Before You Garden...

Featured 2023-01-28

Snowdrops and Galanthomania

An Enchanting Winter Flower – Snowdrop – Galanthus Gardening Quote for February Snowdrops – ‘The more species and varieties you grow, the more you come to appreciate their finer details and differences, whereas those who are strangers to the subject think that all snowdrops are alike, even taking offense if is suggested that they are…

Featured 2022-12-21

Winter Seed Sowing in Old Milk Jugs

Sowing seeds in winter using old plastic milk jugs is an easy way to grow hardy plants. Learn how in this easy to follow series of photos with clear instructions.

Featured 2022-12-13

Winter Gardening Book Reading Suggestions

If you are like me, the active part of the gardening year is so busy that there is little time left at the end of the day to read all the books and magazines that I have on my pile. Consequently, the time for reading is winter, and then reading becomes one of my ultimate…

Featured 2022-10-20

The Leaves Come Tumbling Down – and Then What?

A guide to managing your fallen autumn leaves ‘Autumn is not the sad time it is supposed to be. Darkness falls at five o’clock, and the garden is cold and wet, but it is a season of planning and expectation… Even the fallen leaf is food for future years of foliage and fruit, and promises…

2022-09-29

Enliven your Fall Garden with Dahlias

Dahlias are a fabulous flower to add pizzaz to the fall garden. learn how to dig them up at the end of the growing season and overwinter them in a frost-free place.

2022-09-07

Self-Sown Flowers – Create Bargain Fullness and Happy Accidents in Your Garden

Using self-sown plants in your garden gives you a lovely relaxed, cottage garden style. Learn what Jenny Rose Carey considers her top ten self sowing flowers.

2022-07-26

The Wild Garden

Is there a trend in our gardens back to wildness? Does it parallel our more casual pandemic lifestyles? Learn about how a nineteenth century garden writer paved the way for our current wild gardens.

2022-06-24

The Ultimate Flower Gardener’s Guide

“Starting and Tending a flower garden is a personal affair. Each of us has our own life experiences and preferences that we bring to it. Even if we have never put a shovel in the ground ourselves, we love flowers because they are a part of our celebrations and daily life”

2020-03-31

Inspirational Women in Horticulture

Mary Helen Wingate Lloyd was a famous female horticulturist from the early 20th Century – Her famous garden – Allgates was visited from people around the world.

2016-04-04

Unfurling and Uncurling -Spring growth

As the days lengthen and the temperatures increase the pace of spring growth increases. Buds open. Shoots emerge and elongate. The pace of change is dizzying. Capture these fleeting moments in photographs to enjoy year round. Photos above: Leucojum vernum – Spring snowflake – dangling white and green flowers Veratrum – False Hellebore – fresh…