White Roses and Red Geraniums

Ever picked up a plant at your village hall fete? Celebrate them with me by choosing my book - click this link   The time of year for taking cuttings has passed its peak. This year I have, as always, taken cuttings of my existing plants. Those that have proved to be well at home in my conditions are worth having their future there ensured, and the stock increased. The most propagated plant that I have is a Nemesia Wisley Vanilla.  Of course it's always worth trying to take cuttings of other plants that have not yet been tried in the garden. And the best place to look for these is in the gardens of neighbouring houses. If it thrives for them then it should thrive for you.  For a couple of years now, I have had my eye on next door's dogwood. I only ever noticed it in the autumn, when it sends out a ruby glow beneath my bedroom window. It is only in recent years that it has grown taller than the fence and I have had the benefit. So this year, as those livid branches dropped ...

Pricky hedgehogs have now given way to prickly holly as the focus of my garden. As the leaves fall from the trees, my patch can look a little bare - except for the glossy green of the holly bushes that have appeared as if by magic over the years. Except of course their appearance isn't the work of garden fairies - they have been put there by the birds. I have at least 4 bushes that have taken root in the past 15 years that I have lived here, and all will have developed from seed carried in the droppings of the blackbirds and thrushes who visit us daily. Holly berries, which begin to appear in October, can each contain up to 6 seeds. The berries are a valuable food for birds, but they are unable to digest the seeds so they travel straight through their digestive system. There is a lot of folklore surrounding holly - and one old legend has it that it is very unlucky to cut down a holly bush, and that it should be left to act as an obstruction to travelling witches! However, it is goo...

There's nothing more classy, or reminiscent of a hot summer terrace, than a red geranium in a terracotta plant pot. I seem to remember reading somewhere, in one of the many books about her and her sisters, that Nancy Mitford's French home had a small terrace that was filled with such a horticultural delight. If it was good enough for Nancy it's good enough for me.  I might not have got the climate, but I've got the red geraniums in terracotta pots. I've collected pots from here there and everywhere and last year I got a good haul from Chesterfield flea market.  Being so easy to propagate,  I'm never short of the geraniums either, but I always bring the better plants inside to overwinter alongside the cutting nursery. In order to propagate geraniums, simply snip off a decent looking leaf with a sharp implement and pop it into a glass of water or a plant pot filled with well draining compost. It will soon grow roots.  Those plants that are brought inside in autumn...

  Lavender has always been an important plant in my life. It’s probably no coincidence that my favourite colours are purple and green. There was a beautiful lavender bush in my grandparents’ garden and when she taught me how to sew, the first project that Nan worked on with me was to make lavender bags from bits of old fabric. I’ve continued to sew and make lavender bags every year – now using my own crop. I have planted bushes all around my garden and some might say I’ve become a little bit obsessed with it. It is a wonderful plant. Not only does it have the power to calm and heal us, it is a source of food for important pollinators. I went out into the front garden one day in early August when the sun was out and I counted twelve bees on a single bush. And when the bees have had their fill, it’s my turn to use those purple flowers for my own purposes. Around mid-August I begin to harvest the flowers and then trim back the foliage to keep it neat for the winter. The flower stalks ...

  If you are a gardener and have a garden with trees nearby, chances are you're going to get squirrels. This leads to The Squirrel Dilemma.  I like squirrels. I like all little fluffy creatures as most of us do, and growing up in the city where there weren't any it was a delightful novelty to see them bouncing about when I moved into this house. There they were, chasing each other round tree trunks, chuntering at each other and doing that really cute thing where they sit on their haunches nibbling at something with their weeny little hands. There is a care home next door but one, and they obviously put out stale biscuits for the birds. So on occasion I have been treated to the hilarious sight of a squirrel bounding along the fence with a whole digestive in its mouth.  So of course, we began throwing nuts out for them for the sheer pleasure of watching them eat. And that's when the trouble began. Because they don't always eat the nuts straight away, do they? They bury th...