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I sometimes wish I could hold my garden still for a while; like an object, keep it in the moment – and as I write, this June weekend is one of those times. The children’s jingle (misquoted) of the teddy bear’s picnic goes through my head … ‘for every flower that ever there was, is…
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Spring has arrived overnight – suddenly the cherry blossom has weight in it, tulips have taken over the reins from daffodils, bluebells are elbowing their way into every bed and plants like epimediums, fritillaries, erythroniums and the wonderful Virginian bluebell ‘mertensia’ that I had not thought about for ten months – all are demanding admiration.…
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Nick Bailey, a familiar face on Gardener’s World, attracted a sell-out attendance at Ticknall Garden Club’s March meeting. He came to talk about the place of perfumed plants in the garden. His first task was to explain why plants might have a scent at all. Mainly it is there to attract insects for pollination purposes.…
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Do you remember last January (2021)? We had deep snow here in Melbourne and probably Ticknall too, so there was little gardening possible other than to brush the weight of snow off evergreens such as box. This January (2022), at least for the first few days whilst I write this, we have had rainbows and…
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Ticknall Garden Club attracted a good attendance on Tuesday, October 12th with an audience keen to hear all about plants that are suitable for putting by fences and garden walls. Janette Merilion was the speaker with all the answers. With many years experience in gardening and garden design, she was well qualified to do so.…
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Every season in a garden has its peaks and troughs and they do not necessarily come at the same moment for everyone – they depend, of course, on the chosen planting, on the orientation of the garden and on the degree of care that can be lavished upon it. For some gardens, mid-July will be…
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Surely April and May are the two trickiest months of the year? ‘Hooray’ we say with a light heart, ‘it is warm and just as spring should be’; every plant is opening its arms to welcome the sun and its warmth. Fleeces come off, birds sing and we happily turn our attention to feeding the…
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There was a packed audience in Ticknall Village Hall on March 10th when Steve Hickman came to talk about The World of Agapanthus. Regarded by many as the most beautiful of flowers, all were keen to find out the best way to care for them. Steve holds the national collection of agapanthus at his home…
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Here in South Derbyshire, we are lucky to be living in the countryside where we can go for walks and keep our two metres apart without too much difficulty. But what then, for those lively youngsters, anxious to do something more outside? Were you to buy some seeds on the internet your children could…
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Winter gardening – I love it; whilst there is much to do, there is time to do it whilst not in a headlong gallop to keep pace with nature’s abundant enthusiasm. There is time to pause and savour the crisp light, the dying embers of colour clinging onto the shrubs and trees, the glistening berries,…
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The secret of success in making a garden to suit alpine plants is all in the construction and the maintenance thereafter. At least this was the message that Jeff Bates was keen to get across at his talk to Ticknall Garden Club at their meeting on July 9th. Think Dovedale with its craggy rock outcrops…
Gardening
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