Chelsea: Dark Pea Sticks

At Chelsea Garden Show this year I noticed a little trend. Can you guess what it is? It’s the preference for dark coloured Pea Sticks. I saw them in several gardens. With green Peas and with Purple Podded Peas too. I particularly liked these planted next to red-flowering Broadbeans. They look very ornamental and the […]

Chelsea Flower Show

Heading home from a lovely time at Chelsea Flower Show. There seemed to be lots of Strawberries in unusual places this year. But the show gardens were as lovely as ever. I’ll post some more photos soon. But for now here’s a photo of some berries in some old boots. And some stuffed in an […]

Marvel of the Four Seasons

This is our first real harvest. We’ve had a few Spinach leaves but once the Lettuce start coming in, I consider the season to be well and truly underway. This is one of my Marvel of the Four Seasons lettuce. It was planted at the same time as the Rouge d’Hiver but is ready sooner. […]

Beginning to Like Roses

I always said I didn’t like Roses. Not because I don’t like the flowers but because the bushes look pretty bad in the Winter. My new garden has lots of mature Rose bushes in it and they are all flowering right now. I have white, cream, scarlet, pink, yellow – fragrant, spray, climbers, ramblers – […]

I Actually Need Irrigation – Weird

We have been having unusually hot weather here in Portland. It’s been lovely to get out into the garden and start enjoying the outdoors, planting things, harvesting things. But unseasonably hot weather is not without its downfalls. Firstly, you’re never sure when it will end. Did I put those plants out too soon, will it […]

My Old Tulips, Flowering

Back in November (a little late) I planted some pretty special Tulip bulbs that my neighbour gave to me. I didn’t know if they would flower or not or even if the ground was going to be too heavy for Tulips. Well, they flowered and they were beautiful. Each one was a deep burgundy colour […]