Essays

Essays

The Woodlanders

Woodland plants, both large and small, add a special new dimension to any garden.

Essays

What my lurcher taught me about light

Growlights can help lift the January gloom and keep your houseplants thriving until spring, but make sure you know what to buy and where to place them.

Essays

Put Not Your Trust in Quinces: A Month in the Garden

Welcome to the journal of Grace Alexander. In this exclusive Scribehound series, you’ll be joining me as I document each month of life in my flower field in Somerset. There will be stories, flowers, seeds, and dogs. We're starting with May.

Essays

Snowdrops, Seeds, and Signs of Hope This January

Experience the gentle magic of January at Malus Farm. Winter’s quiet moments and first signs of life inspire hope that we have turned the corner.

Essays

Rooted in Passion: a new nursery devoted to traditional techniques

At Hooton's Walled Nursery in South Yorkshire, Dean and Glenn Charlton are reclaiming the art and craft of horticulture to cultivate plants that are both beautiful and useful

Essays

Pandora's Perennials, Biodiversity and the Dialectics of Fashion

I pursue my journey through the last 50-odd years of British garden history looking at how we loosened up through a range of planting styles - and discuss some surprising comparisons.

Essays

Wasps in the Greengages. Bay Leaves in the Plums

Wellingtons full of lime leaves, dragonflies in the dusk, and a kitchen overrun with plums and purple beans. This is the week where the seasons shift and we all collapse into an August torpor and trays of squash.

Essays

Confessions of a Kitchen Table Seed Starter

My kitchen is becoming mission control for my growing addiction AT LAST. Between client meetings and CAD designs, I'm nurturing hundreds of potential gardens, one tiny seed at a time. March is here, and my seed tin is demanding to be opened!

Essays

Remembrance of things Pasta

I investigate why gardeners who value their past, present and future should read more Proust and ask the all important question: are journalists lower than snakes?

Essays

Next Year's Pies & Crumbles

Let's be honest, it has been a mixed bag in the veg garden this year, but onto the next and where can I make any small interventions, and maybe just help the garden a little more!

Essays

Discover the Fabulous World of Dahlia Breeding

The dahlia-hunting trip to The Netherlands every summer is one of the most exhilarating and rewarding trips of the year. I leave feeling completely inspired. Here I describe how we select one from a thousand - and why.

Essays

January Joy! (Said Nobody Ever) - Flowering Joy with Winter Bloomers

January can be a struggle, but the garden can offer scent and joy; hear about some of my favourite witch hazels and paper bush recommendations to help you survive the gloom.