Shamrocks and St. Patrick’s Day

With over 30% of Brits admitting their mother is the most important person in their life and half coming to realise they are indeed turning into their mums, it’s no surprise we don’t scrimp around Mother’s Sunday.

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

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 Poppy Appeal supporting the British Legion

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.

Mother’s day in the UK is fast approaching. If you have a habit of forgetting until the last minute, you can always rely on a bunch of flowers to save the day. But, rather than just a standard bunch of daffodils from the petrol station, what else would make your mother really happy and inspired to bake you more cakes?

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’

Hay fever and Asthma attacks can be brought on by Scented Plants as well as pollen or Fungal Spores. Histamin problems can also be exacerbated by scent and smells in the garden.

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.

There are a couple of apple trees in the garden that, during early autumn, I should really be making the most of. Alice usually makes big batches of apple sauce to go with roast pork or into a crumble; and I tend to make at least one batch of my blackberry and apple ice cream. It’s a fabulous, fruity ice cream that’s not overly sweet.