Summer The Missing Season

We pay so much attention to spring flower displays, autumn bulb plantings and winter rose selections, the summer garden is often lost. If that’s your experience then you’re missing out, says Graham Ross. Here he explains how to create a luscious summer border, with no-fail plants that will celebrate the hot weather for years to ...

Lavender

The purple haze and relaxing fragrance of lavender have long made it a favourite in the garden. Coastal gardeners have all too often been seduced by its magic only to be dismayed as it succumbed to summer’s humidity. Meredith Kirton has good news for lavender-lovers.   I recently renovated my bathroom and chose a colour s...

Wildflower Carpet

8 Steps to a wildflower garden   1.              In May select a sunny site with well-drained soil (add sand if needed).  2.              Fluff up the soil surface and buy a packet of se...

Perfect Timing

“In all the stressing about the right moment, I’ve never taken a daphne cutting in my whole life.”   “Transplant from a pot means little or no disturbance to roots at all, so one can easily and without danger plant anything from a pot the whole year round.”   “Never be tempted to buy bare-rooted fruit trees or any ...

Water Ways

“The short-term solution of water restrictions won’t solve the long-term problem of increasing population requiring increasing water resources.”   “I’ve employed the ‘saucer’ method when planting thousands of trees and shrubs over the decades and have never lost one to drought.”   “The most important decision in an...