The marvellously warm days of late December brought more of the snowdrops in the garden to life. Three Ships is still flowering three weeks on but is now joined by the amazing Mrs Macnamara. Often she is flowering by Christmas but this year unaccountably she delayed...

How it lifts one's spirits to see the first early snowdrops appearing. It has been so warm that we have only just begun the task of clearing the dying foliage in the borders but how enchanting it is to find beneath the leaves the earliest snowdrops pushing through the...

November is not my favourite month but this year it has not felt as gloomy as usual. We have had some beautiful sunny days, occasional frosty nights with glittering displays of stars and a gleaming new moon. There has been very...

I love September, my birthday month, and this year after such a wet summer everything in the garden is looking lush and full of flower. When we were planting the garden in the beginning we used to visit gardens at this time of year after most of the work at home was...

We have spent the last few months eradicating Allium cowanii from among our lavenders. It has been a huge undertaking and I hope and pray that it has been successful. I planted a few bulbs some years ago to provide some colour in May for our lavender border. That was...

This is a spectacular year for Geums. These little plants with their delightful daisy-like flowers in shades of yellow, orange, pink and gold really light up the garden just when it is missing the colour and vibrancy of the tulips and narcissi. They have seemingly...

The cherry blossom has been wonderful this year. The first to flower is Kursar in early March. The flowers only last a few days but are a marvellous sharp pink colour. Then wonderfully delicate shell pink Pandora which is followed by the amazing sight of Shirotae in...

It is a sad moment when the last snowdrops fade but they have given us so much pleasure for the last three months that it would be wrong to complain. Now is a wonderful time in the garden with new arrivals every day. First the hellebores. These have been wonderful for...

The second week of March and we still have a few snowdrops. Trym has been superb. It has spread of its own accord in a very gentle way so it now after six years forms a beautiful self contained colony. It is a charming snowdrop with its green markings on the outer...