The Art of the Flower

Have you ever visited a botanical garden on a warm spring day and marveled at tulips in a rainbow of colors, with shapes ranging from cups to stars, contrasting striations, and ruffled edges?Now’s your chance to bring a taste of that awes

There's nothing like having a home garden to make you begin to appreciate the trials and tribulations of the farmers who grow our food. Between weather, weeds, and insects, not to mention the challenges of soil fertility, it can be an incredibly humbling experience to try to put food on the table with a home garden. This is true especially when adhering to organic protocols that don't rely on quick yet potentially harmful solutions, such as herbicides, pesticides, and conventional fertilizers.

When I started this project I had grand ideas of reconnecting with nature and deepening my knowledge of local wildlife and biodiversity. I daydreamed that my garden would be a haven for bumblebees and butterflies, and I would enjoy spending time there, reading, drinking wine and admiring my work. Picture me barefoot in flowy dresses ...how naive I was!

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Tulips are popular around the World, often known as the soul of Spring, and historically symbolic for perfect love. Finding the perfect Tulip for your location can often be challenging, particularly as many of Tulip cultivar’s are fussy and short-lived.

But there’s always more to do in other parts of the garden, too.On the list are some strategic summer pruning tasks, and a likewise strategic plan for deadheading or otherwise reducing self-sowers (like celandine poppy, Stylophorum diphyllum, above) so there’s not too much of a good thing, for instance. Plus there are perennials in need of haircuts.My friend Ken Druse, autho

With their unique and vibrant hues, these stunning flowers are sure to make a statement in any garden or floral arrangement. Fear not, as we’ve put together a guide to the Best Red Sunflower Varieties to help you choose the best one for your home.

I admit it, I’m greedy. I don’t want to see the flowers on my lilac bushes and clematis vines go. I cling to them desperately, a sense of heaviness in my heart when they start to fade.I know, not at all zen, but I can’t help it. They a

The Artless Charm of a true Cottage Garden While I’m as beguiled as the next person by pretty cottage garden style planting that you see at the flower shows, the real deal is so much more joyous. I’ve recently visited my 88 year old friend Deryck whose exuberant garden is about as far as you can get from designer chic.

I found the big show gardens a big disappointment. It’s telling that I took very few photographs of them, while I took plenty of my favourite small gardens. I did photograph a few for their curiosity value rather than their inspiring ideas. The Azorean Garden reflects the fact that volcan

Dark, damp, depressing, just the weather to escape into the greenhouse. Not got a greenhouse then get your skates on this is the time to start the horticultural year. Seeds, cuttings, bulbs, all can be started over the next few weeks, they may need some encouragement with a heated propagating frame, or some encouragement with heated bench cables or even a free standing heater but an early start will reap huge results and put you in the right position to have your plants ready for Spring. If that not enough then here’s four more reasons to buy a greenhouse. Don’t delay start today. The following

Retail therapy at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2014 by Daniel Carruthers The Chelsea Flower Show, now in it’s 101st year, is revered for its wonderful gardens showing the latest trends in garden design. The show does also have many other elements of inspiration too with a wide and often unsung retail section. Predominantly the Eastern Avenue is the shopaholic gardeners first port of call with everything on display ranging from hats and gardening apparel to seeds and works of art.