MAY 2018
Yesterday saw Painted Fern’s annual pilgrimage to the Chelsea Flower Show. Many of the designers opted for much loved stalwarts of the garden such as Lupins, Geums and Aquilegias with Paeonies featuring heavily too.

JANUARY 2018
I should think myself lucky. I’ve toyed with the idea of moving to a bigger garden in the past (and I do mean just that – garden not house) the dream of what could be, but then realism set in. Are you ever going to get this lucky again and do you really want the ominous task of moving half a garden or abandoning all treasures and starting again?

AUGUST 2017
It’s that time of year again when I go off on the hunt for new treasures, sandwiched in amongst other activities, so as to give the appearance we are on holiday.

JANUARY 2017
Today the first flowers started to open on one of my dearest plants – Edgeworthia chrysantha. I’ve had one for seven years now growing against one of the rear house walls, my husband having brought it for me shortly before our son was born for a Valentine’s Day present.

DECEMBER 2016
As a child I used to continually dream about being in the jungle, searching the undergrowth for something elusive. I've done a fair bit of travelling in my time to some pretty exotic places, but I’m not the type to go camping or backpacking - there always needed to be a certain amount of civilisation in place. Therefore I don’t think I could ever of been a plant-hunter. I think of myself more as an armchair plant-hunter.

APRIL 2016
Last year I purchased two varieties of hardy Impatiens to help prolong the season of interest from summer into autumn in our garden. Impatiens, like many plants, have got themselves a bad reputation.