56 Photos of Californian Gardens: from Facebook and Google to Hollywood via Alcatraz

California is a magical place, Chris and I love it. One minute you can be in…

Pot’s Growing On? High summer in Clapham

Sorry for the lack of updates about our garden recently, I’ve been so busy opening my…

From the streets: California

Chris and I have just come back from a trip to LA, Vegas and Malibu visiting…

Solstice in the city – Clapham Common

I can be my own worst enemy sometimes, in fact, a lot of the time. I…

Come into my world

A selection of photos from my perambulations over the last few months.

At the end of the earth, plants – Prospect Cottage, Dungeness

An upfront confession: I’ve never seen nor heard of any of Derek Jarman’s films. A film director…

Allotment Month 18: a visitor, weedageddon, cutflowers, vegetables and perennial produce

Who knows how the laws of the universe work. Across the entire site my allotment is…

15 sensational plant combinations you can try at home from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017

One of my bugbears around Chelsea time are the naysayers proclaiming the gardens are unrealistic and…

23 things at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017

The Chelsea Flower Show is nuts. People on stilts dressed only in flowers, cactus jackets, astro…

James Basson’s road to ‘best in show’ at Chelsea Flower Show 2017

There are some garden designers we see at RHS shows regularly. James Basson is one that came…

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017 – Press Day Highlights

It’s hard to take in the brain blitz that is the Chelsea Flower Show in one day…

Pot’s Growing On in May: getting ready for a show-stopping summer!

May? Mayhem more like. So much is going on this month I feel like Dorothy whizzing…

Dry winter and spring, what does it mean for summer?

Note: since the day I published this the heavens opened dumping over 4cm of water in…

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017 – what to expect?

In a few weeks the above Chelsea grounds will be filled with the wonders of the…

Plantaholics Anonymous

[Warning: major plant geekage ahead] One of the best things to happen over the last year…

RHS Wisley in late April

I made a painfully short trip to RHS Wisley at lunch today in between visiting nurseries…

The liberation of education

This blog post was originally titled “education = better vegetation” but the new rhyme is more…

Pot’s Growing On: winners and losers

I didn’t think there would be anything more nerve-wracking than having Monty Don coming around to…

Allotment Month 17: dahlias, prairie and produce

It’s year two for my allotment and the layout I created for it originally is really…

Tulip flux

Bright flowers of Tulips – sumptuous blobs of paint on an artist’s palette.

Spring-a-ling-a-ling

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be wondering how on earth it’s April when you thought…

7 easy pickings for grow your own keenos

I’m being thrown head first heading into my second season on the allotment and this year,…

Marrakesh (Part Five): Le Jardin Secret by Tom Stuart-Smith

One tip I’d like to share is: do not visit more than two gardens in one…

Allotment Month 16: surprise, surprise

Today I’m talking surprise appearances, broccoli and rhubarb starting to crop, my new cut flower bed…

The way of things

Early March has arrived and I popped over to Diana Ross’ house around the corner from…

Who died and made Lupins a ‘cottage garden’ plant?

It’s been niggling me for yonks: people calling Lupins “cottage garden” plants.

Let’s make green flowers our naughty little secret

There’s one thing I will guarantee right now: you are going to see many more green flowers…

Release the stress, embrace the mess

I’ve been feeling a lot of pressure recently for our garden to look good. In photos, in…

30 unreal photos of London garden design in the dead season

Winter is a fresh season.  Everything is stripped back, cleansed and reset for the coming year. It’s…

And so, we fight

I recently learnt that one colony of our rare native Pasque flower, Pulsatilla vulgaris, was wiped out in 1992…

Pot’s Growing On: Waking from hibernation

Our garden is into its fourth year now and I’m continuing to play around with things, add…

Marrakesh (Part Four): Jardin Majorelle

Jardin Majorelle is best known today for being owned by Yves Saint Lauren, who famously saved…

Marrakesh (Part Three): Islamic tiled courtyards at Bahia Palace

The second oldest garden we visited was by far the most visually arresting of designs. It is immaculate…

Marrakesh (Part Two): blown away by ancient Islamic garden design at the El Badi Palace

I’ve wanted to visit Marrakesh for about ten years, drawn by its bright colours. What I hadn’t…

Will Apple images save planet Earth?

Over the last year I’ve been thinking of creating an app that uses people’s smartphone geolocation…

Marrakesh (part one): beautiful and bonkers, on the urban garden trail in the red city

My overwhelming impression of Marrakesh in Northern Africa is of a city greener than expected, filled…

Crossrail Place Roof Garden, Canary Wharf

At the weekend my Instagram buddy lamaisonbleue tipped me off to the fact the Crossrail Place…

Allotment: weed suppressant membrane – beating weeds organically

Month 13: my allotment has expanded a bit this year as I’ve taken on some unused…

Landscape design at Stowe Garden in Buckinghamshire

Back in November Chris and I had the opportunity to spend a sunny Autumn afternoon at Stowe…

The best potatoes to grow

Last year I grew a set of seven different potato cultivars and only really liked one…

Happy New Year from Littlebury Road

The short period in between Christmas and New Year is something to be treasured. All of London…

44 Future gardening moments of 2016

Future gardening is the phrase I use to describe my personal take on the world. Be forward…

December: Hellebores, cat grass, sweet peas, ferns and shooting alliums

It’s almost Christmas so I’m crazy busy wrapping up work, getting ready for the family arriving…

How to make an Aeonium arboreum branch (part one)

Last year I ordered a small Aeonium arboreum ‘Zwartkop’ from an independent nursery off of eBay.…

My Tiny Indoor Garden by Lia Leendertz

Earlier in the year Lia Leendertz and Mark Diacono popped over to talk about and photograph…

13 tips to help allotment newbies… by an allotment newbie!

Taking on an allotment for the first time is exciting and scary. I know because I’ve just…

Allotment propagation and storage – potting shed, polytunnel or greenhouse?

We had a cold frosty day at the end of November – the coldest night in London…

Why I’ve fallen for cut flowers

I used to be a foliage boy. I’ve changed (well, a bit). In the past I saw…

Out of the shrubbery into the scrub

On Saturday 26th November 2016 the SGD hosted a conference about the use of shrubs in gardens.…

Have you ever changed your mind about a plant you hate?

We all have them, a list of plants we dislike. Yet every now and then something…