Clematis as Cut Flowers? Really?
I’d read, some time back, about Clematis x durandii used as a cut flower in the Netherlands. It didn’t sound plausible. There’s something really stringy and splitty about its stems that makes you...
View ArticleThe Steppe: Then and Now
Back on the 4th April, I gave a quick run down on my latest bit of trial planting of very low plants. I almost gave up on it in early spring, when it looked like being overrun with weeds, and …...
View ArticleThis just announced…
So this new TV show I’m hosting (#dreamgardens) has just been announced. Starts 9th Feb at 8 pm on ABC1. Check the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i7EituT4F8&feature=youtu.be or here...
View Article…And the Living is Easy
While much of the country has been sweltering, we down south in Victoria have been enjoying the most perfect summer. We’ve had regular rains, and no days over 40C. The countryside around me is still,...
View ArticleFrost in Feb?
Yep. This morning the windscreen was iced over – the wipers frozen into immobility. t was the second frost this february – the last being last Wednesday, which happened also to be a total fire ban...
View ArticleSelf-promo Warning!
As awkward as I find using this page for explicit self promotion (and I specify ‘explicit’, as what can a blog be but self-promotion of some kind or other?…), I’m committed to the success of the...
View ArticleA Whole Lot of Tommyrot
I have a sister (colourful, excitable, b. 1959) who used to describe some flavours as tasting exactly like the smell of something else. My Dad (v non-excitable, b. 1928) told her she was speaking a...
View ArticleThe Supreme Qualities
Are there any plants that better display the supreme qualities of elegance and poise than the species tulips in bud? I just want to look up close at one – Tulipa clusiana var. chrysantha The more I...
View ArticleTime to Upskill
It’s astonishing how few opportunities there are available for the home gardener that is keen to learn more. So it’s time to run some courses. I’ve been talking about it since I started this blog five...
View ArticleSteppe Update
You may remember, from earlier posts, my ‘steppe’ planting (a misnomer that will remain until something better presents itself) from November 2015. Back then it looked like this: The intention was to...
View ArticlePuncturing the Plateau
I knew when setting out to do the perennial planting for a client that what I wanted to achieve was a big undulating plateau of colour and texture between about 800 and 1200mm, punctured by taller and...
View ArticleA Brief History of Stone Hill – Woodend North Garden
Primarily for the benefit of those on the ALC pre-conference tour today…. We are planning a range of workshops and symposia about designing with perennials. Click ‘subscribe’ on this page and we’ll...
View ArticleThe Look and the Feel
We’re all obsessed with making our gardens LOOK good, butthe outcomes may be better if we spent more time thinking about how they FEEL Interested in mastering the balance of a garden that looks great...
View ArticleOudolf as himself
Piet Oudolf is a phenomenon. Not since William Robinson has a single figure given the gardening status quo such a shake-up, and drilled their way into the imagination of gardeners, recalibrating their...
View ArticleWho Does What?
I was amused, relieved, and a little embarrassed a few weeks back when a respected and long-standing Landscape Architect stated, in a meeting of industry leaders, something along the lines of ‘what the...
View ArticleFive Seasons Thrice
One way or another, I’ve managed to see ‘Five Seasons’ three times. Once as an online ‘review’ copy, and twice at the cinema. Firstly, I’ve just got to say how amazing it is to live in a day when it’s...
View ArticleGreat Dixter Revisited
It’s exactly half my life since I lived and worked with Christopher Lloyd at Great Dixter. I returned yesterday – a rich, life-giving and pretty emotional moment. Watch the video here
View ArticleAn evening at Beth’s
The Beth Chatto Symposium, organised to celebrate Beth’s 95th year, and the 40th anniversary of the publication of Beth’s first book The Dry Garden included a garden party which, as if channelling Beth...
View ArticleDecades-long dreaming
It’s stupid how long I’ve wanted the rose named ‘Graham Thomas’. I don’t grow roses, as a rule. I’ve no patience or tolerance trying to integrate them into the largely perennial planting that suits me...
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