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....

How my heart lifts to see the first snowdrops and they have appeared on time which was a relief after the extraordinary weather in 2022. I don't really count the autumn flowerers as they come too early to spark optimism but Donald Sims began to flower at the end of...

2022 has been an extraordinary year which has tested the garden hard. I have been keeping rainfall records for over 20 years and have never experienced 32 days without any rain at all as we had here in July and August. And the extreme heat added another dimension. Now...

It is hard to decide what is the best thing about the month of May but I think peonies must win the prize. The early tree peony Lutea, its yellow flowers gone almost before you have seen them, our various plants of seed grown (I know I should not boast but I am rather...

This has been an extraordinary season. In January it was so cold that we feared there would be little to see on our snowdrop open days. Then a week of warm weather brought many snowdrops into flower and they were looking brilliant for the NGS days. Since then we have...

Dreadful weather with storms Eunice and Franklin doing their worst has spoilt the end of the snowdrop season. Galanthophiles are a hardy bunch of necessity but there is no pleasure at all in walking slowly to peer at clumps of snowdrops while huddling in a heavy coat...