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Daily Flower Candy: Ceiba speciosa
Ceiba speciosa (formerly Chorisia speciosa): False kapok, floss silk tree, drunken stick, bottle tree We are in Sicily, Palermo to be precise, enjoying the balmy autumn weather, wonderful food,...
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Bella Donnas
Amaryllis belladonna: Jersey lily, naked lady, belladonna amaryllis A procession of naked ladies We gardeners spend so much time and energy trying to cultivate plants which aren’t 100% suited to our...
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Relaxing, Riviera Style
I am on holiday and therefore I must relax: at least that’s what Him Indoors keeps telling me. The problem is I don’t find sitting by pools or lounging about in the least bit relaxing. It’s not as if I...
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Orto Botanico di Palermo
The botanical gardens in Sicily’s first city, Palermo, are among the oldest and most important in Europe. Conceived in the late 1700’s no expense was spared on their construction. As today, early...
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Travelling Blues
That’s it. I have readied both gardens for October, packed my bags and left Him Indoors in charge. I am now on the other side of the world. Anything could happen …… and it probably will. True blue:...
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Plants and Peace on The Peak
One of the many wonderful things about writing this blog is that I am slowly building up an invaulable record of what I did and when. Before I set off this morning for Hong Kong’s highest point, I...
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Daily Flower Candy: Balanophora harlandii
My knowledge of parasitic plants is limited to say the least. It extends no further than dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) and toothwort (Lathraea clandestina). But now, following my walk around Hong Kong’s...
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Daily Vegetable Candy: Mesembryanthemum crystallinum
Mesembryanthemum crystallinum: bingcai, common ice plant, crystalline iceplant, ice greens. When in China, my general policy is to eat every food I am presented with: after all, what doesn’t kill you...
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Beautiful Dreamer
I took this photograph today in Kowloon Park, Hong Kong. A girl sat artfully at the edge of the water, shaded by a graceful Chinese pavilion. She gazed nonchalantly, sometimes at her magazine,...
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Kowloon Park, Hong Kong
I am very fortunate to be able to travel as much as I do, but when I am away from home I miss my gardens and daily contact with my plants. I miss them in the same way I miss my family and friends. I...
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The Lady
As we approach the festive season it feels like the world has very little to celebrate. The tragedy that has befallen Paris and its citizens will weigh heavily on our minds, along with earlier...
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Postcards from Prague
No jetting off to New York this year, but a trip to the Czech Republic instead. And what a refreshing trip it was. Not only were easyJet and Gatwick airport surprisingly pleasant experiences (wonders...
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Reflections
In my life as a buyer of all things festive, it is Christmas every day of the year. My face is permanently dusted with glitter (it’s not makeup, honest) and my hands scratched; not by roses but by...
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Seeing Snowdrops
One of my unwritten New Year’s resolutions is to address my southern bias when it comes to writing this blog. As someone who’s never lived more than three miles north of the M4, with a penchant for...
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Photo Opportunity
I love anything to do with flowers; studying them, gazing at them, talking about them, growing them and photographing them. I don’t believe I could ever tire of their innumerable colours, shapes and...
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Return to Eden
It is May 2000 and I am standing in a long line of chattering, excitable people wearing white hard hats. This is not an audition for a Village People tribute act, but the queue to board a makeshift...
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Chelsea Flower Show 2016: The Viking Cruises Mekong Garden
For some reason the woodland ride that connects the Chelsea Flower Show’s Artisan Gardens seemed particularly quiet this year. On previous visits this pleasantly shaded route has been thronged with...
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Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
This week an Italian described their country to me as “Third World”. I may only be a visitor, but I could not agree less. Italy possesses almost everything I want out of life – good weather,...
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Il Giardino di Boboli, Florence
The Medici of Florence were not only one of the richest families in Europe for a time, but also phenomenal garden makers. They laid out the grounds of their multitudinous palaces and villas to...
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Being Mindful in Marrakech
For someone who is building a library, I don’t read a great deal. I am not a great one for sitting and relaxing, nor am I as patient as I once was. As a result I have tended to eschew books in favour...
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