That is indeed the question for many gardeners – but at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show at least, exhibitors have answered in the affirmative. Topiary anchored the designs of two, gold-medal winning, show gardens ( Cleve West’s Brewin Dolphin garden and Arne Maynard’s Laurent-Perrier Bicentenary garden) and appeared in several others too. And perhaps…
DetailsWith only a few hours at my disposal my visit to this year’s CFS was necessarily a rather focused affair: it would have been impossible to see everything in less than half a day so for once I gave myself a break and didn’t even try. I ignored the shops…
DetailsThe Wallace Collection is one of my all-time favourite London museums, and so it was with some anticipation that I visited its refurbished Dutch Galleries on Monday. This suite of three top-lit 19th-century picture galleries re-opened in March but I’ve been so busy finishing the London Garden Book that this was my first chance to…
DetailsOn reflection, perhaps last week wasn’t the best time to have planted out my cosseted, greenhouse raised broad beans, although this photo does illustrate the virtues of raised beds rather neatly. Fingers crossed the waters will subside soon. Always prone to waterlogging, our allotment plot has on this occasion escaped relatively unscathed (there are others…
DetailsI finished my book yesterday (the London Garden Book A-Z) and it’s a mighty strange feeling. Having worked on it for over two years I was keen (increasingly so as successive seasons rolled past) to get the darn thing finished and off to press but as the end drew near, it was disconcerting to find…
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