual flowers from seed is that there’s such as wide choice of colors and varieties. The sad thing is that in my Chicago climate, seeds sowed after the last average frost date, while the soil is still cool, will take weeks to sprout and get going. There isn’t enough time […]
The glasshouse flower if you need bloom almost any month of the year the Poppy Anemones should be more commonly grown as these are also so useful for cut flowers. Anemone coronaria is the original wild species native to the Mediterranean region and this makes it more tender than most other species many of which […]
From now on my monthly tips are going to focus on what to do in the greenhouse, so let’s start with a few tips what to look for when buying a greenhouse. Buy the largest you can afford and leave space for expansion because however large your glasshouse, it will never be large enough! It […]
In a moment of madness, on a very wet January day in London, I went hurtling over an uneven pavement and broke my left arm in three places. I was on my way to a delicious Italian lunch, courtesy of one of my editors, which of course I never got. The good news is I’m […]
Question: do you garden by memory? By that I mean is the gardenia on your windowsill a remembrance of a scent-filled conservatory visited on a rainy day? Or are the geraniums on the patio the same sort as your mother grew? Hands up: mine is the one waving frantically in the corner. Once I had […]
For successful, stress-free sowing with no ecological cost, work to nature’s timetable and let the sun supply the power. It’s here. The frogs know it; they’re back – defrosted after a few false starts – with an orgiastic vengeance. The dandelions know it; their patient rosettes are pushing up yellow-hinted buds. Nature all around knows […]
I love the light, airy feel of ferns. Unfortunately, this is one category of houseplants that have a very tough time making it through the heating season in the dry air of a living room. A conservatory? That’s much more likely to be good fern habitat. One of my favorite places is the Fern Room […]
The weather forecast was foreboding, with the third major winter storm in two weeks about to hit the northeast. But the blinding snow and lashing winds that my Amtrak train hurtled through on its way to Philadelphia belied the beautiful, springtime ambiance awaiting me inside the 2018 Philadelphia Flower Show. This premier horticultural event, presented […]
Jean Vernon explores the wonder of seeds. Growing plants from seeds is one of the most satisfying parts of being a gardener. It’s sometimes surrounded in mystery and perceived as something difficult, but take a look in nature, any bare patch of soil and you will see that seeds germinate outside all of the time. […]
