April can seem full of deception. Promising much, then failing to deliver. Eulogized by the poets for its splendour, but also exposed by them as painful and cruel. The gateway to Spring, it still has frost on its back. Not for the first time in my life, I associate it this year with death andContinue reading “April come she will”
Category Archives: Arboretum
When Spring arrives
The man of March he sees the Spring and wonders what the year will bring* My early days of March are blighted by a heavy cold that vitiates productivity. The flu-like symptoms are made worse as our household struggles with the loss of a dear friend. On the weather front, it’s a month of hail,Continue reading “When Spring arrives”
In and around the garden: some fragments from January
The January man he goes around in woollen coat and boots of leather (1) The year begins with weather warnings. Frost settles into the garden ground and doesn’t move. Motivation is low. Piles of hazel thinnings lay unsorted or trimmed. Tall herbaceous plants, long past the ‘interesting in winter’ stage need cutting back. Leaves areContinue reading “In and around the garden: some fragments from January”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Winter and its tasks
The tasks of winter in the garden, it seems to me, are twofold. On the one hand there are practical things that need our attention. Pruning out the hazels, tidying up the rose arch and the bentwood hornbeam tunnels. There is some strimming to be done in the longer grass where daffodils and narcissi willContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Winter and its tasks”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Visiting other gardens
I’m not an assiduous visitor of gardens, though I do have my favourites, such as Hidcote Manor in the Cotswolds (seen here in the featured image), which we head to at every opportunity. Visiting any garden is always a chance to garner new ideas and inspirations and maybe to bring them home for local adaptation.Continue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Visiting other gardens”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Uninvited guests
For a place that is largely unfenced and merges seamlessly with the surrounding landscape, the Dumfriesshire Garden has been mercifully free of serious damage by rabbits and deer. Certainly the former have been scarce in numbers in recent years, but the latter are seen regularly in the nearby woods and fields and do occasionally visitContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Uninvited guests”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Quercus Ilex
It was a fine February day in 2019 and I was on a pleasant visit to St Andrews. Sitting in the sheltered sunshine of the courtyard beside the University’s School of Divinity, I was struck by the massive tree, with it huge girth, that dominated the space. The tree was in the perfect shape ofContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Quercus Ilex”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Keeping on top of things
The Dumfriesshire Garden in south west Scotland started as a modest border at the back of a farm building that was under renovation as a home. Paradoxically, it began in the poorest piece of ground imaginable, where a thin layer of soil sat on top of bedrock. Gradually the scope of the garden extended, containedContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Keeping on top of things”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Dogwoods
Oh yes, I know that the cornus is a plant much maligned – especially the ones with variegated leaves. I’ve addressed this before and remain resolutely a dogwood devotee, a cornus connoisseur, albeit an amateur one. Even if they are often seen in car parks and on roundabouts, they continue to get my vote. First,Continue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Dogwoods”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Arboretum
Welcome to the start of 26 reflections on my garden in south west Scotland during 2024: one for each letter of the alphabet and all of which will appear as the year closes during the month of December. I’ve written before about planting trees in the rented field next to my home. It all beganContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Arboretum”
Quotidian 