Thanks to everyone who came along and supported us at The Homestead on Sunday. Mary and Stan had around 130 visitors, which considering the torrential rain in the morning was great and we really appreciate everyone turning out to support the NGS. The Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘firetail’ was all gone by half way through the afternoon, […]
Trees
In June 2018 I visited a garden just outside Oxford. It was beautiful. Privately owned, and open only to groups on request. Not only was it full of unusual and lesser-known species of common genera it was also full of trees. I couldn’t believe it, silver birches, acer grissini, prunus to name a few. I […]
Salvia oxyphora
Recently asked what is your favourite Salvia I found myself stumped. There are just so many different species and they are very few that I don’t appreciate in one way or another. Saying that in the top 10 this year has to be Salvia oxyphora. Its the first time I have grown it, its not nearly […]
The Rose Garden – Part 2
11th May 2018 – I have started to cut the edges in for the new borders that will form the Centenary Rose Garden. Given it is just 5 weeks till Mike and Chrissi open the gardens on 17th June, I am not sure I will have got much going on in these borders, but at […]
Woodland Walk
This is what I was faced with in October of last year. Whilst slowly collecting and piling up the leaves I looked up this bank and started to plan. The fence that runs up the bank created a dead end for anybody walking along the bank from the house. Your only option was to turn […]
The Kitchen Garden
This week I have been concentrating on repairing and renovating the kitchen garden and fruit cage at Packridge Farm. When the garden is in full flow I have very little time to spend in the veg patch and so some of the work I am doing is to try and reduce the amount of weeding […]
David Standing on Old Fashioned Flowers
Today the HIHS welcomed David Standing to Hayling to talk about his experience as Head Gardener at Gilbert White’s House in Selbourne. David recently retired, May 2017, from Gilbert White’s house after spending the best part of forty years in the job. Still passionate about old varieties, and the history of the gardens at Gilbert […]
The Old Workshop
Situated in Northney, Hayling Island, my garden is small but with lots of potential. We have a south facing site, surrounded on 3 sides by the house, and two quite tall walls. We hope in time to completely enclose the garden, for some privacy and for my daughters safety, for now the south end is […]
Rain, rain and you get the picture
As frustrating as the weather has been these last few days, I never really mind the opportunity to sit and day dream, or go through the many packs of seeds I have planned to sow this coming year. I have a stack of annuals including Bupleurum rotundifolium, a gorgeous lush green foliage plant that I […]