It was very good to read Gail Harland’s article on (Peonies and perfection) in the HPS Summer Journal. So, refreshing too to read the comment about the common myth of not moving Peonies, in relation to them resenting the process of transplanting, (nonsense) music to my ears! Gail goes onto…

Referencing this week’s Hort Week news brings a very interesting and important update from the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme. An 8-year study by Citizen Scientists to record the UK top pollinators. The scheme is run by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)…

This month I am starting to think about how my garden coped with this summer’s weather, beginning with the flower garden. I shall start with hydrangeas as in July I had proudly shown you the Hydrangea arborescens ‘Strong Annabelle’ in their pots sat in trays up by the house looking…

Here’s just a couple of very important wildlife gardening tasks for this month. Gone are the days of denuding all dead stems and seed heads once they’ve gone over and dispersed their seed, it they’re adding form and structure to the art of the garden, just for the sake of…

My aim with the planting plan for the Long Border was that the border would peak in interest in September. You may recall it was knitting together better than I expected in its first August after planting, so this month, let us go for a walk round the border in…

It’s a great time to plan on some important tasks in the garden if any of these plants apply in your green space. The Salvia involucrata is really in its prime right now, and catches the eye, with any luck it could flower until November, depending on the first frosts,…

I ended last month by asking what July would bring us weatherwise – and as we all know it was the hottest July for 190 years, and we here had NO rain at all, as well as almost continuously above heatwave-threshold temperatures. So, I shall ignore the miserable gardening conditions…

Digitalis ferruginea commonly known as the rusty foxglove is a stunning perennial within the Lakeside Garden. This attractive plant belongs to the family: Plantaginaceae, native to Romania, Hungary, Turkey, and the Caucasus. It comprises dense spikes of bronze / yellow flowers with distinct red veined throats that are great for…

Has it cooled down yet? How did your garden survive last week’s extraordinary (and worrying) heat? We’ve always thought of hardiness as being about cold but increasingly we should also be looking for plants that can withstand extreme heat – heat hardiness, perhaps? Did you spot me on BBC2’s Gardeners’…

Ignoring the extreme weather we have had in June for a moment, picking up from where I left the planted up long border last month I shall show you how the planting grew and developed over the next few months of 2021. Let’s start with three photos from the beginning…

The Verbascums are really taking off this year! I’m 6 feet 1 and a half inches tall, and this tallest one nearly matches me for height, (self-seeded) I’ve not been a great lover of these perennials over the years, but I’m really starting to love them after many years of…

Stopped in my tracks at the Lakeside. Kalmia latifolia commonly known as the Mountain Laurel comprises 10 species in the genus Kalmia, belonging to the Heather family: Ericaceae, native to Eastern USA. Kalmia latifolia is a good wildlife value flower for pollinators, rich in nectar to attract bees and other…

Before returning to the plant list for my new Long Border, I have to mention May’s challenging weather for gardening. I struggled in the first 20 days in May as the night temperatures fell to close to freezing, or frost-levels each night, so plants grown from seed could not be…

Welcome to June from my garden here in Brighton. As always, there is plenty happening across the Hardy Plant Society, but I want to begin by paying tribute to our ambassador, Matthew Biggs, whose death has saddened so many of us. Matthew was a wonderful supporter of the Society for…

What a difference the longer days make to the feel of the weather in April. We had easterly or northerly wind direction most of the time, and much of that was at least 25mph, and sometimes up to 35 0r 40mph, so the temperatures were depressed, and the cuckoo didn’t…

With reference to one of my earlier blogs this year, the Skimmia berries of which I collected and extracted/ sowed the seed on February 1st are germinating ! I never fail to feel excited with anticipation from more challenging seed trials,  let alone the simpler plant challenges. I plan to…

Euphorbia mellifera is commonly known as the Canary spurge or Honey spurge in the family of Euphorbiaceae from Madeira and the Canary Islands, there are over 2000 species making it one of the largest genera of plants, commonly known as Spurges. The similar Euphorbia x pasteurii is a hybrid of…

Hello again from Brighton—and welcome to May! The gardening year is racing along, and what a wonderful month it is. There’s plenty to share. The latest edition of the Hardy Plant Journal should now be landing on your doormats—do have a read, it’s a lovely issue with a stunning tulip…

As this month is going to concentrate on the preparation and start of the build of the long border here on my Chalk Hillside, I shall start with some photos from a lovely arboretum visit on 14 March. For once this year it was a lovely sunny day and we…

I wanted to share the sight of this beautiful woodland Camellia with all of those at the HPS that read the website, it’s a real stunner, much admired by members of the staff at the Lakeside, and the many visitors, the cameras are constantly clicking. Hopefully this 5-metre beauty will…

Hello Hardy Planters! At last, it feels as though spring has properly arrived, with tulips beginning to brighten the beds and a touch of milder weather in the air. I hope you’re enjoying the seasonal shift too—it may not be truly warm just yet, but it’s certainly a welcome change…

Primula elatior: family Primulaceae is a plant I’ve been trialling for a few seasons now and currently featuring on the analysis of the Hort Week Website for Parks and Gardens. Primula elatior, family: Primulaceae (Oxlip) closely related to Primula veris (Cowslip) thrives in nutrient – poor calcium rich soil, its…

This important feature ran the duration last year through Hort Week on the website for an encouraging 6 months, 6 days to be exact, and more recently is featured within the RHS Plant Review Journal, both in different formats, and that being the case here for the HPS. Although not…

Let’s hope March is not as wet as January and February have been, and that the light levels each day are better. The flooding in the valley below us in February was as extensive as I have ever seen it, and being groundwater flooding will take a long time to…