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”
Category Archives: Gardens
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”
Snowdrops at Candlemas
For such diminutive plants, it was a Herculean feat. After something like a month of frost, with the ground as hard as bell metal, and then with fresh snow falling, our old friend galanthus nivalis made it through in the nick of time. I find snowdrops always take me by surprise. After days of watchfulContinue reading “Snowdrops at Candlemas”
The Hare, the Heron and the Professor: a story for ‘children of all ages’
Late one Spring evening, with the sun’s rays slanting low in the sky, the Professor took a walk around his garden. He paused for a moment to admire the view to the hills beyond. Then something in the grass caught his eye. Lying next to a stone that had been warmed in the sunshine wasContinue reading “The Hare, the Heron and the Professor: a story for ‘children of all ages’”
Circles of trees: an ‘arboretum’ in the making
The idea of the arboretum came about in 2015, when I had the opportunity to take a long lease on the field adjacent to my home in Dumfriesshire. Having secured the arrangement, I began to ponder how to proceed. Almost two hectares in extent, the field had been set-aside for years as rough pasture. LongContinue reading “Circles of trees: an ‘arboretum’ in the making”
Weeds, humans and virtue
‘A plant in the wrong place’. I have long been aware of this rather cryptic definition of a weed. A few years ago I mentioned it to my friend Devi Vijay, whilst strolling around the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and puzzling over a few patches of vegetation here and there that seemed out of harmony withContinue reading “Weeds, humans and virtue”
Quotidian 