At Lammastide 2015, I was lucky enough to secure a modest rent and a long lease on the field adjoining our house in south west Scotland. I set about planting trees, initially in circles and later, linking them together with mown paths. One circle consisted of fairly closely planted hornbeams. My idea was to createContinue reading “Encountering labyrinths”
Category Archives: Dumfriesshire Garden
Growing garlic
Over the years I have grown leeks, onions, shallots, alliums and chives but it is only recently that I have started to cultivate another member of that bulbous and pungent family. Like so many things, it started with Gardener’s World on the BBC and a demonstration of how to grow this nowadays ubiquitous kitchen necessity:Continue reading “Growing garlic”
Garden exotica
I readily admit that I am no plantsman. I’m simply an untutored gardener who frequently struggles to remember Latin names, or even many of the common ones. In general my approach to the garden is to create an emotional effect that stirs the spirit. I’m interested in the full symphony rather more than its constituentContinue reading “Garden exotica”
Meconopsis magic
The Himalayan Blue Poppy, Meconopsis, has a special place in my gardening affections. In years past I sometimes bought them at the garden centre. Alive, vigorous and ready to flower at the time of purchase, in the autumn they would disappear into the ground, never to return. In retrospect I think they were planted inContinue reading “Meconopsis magic”
The Camassia: from Pacific North West to Scottish South West
As a student of anthropology in the early 1970s, I still remember some classes we had on the phenomenon known as Potlatch. Part of the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific North West, it relates to large gatherings in which alongside story telling and feasting, a special emphasis is placed on the conspicuousContinue reading “The Camassia: from Pacific North West to Scottish South West”
The epimedium – understated elegance for all seasons
One of the hallmarks of my plant choosing habits is an attraction to anything that has what I consider to be an ‘old fashioned’ look about it. I shy away from sappy, gaudy overly hybridized and commercially tampered with plants of all kinds. By contrast I am drawn to things that look like they haveContinue reading “The epimedium – understated elegance for all seasons”
The hellebores keep on giving
I first came across the allure of the hellebore nearly 20 years ago when watching the BBC programme Gardener’s World. Inspired, I went off in search but found them scarce in mainstream garden centres, where they were rarely sold to advantage or at their best. In those days I was naïve to specialist nurseries andContinue reading “The hellebores keep on giving”
Frog seasons
The tell tale signs began to emerge a few weeks ago. Shifting a pile of newly delivered logs, a couple of semi-comatose puddocks required relocation to a safe damp spot. Then one wet late evening as I left the house for a dog walk, an inquisitive member of the family Ranidae, hopped straight towards meContinue reading “Frog seasons”
Heading Home: a miscellany of writings
In late 2020, on saying goodbye to four decades of work in academia, I resolved to devote time to something that had been bubbling up in my thinking for quite a while: the desire to continue writing, but to do so in a more creative and inventive manner. True, I’d recently written a biography whichContinue reading “Heading Home: a miscellany of writings”
Dogwood delights
A nurseryman once told me, with casual dismissiveness, that dogwoods belong only in carparks and on roundabouts. Like most gardeners I too have my botanical aversions, but I do object to this wanton demonisation of the dogwood. I say this with particular force just now, as the Winter is coming to its end. For withoutContinue reading “Dogwood delights”
Quotidian 