In the era of the Snowflake, prejudice is seen as something evil. But gardening prejudices are often useful. They can help you develop your own style. Some plants, I simply can’t get along with. The idea of growing African marigolds and chrysanthemums just seems wrong to me. However, that said, sometimes it is good to have our prejudices challenged. I used to think of spring bulbs as being a tad boring. This grew from seeing neglected front gardens overrun with [...]
THE TREE - they smell GOOD, make our living rooms into a grotto for a few weeks and occasionally stab us with their needles - why do we do this every year? Find the right tree for you and then make it a more sustainable tradition... FROSTED HISTORY The branches of the evergreen Conifer have been flailed about in celebration since the pagans danced with them and strung them up for the Winter solstice, and the Romans fought and lounged around them [...]
Talking terrariums with Madeleine and Will from Jar and Fern… Ok, a jar and a few plants - what exactly is a ‘terrarium’? So terrariums were actually invented in 1827 by a London Doctor called Nathaniel Ward, although people had been keeping plants in jars as early as 500 BC. Dr Ward invented them pretty much by accident after monitoring the life cycle of caterpillars and moths in a closed jar which had a bit of soil in the base. Little [...]
