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PLANT OF THE WEEK #86: Buddleja alternifolia
In one of the lockdowns last year (can’t recall which. Who can?) I cut down a long row of past-their-use-by-date Acacia retinodes along my northern boundary. That left a huge, deep bed of really...
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PLANT OF THE WEEK #87: Lagerstroemia ‘Natchez’
It’s a magic moment every year when my crepe myrtle, Lagerstroemia ‘Natchez’, starts flowering. It’s specially magical because the blossom is scented. I had no idea that there was such a thing as a...
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Two ill-fitting hats
Is the function of your garden to be primarily a background to your life – the space you sit in when you dine outdoors, or the stage you set for your afternoon G and T? Or is your garden meant to be...
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On the hunt for ‘self-grooming’ plants
I’m not sure whether it’s the demands of design work, or the demands of my own (too-big) garden, or sheer curiosity, but I’m forever pondering questions of how much work is involved in the growing of...
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PLANT OF THE WEEK #88: Koelreuteria paniculata
The very first time I recall hearing the name Koelreuteria was at Sissinghurst, where there was a comically lame specimen in the cottage garden. No one seeing it would ever be tempted to grow one....
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I wish I knew more about bulbs
Apologies to my neighbours, who had a near perfect autumn morning on Saturday partially ruined by several hours of brush-cutter noise as I cut back my rough grass, into which is planted several bulb...
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PLANT OF THE WEEK #89: Lespedeza thunbergii
I vividly remember the day I thought I had to get better acquainted with Lespedeza. How could I forget? That crazily magical colonnade of plane trees at Villa Melzi, each pair framing an...
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Two Wild Books
Two really fabulous books have arrived in the mail over the last few months. One I bought and one was a freebie, given that some of my design work appears in it. (Whether the latter revelation...
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PLANT OF THE WEEK #90: Plectranthus ecklonii
How would you respond if told there was a new deep purple/blue salvia on the market, that absolutely laughed at root-ridden soil and flowered brilliantly in quite deep shade? First, I’d be skeptical....
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PLANT OF THE WEEK #91: Crocus speciosus ‘Oxonian’
Decades ago my gardening friends and I attended a lecture given by the renowned Irish gardener Helen Dillon. To be frank I remember little of that event except one outlandish statement declared by...
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PLANT OF THE WEEK #92: Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Like most kids, I grew up plant-blind. But Virginia creeper, along with its relative Boston ivy, somehow broke through and made itself known to me. I recall, from the earliest age, a charming old...
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PLANT OF THE WEEK #93: Carex testacea
If you’re a long-term reader of The Gardenist, you’ll know that I’m forever in two minds about evergreen grasses. Nearly everyone in a climate sufficiently moderate to grow the wide range of...
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PLANT OF THE WEEK #94: Viburnum opulus (‘Kalyna’ to Ukrainians)
My suggestion for plant of this week is one which holds deep significance to a country currently enduring great suffering. The war in Ukraine continues to shock the world with Russia’s obscene...
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PLANT OF THE WEEK #95: Cotoneaster horizontalis
OK, I’m a bit nervous about this one. I guess it comes down to whether Plant of the Week is about raising plant awareness or whether it represents plant promotion. For I want to write about...
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PLANT OF THE WEEK #96: Elaeagnus x ebbingei
Elaeagnus x ebbingei is a great big brute of a shrub. At a maximum of about 5m tall by the same wide, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever want to release it into your garden in an untamed form. But it’s...
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PLANT OF THE WEEK #97: Cupressus sempervirens
If only there were more trees with the emphatic verticality of the Italian cypress. But there aren’t. The Italian cypress (also known as pencil pine) is a stand alone, in every sense. It stands...
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Instagram – source of gardening fuel or FOMO?
I sat to down to write this, bar-heater blaring by my legs, overlooking a scene of windswept monochrome bleakness, and turned – just for a few seconds – to instagram. There I found myself...
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PLANT OF THE WEEK #98: Helleborus argutifolius
It’s a complete mystery to me why, of 100,000+ photos of plants in my photo library, I don’t have a single decent pic of Helleborus argutifolius. It more than merits tens, if not hundreds of pics....
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PLANT OF THE WEEK #99: Caryopteris ‘Heavenly Blue’
OK, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that today’s Plant of the Week has to be out of season. Once the last of the autumn leaves blows away in my garden, there’s really nothing to see until the first...
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How would your garden perform under the Jane Austen taste test?
So while bed-bound with covid last week, I wallowed in some culture and read Jane Austen’s Emma, having heard from a reliable source that it eclipses the better known, and perhaps better loved, Pride...
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