Once again, the Pasque flower, flowers right on time for Easter. This is my favourite Pulsatilla cultivar, and one of my most favourite plants. It’s so soft and tactile, you want to stroke it like a cat! Honestly, who wouldn’t want this flower in their garden ..read more

Wow, for the 1st time in 15 years I’m going to have to buy garlic. Usually I grow enough for our household for the year, plus some to give away. However, because of of moving and stuff, last seasons garlic was grown in pots, and there were less cloves sown. These turned out much smaller than I usually harvest and I’ve now run out. Thankfully, I’ve got my garlic in beds this season, so should hopefully not be in this position next year. Look at all those green shoots ..read more

In the depths of winter, one of the great floral delights that we can grow indoors (in the UK), are Amaryllis. This is A. ‘Papilio’, which is now in it’s third year of flowering. I have two others that flowered for the first two years, but I’m not sure if they will again. Once again, the natural light in the greenhouse made it easier to photograph. Note to self: get some nice material to use as a backdrop. I was particularly fascinated to see how the pistils (female parts) and stamens (male parts) develop when in flower. The emerging stamens and pistol. The stamens opening to expose the pol ..read more

My friend Kate gifted me a Billbergia windii when we first moved to Penarth 18 months ago, and it’s now decided to flower. The flower is really quite something. I found it hard to photograph, but here a few that I think show it off nicely. It lives in the lounge room, but to capture the colours I had to use a sunny day in the greenhouse. Apparently the green leaves (that form a funnel from which the flower extends) die off after flowering, so I’ll remove them when I repot the plant after it finishes flowering. Thanks to Kate for the plant, and J-P for still sharing his knowledge after he ..read more

I did not mean to go nearly 3 months between blogposts, but between visitors and having pinched a nerve in my left shoulder, I’ve not been able to type much. It’s slowly improving but still a way to go. Honestly, I want to go back to just having ME, because this is disabling is a completely different, and annoying, way. Anyhoo… This is just to wave *hi* really. And since I happened to have these photos of a passionflower, I thought I’d share them to, so you get some plants in the mix. This is actually a neighbour’s plant that steals over the fence and you might say that I haven’t been shy in e ..read more

I don’t recall the last time I walked on a beach. It’s been years, then some more years still. To be fair, we either lived in Oxfordshire or South Yorkshire, which are no where near the beach. But mainly it was because these days ME means that I’m a bit too unsteady my feet, and walking in sand is rather hard work when you have little energy. Making beaches an accessibility nightmare. Then I found out that beach wheelchairs exist. And more, that they had them at Barry Island, which is only 15 minutes away from us! So I booked one via the Vale of Glamorgan council, and last Wednesday we went to ..read more

If you grow hardneck garlic, you’ll end up with scapes in late Spring/early Summer (full info here). A simple way to preserve them is to freeze them, viz: Step 1: First, cut them up roughly. Step 2: Put them in a hand blender. After they have been blended. Step 3: Scoop them into ice cube trays and then freeze. Once frozen, you can just pop out as many as you need at a time. FYI: yes, you can make garlic scape pesto, but I just wanted to show a lower spoon way of preserving your garlic scapes. ***** Other garlic posts: Garlic scapes Spoonie Veg: garlic Container grown Garlic experiment ..read more

Gardeners frequently dream of bigger, better etc. More space, more plants. And I’ve definitely had that dream. But my health can no longer manage a big garden, and our new garden is about a third of the size of our Sheffield garden. But small has it’s benefits, not the least being that I don’t feel so anxious about keeping on top of the garden. And we agreed that we’d finally build me a greenhouse that could be set up for my disability, allowing me to sit and potter with my plants. At the end of May, my dream new greenhouse was built. To say I love it would be an understatement! It’s just the ..read more

Aberglasney Gardens is a good example of a the value of second chances. We visited Aberglasney, in the Tywi Valley, Carmarthenshire (Wales), more than 15 years ago, and all I recall is it felt dim and uninviting. It was towards the end of the season, which I’m sure didn’t help. Our friend Ingrid lives nearby and loves it, and convinced me that I should give it another try. Oh gosh, I’m so glad I did. I’ll let the photos mostly speak for themselves… Upper Walled Garden Pool Garden Weird perspective makes the cows look much larger & closer than they are! Friendly Robin. From the Pool garden ..read more

After weeks, and weeks, and weeks of rain, the sun finally shone. Just in time for the Easter weekend – hurrah! So off we stroll/rolled down to the lakes to get some sun, Spring air, and increase in our allergies saying hello. Everything looked so splendidly green and fresh, so we didn’t mind. The Eastern Lake, looking towards the cafe. A patch of Primula vulgaris, the common primrose. The camera is looking straight at the sun, so whilst it looks overcast, it wasn’t. I was trying to capture the glistening of the sun on the water. You can see it there in the middle distance if you squint. This ..read more