White Roses and Red Geraniums

 I recently had a go at growing chervil, which is not something I previously knew much about, in fact I had barely heard of it before. But apparently it lasts well over winter so I picked up a few seeds and chucked them into a pot in the greenhouse in the autumn. I was not disappointed! Look at this lovely lush offering! The leaves are reminiscent of parsley, and like that herb they also belong to the carrot family and have a strong tap root. The flavour is not dissimilar, but it is milder, perhaps with a hint of aniseed. According to herb expert Alys Fowler, the benefits of chervil include an improved digestion and it also acts as a diuretic. In times past, it was also used in an eyewash for inflamed eyes.  You can grow it in a pot in the greenhouse as I have done, or sow the seeds direct into the garden. However, it is apparently much favoured by slugs, so you must be prepared to sacrifice many of the plants. It enjoys shade, which is just what  I have in abundance in m...

 A few years back, I was given a single Nemesia Wisley Vanilla. I jokingly call it my "Nemesis" (it helps me to remember its name) but it is anything but an enemy. It may be one of my best friends. This is because it is such an accommodating plant. Every year I have taken cuttings - simply snipping off a bit of stem below a pair of leaves - and all of them have rooted. The babies never demand special treatment. I just do the snipping in autumn, shove them in a plant pot filled with leftover compost and leave them in the greenhouse. This is what a couple of autumn 2020 cuttings look like now: Yes they are flowering away in January, oblivious to the cold and dark! They don't care! Other new plants have been shoved into outside hanging baskets for a bit of greenery and they're not even sulking.  I now have several plants, all in pots, dotted around the garden. I prune them in the spring but that is all they seem to want. Each year the sweet, faintly tobacco scented flowe...

Some years ago I discovered the fun to be had with an avocado. No I don't mean eating them - this is a gardening blog not a cookery one - although I must admit eating avocados is a favourite past time. I mean that I found out how easy it is to get a new plant from an avocado stone. All you need to do is to clean any residue flesh off and stick it in some compost in a plant pot. That's it. Keep the soil moist and the pot in a warm bright place and it will soon send a shoot out of a crack in the stone. Not so long after this you will get a lovely house plant with glossy green leaves. Unfortunately they can take years to fruit and they will soon outgrow their pots so you're never going to be able to just pop into the kitchen and pluck an avo from the plant.  A couple of years ago, I had a plant that had outgrown its pot and I decided that it was time to get rid of it and start off a new stone. However, being a total softie who grows attached to her houseplants, I could not bri...

I've been writing poems and short stories inspired by old postcards.  Here's one about an obsessive gardener. Visit my Amazon page for more bijou fiction

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...