I am not wavering nor is my immunity to this particular obsession wearing thin and I’m certainly not sitting on the fence. There are 20 or more species of Galanthus and I’m happy to grow a few more in addition to nivalis. Some of the cultivars are quite distinctive and attractive, but why are there […]
snowdrops
The Ambivalent Fundamentalist
Somewhere along the line the botanical purist meets the gardening hedonist and the ambivalent fundamentalist emerges. In the garden there is not too much of a conflict of interest as I am quite content to grow pure species, subspecies, hybrids, geographical and horticultural varieties, plants of doubtful parentage or even clones. The growing conditions in […]
Advent Calendar – the Last Window
It is Christmas Day 2013 and I have opened the last window in the Year of Natural Scotland Advent Calendar. So it is now time to wish you a joyous Christmas and Happy New Year, may you all grow and prosper. For those whose Christmas will be a difficult period my thoughts are with you.Thank […]
The January Garden – Looking Both Ways
Janus Pater, firstborn of Roman deities, presides over all transitions and beginnings, the door keeper, guardian of the new year, and custodian of the calendar, from whom January takes its name. In deference to Janus I am ambivalent about January – the lengthening days tell me to look forward as spring is coming, but the […]
In the Winter Garden
I always dreamed of having a winter garden – delicate snowdrops and aconites in perfect drifts beneath the tracery of the bare branches of elegant Japanese acers and the ghostly stems of birches. A contrasting backdrop of glossy green Mahonia and air laden with the delicate scent of winter jasmine, Osmanthus and Daphne. The reality is a cottage garden […]