Well it’s the first time since starting, a Clematis has made it to the plant of the week, maybe rightly or wrongly in your own views. For me while I like the flowers of some of the slightly earlier flowering Clematis like cirrhosa, it’s just the high amount of growth they can put on that…
Category: plant of the week
Plant of the week- Fritillaria meleagris
With so many plants now coming into life, it’s becoming so hard to chose a plant of the week, There’s so many beautiful plants with such fascinating history. So how do I chose? Well it’s just down my what takes my fancy really, can be a plant that’s special to me from the past or…
Plant of the week-Magnolia campbellii
This weeks plant of the week is a personally favourite of mine, I can remember as a young man of 20/21 going on a study tour of the gardens of Cornwall, arranged by the head gardener at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens. We went to some stunning gardens, looking around Heligan before it was near full…
Plant of the week- Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’
Spring wouldn’t be spring without the intoxicating scent of Daphnes wafting though the garden, spreading its perfume far and wide from the small but very prolific flowers. Although at home in our gardens, it’s not the natural home for this plant, it was grown from a seedling of ‘Gurkha’. Gurkha was collected by Major Tom…
Plant of the week- Edgeworthia chrysantha
If there’s one one that’s benefited from the upsurge of interest in winter gardens, it is Edgeworthia. It’s a plant that’s always been out but never really has ever hit the lime light like it’s richly deserved. Edgeworthia is a small group of plants of 4 speices, closely related to Daphnes. They are mainly a…
Plant of the week- Salix chaenomeloides ‘Mt Aso’
The pussy willows always remind me of the spring and more importantly Mother’s Day. As a young boy, I would walk around the gardens at Mottisfont Abbey Gardens, looking for flowers for a homemade Mother’s Day bouquet for my mum. Of course, with Mother’s Day in late March, it ended up being a bunch of…
Plant of the week Betula ermanii
Winter is time for the stems to show off what they do. For so many months of the year, they remain hidden from site, supporting and supplying the foliage on which the plants need to survive. The leaves have their final glory in the autumn and then the underdogs come to the front and start…
Plant of the week- Rubus cockurnianus ‘Goldenvale’
Rubus cockurnianus is a beautiful shrub within its own right. It’s delicate fernlike leaves are bourne on stunning white and purple stems up to 3m in height, in the winter light, glow stunnningly and light up the borders like a ray of moonlight beaming up from them. Their growth is best described as a slight…
My very first tree….
The first of anything we do is always so memorable isn’t? From our first time cycling without stabilisers, first night away from the family home, first alcholic drink followed by first drink in the pub legally and of course, your first clumbsy kiss!. It’s the same for us gardeners, I can still remember the first…
Hamamelis, the winter Witches of Sir Harold Hillier Gardens
Hamamelis or witch hazels as they are more commonly know, are truly the stars of the winter! Their beautiful spider like flowers enrich our lives in the garden, not only with their beauty but also their scent. The scent smells so sweet on the cold January and February air that it helps to lift the spirits…
Thomas Stone MCI Hort MPGCA 