Organic fruit are not always as good-looking as pesticide-grown ones. Sometimes they can be plain ugly. I buy and store my apples for the winter from an organic apple grower near to where I live. Most apples are OK-looking, some look terrible (but still quite tasty—fortunately).
This year I purchased a huge carton of suet balls, at bargain price. I hang them in my little crab apple tree ‘Evereste’, much to the delight of all the little garden birdies. However I’m somewhat fed up (pun intended) with the behaviour of the sparrows who come in their…
Many perennials maintain a visible presence in the border in winter (some asters, heucheras, etc.) but others die back and leave no trace (e.g. delphiniums and some hardy geraniums such as ‘Rozanne’, shown in photo). In case of memory lapses regarding my border layout, I regularly put in short bamboo…
For the 3rd year running we visited the nearby Salon Délices de Plantes in Cesson-Sévigné. The weather was changeable, with a few showers which forced us to take shelter under the exhibitors’ tents… and of course encouraged us to succumb to temptation. Eventually we were quite reasonable and only bought…
This week with a couple of friends we went to visit the Jardins de Kerfouler… and we loved our visit! I can recommend those gardens without reservation. Les Jardins de Kerfouler is a garden of inspiration boasting a range of garden styles, e.g.: modern, artistic, classic, natural, romantic, exuberant, modest,…
Planted this year 2 specimens of Physostegia virginiana ‘Bouquet rose’. The name obedient plant comes from the odd fact that the flower-heads, when moved from their usual position, stay put instead of springing back as most flowers would. Grab the middle vertical line and drag it to the left or…
There are less and less interesting insects about, so it’s kind of re-assuring to spot them in the garden. They are not all as nice-looking or friendly to the plants, but here there are… Click on the thumbnails to view the larger images.
At the moment the East mixed border is all in flowers. Click on the thumbnail to the left to view the complete legend of its plants.
A month ago a couple of stupid pigeons made their nest in the akebia quinata covering my pergola. Nothing elaborate in fact, just a rudimentary platform; nothing to be proud of. And of course what was bound to happen did happen a couple of weeks ago, one of the pair…