Happy May Day!
Here’s to you and your garden this May day … hoping the month brings you lots of joy Continue reading Happy May Day!
Category: Hornbeam Gardens
Wide Wednesday
Hoping that this will be a regular feature of my pages, this post is published in a spirit of honesty over my gardening failures and the corners of this garden that are less than ideal. As a retired professional gardener, admitting to failures is really hard (especially when faced with the pretty idylls on everyone … Continue reading Wide Wednesday
Peonia rockii
This amazing tree peony was named for Austrian-American botanist Joseph Rock. I acquired my plant in 2020 and it is flowering for the first time. It comes from the mountains of Gansu in north-west China. When I look at it I am reminded that I never took advantage of a time when my Chinese sister-in-law … Continue reading Peonia rockii
Six on Saturday, 11 February 2023
I feel a little like a broken record – I pick up and play at this time of year, intending to go right through to the end of the disk, but later on in the season I skip what’s happening in the garden so much that I might as well not be blogging at all. … Continue reading Six on Saturday, 11 February 2023
Six on Saturday. 12 November 2022
My body can’t quite keep up with my mind these days – my mind still believes ‘all is possible’. Mostly my body is moving a little stiffly two steps behind. So, it took determination to heave myself away from book and warm fire out into the garden this afternoon. The two young boys and their … Continue reading Six on Saturday. 12 November 2022
Six on Saturday. 19 March 2022
We’ve had a milder week, with temperatures not going below about 5 centigrade at night. But the mild weather brought heavy skies and rain full of the most disgusting sand, presumably picked up from the Sahara and dumped here? My old white Peugot now not only has multiple dents in the side of it (I … Continue reading Six on Saturday. 19 March 2022
Six on Saturday. 5 March 2022
Even while with think of the folk in Ukraine, let’s keep clinging to little bits of spring joy … It’s been a really sunny week with heavy frosts each morning, although the greenhouse temperatures have never dropped below below zero. It’s been about 12 days since our last proper rain, so I’m wondering if we … Continue reading Six on Saturday. 5 March 2022
Six on Saturday. 26 February 2022
So now I go back to normality, after having two years with my husband at home. Once again, a large garden and nobody else but me to tend it. I’ve lost my stamina (through lazing about and having a bit of a holiday!) and am facing the heftier tasks on my own. But perhaps I’ll … Continue reading Six on Saturday. 26 February 2022
November treasures
I’m doing pretty well here! This is probably one of the very few times I’ve actually blogged in November – it’s my least favourite month of the year. A time when I feel at my least hopeful … but I love December, January, February, so have to keep reminding myself that they are just around … Continue reading November treasures
October treasures: Quercus rubra
I’m learning to throw out my ‘to-do’ lists and be more philosophical in the garden. At the grand old age of (nearly) 65, there’s got to be more to gardening life than hedge-trimming and grass-cutting! Mission: find more joy and to hell with tidiness and professional standards! When the BV goes into the garden, it … Continue reading October treasures: Quercus rubra
Garden Dreaming at Châtillon 