Blackberry and apple ice cream recipe

Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.

A garden that looks gorgeous with zero effort sounds too good to be true, and it probably is. But it’s certainly possible to create a fabulous, flower-filled garden that’s fuss-free and easy to look after. Eminent garden designer and writer James Alexander-Sinclair has designed gardens across the length and breadth of the UK, and in many other countries besides. Here, he shares some of his trade secrets, for creating gardens that are low-maintenance and lovely, including his favourite fuss-free plants and easy ways to tackle weeds.

New Trees: Recent Introductions to Cultivation by John Grimshaw, Ross Bayton and illustrated by Hazel Wilks. Amazon

I am going to Madeira for a sunny break before the gardening gets tougher. I hope to sample the orchids that grow on the islands and even bring home the occasional example.

Most Bromeliad of the thousands of species are tropical plants. In the UK they make good house plants and pot plants for a conservatory. Others plants in the same family are the  genus including  Aechmea, Neoregelia, Vriesea and Guzmania

The Lime is a tall growing well shaped tree which is often grown along avenues and public places in the UK. The flowers have an exquisite fragrance.

After salad crop failures in Spain and shortages of courgettes, broccoli and other ‘long distance’ vegetables gardeners could to worse than focus on traditional and non-traditional root crops.

Oak trees conjure up images of Robin Hood and mystical Oak forests. Britain has made good use of Oak trees down the centuries. ‘From little acorns great Oak trees grow’

The common crab apple grows wild in hedgerows and woodlands of western Europe. It is also cultivated for the blossom and small crabapples.

Botany is the science of plant life. In other descriptions it is the study of plant science or plant biology. A botanist is one who studies botany.

I will use Shangri-la as an all encompassing name for spiritually based gardens and areas of harmonious natural beauty stealing a name from James Hilton in his novel Lost Horizon.

Bromeliads are members of the Bromeliaceae plant family. They typically have striking, sword-shaped leaves and a bright, unusual-looking bloom, which is actually a bract surrounding an insignificant flower. They hail from tropical rainforests, where they grow naturally on the bark of trees, rather than in the ground. Their roots are used to grip on to their host, and they get moisture from a central ‘tank’ or ‘vase’ in the middle of the rosette of leaves that fills with water whenever it rains. In the wild, frogs sometimes raise their young in these tanks.