plant of the week

3 min read 2022-05-02 16:44:36

PLANT OF THE WEEK #94: Viburnum opulus (‘Kalyna’ to Ukrainians)

My suggestion for plant of this week is one which holds deep significance to a country currently enduring great suffering. The war in Ukraine

2 min read 2022-04-12 08:20:25

Decades ago my gardening friends and I attended a lecture given by the renowned Irish gardener Helen Dillon. To be frank I remember little of that

3 min read 2022-02-15 07:14:29

It’s a magic moment every year when my crepe myrtle, Lagerstroemia ‘Natchez’, starts flowering. It’s specially magical because the blossom is

2 min read 2021-11-30 05:35:47

The best view of our back garden is from the new clothesline. This wasn’t intentional. From the clothesline, the old metal shed barely encroaches

1 min read 2021-11-09 06:46:58

There’s been a twenty-or-so year hiatus in my growing of Geum ‘Tangerine’. Now I have it back, I wonder how I survived without it. According

1 min read 2021-09-28 08:39:33

Yesterday at the nursery in which I work a small group of locals had congregated for chat, in a socially distanced outdoor space for Covid times .

1 min read 2021-09-07 06:03:21

Euphorbia hereby becomes the most heavily represented genus in this list. And really, what would we do without them? The evergreen types all send up

1 min read 2021-08-30 14:40:07

What is it about humans that we undervalue stuff that comes too easily, and over-rate stuff that eludes us? Whether its relationships, skills or

1 min read 2021-08-24 05:43:22

Back when I was living with the family in Northern Ireland (as you do, for twelve months, when you just feel like your life needs a bit of

1 min read 2021-08-17 08:36:43

One Mediterranean climate flowering shrub I would not be without is the red flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum. You might associate it with English

1 min read 2021-08-10 07:59:01

I’ve given up trying to decide what I think about jonquils – particularly the indestructible and ubiquitous Narcissus ‘Soleil d’Or’. The

1 min read 2021-06-22 09:57:53

Plants that belong to June. They’re rare. Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) didn’t need this value of rarity to make it worth growing.

1 min read 2021-06-08 10:53:42

If there’s something strange in your garden bed, who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters? Maybe. Ellen Willmott, however, might be a better answer. Miss

1 min read 2021-06-01 11:25:12

The whole Plant of the Week thing has a natural tendency towards spotlighting hero plants – the ‘A’ listers of the horticultural world. But

1 min read 2021-05-25 07:50:11

I’m one of those people that have a thing for hedges. I just love the structure and framework that they provide a garden. I also love the sense of