After this last winter of endless rain at long last we have had a few days when the sun has shone and there has been no wind. Time to look around. This garden is usually very dry and to have so much rain in April and May has been a bonanza really and resulted in...

Snowdrops are gleaming in the garden now in time for our NGS open days tomorrow and Sunday 3rd and 4th February. i rather think some are flowering early this year perhaps because of the warm weather in December. Whatever the reason they are now looking wonderful and...

A few warm days and suddenly there they are - masses of them - their grey-green spikes pushing through the cold earth. It is extraordinary how one can be looking for favourite ones and see nothing there and then, almost as if a light had been switched on and they come...

January has hit us hard here in Kent with north east winds, bitter cold and snow which is still lying on the grass and decorating the garden with icy baubles clinging to leaves and branches. Snowdrops are mostly hidden under the snow but one corner of the garden is...

When November is at its gloomiest the first shoots of Galanthus Three Ships can be seen pushing towards the light. Now December is as grey and depressing as its predecessor but delightful and reliable as ever this wonderful snowdrop is now fully in flower and it only...

I can never get very excited about the early snowdrops. There is too much bleak winter weather ahead for them to inspire thoughts of spring. But my spirits did lift a little on a horrible cold frosty morning to see this little clump of Donald Sims under the wall...

The swifts have left which always seems like the end of summer but the garden is still full of colour and will be for a month or more. Our NGS open days are next weekend 2nd and 3rd September. We chose this late time because we think the garden looks lovely at this...

April has certainly lived up to Chaucer's expectations this year. Showers have been heavy and unpredictable. I have been drenched more than once even though we can often see the rain approaching from our vantage point here high above the weald. Despite, or perhaps...

It has been a wonderful snowdrop year. Why? Perhaps last year's hot summer baked the dormant bulbs as is normal in their natural habitats in Greece, Turkey and eastern Europe. Rain came in abundance in the autumn when they would have been putting down roots. So the...

Despite endless rain followed by bitter cold and freezing ground the snowdrops keep appearing and Oh they are so good to see! The very earliest, Donald Sims, Mrs Macnamara and Three Ships, are over. But now we are seeing more and more of the most ravishing varieties....