Will We Let the Garden Go Wild?
What would happen if we allowed plants have their own way and to grow as and where nature decides? Would it be chaos or just another facet of our gardens? The thought of allowing plants to have their unbridled way in the garden is, perhaps, too much for most gardeners who see their creation and […]
The Plant Lover’s Guide to Tulips by Richard Wilford – A Review
All the gardener will need to know about tulips is presented in this book in an informative, concise, readable and well-illustrated manner. The author, Richard Wilford, spent many years looking after the general bulb collection at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, but travels to see species tulips growing in the wild and to the Keukenhof […]
Paeonia ‘Derek Hill’
Many of us will grow the species tree paeonias P. delavayi and P. lutea var. ludlowii in our gardens. They are tough, easy and long-lived plants in the garden with deeply-cut attractive foliage as well as beautiful flowers each year. Both are shrubby plants, upright in habit, and need little care except the removal of […]
The Plant Lover’s Guide to Dahlias by Andy Vernon – A Review.
A gardening book written by a knowledgeable, enthusiastic and experienced gardener quickly wins the heart and the mind and makes for enjoyable, informative, applicable and pleasurable reading. Andy Vernon is writing about the razamatazz element of many of our summer gardens, dahlias, and provides wonderful background information on these plants, excellent advice on growing and […]
Outwitting Squirrels – 101 Cunning Stratagems to Reduce Dramatically the Egregious Effects of Garden Pests and Honest Advice Concerning your Chances of Success by Anne Wareham – A Review.
The Bad Tempered Gardener, Anne Wareham, has returned with another salvo for the gardening world in her latest book, “Outwitting Squirrels”. The book is a tongue-in-cheek, dry-humoured, witty treatise on how to deal with the myriad pests which assail our gardens. Traditional and modern solutions are discussed in view of her own experience; some are […]
The Paeonia Borders at Mount Congreve Gardens, Waterford
Early June each year brings one of the most spectacular and popular flower displays at Mount Congreve Gardens in Waterford. It is one of the most wonderful examples in the garden of Mr. Ambrose Congreve’s planting philosophy of planting in large numbers. He would always wish to have his plants in groups of 25, 50, […]
“Irish Demesne Landscapes 1660 – 1740” by Vandra Costello: A Review
“Irish Demesne Landscapes 1660 – 1740” is a scholarly treatment of an era of Irish gardening written in a delightfully accessible and pleasantly readable style. Vandra Costello was inspired after reading the diaries of Samuel Pepys to read those of John Evelyn and was very taken by the many references they contained to gardens in […]
First Ladies of Gardening: Pioneer, Designers and Dreamers by Heidi Howcroft with Photographs by Marianne Majerus – A Review.
This has been one of the most delightful and enjoyable books I have read in quite a while. Marianne Majerus’ photographs are immediately captivating and this lead to my having to wait until my wife had read the book before I could have the pleasure. It was worth the wait and if you too wish […]
The Plant Lover’s Guide to Epimediums by Sally Gregson – A Review.
We have entered a period of renewed interest in epimediums following the introduction of a range of new species from China and the subsequent richness of cultivars bred from them. For many years gardeners have considered epimediums as the pretty plant for dry shade conditions but the new Chinese plants are simply astonishing and have […]
Hidden Histories: Trees –The Secret Properties of 150 Species by Noel Kingsbury. A Review
This book presents a collection of snippets of interesting information about a world-wide selection of trees and presents this in an arrangement of text boxes along with accompanying illustrations. As would be expected the practical uses of trees feature regularly – those used for building purposes, for making furniture or tools, for weaving into baskets, […]
Kilmacurragh: sourced in the wild by Megan O’Beirne. A review
A wonderful garden, an author who admires it greatly and a seriously flawed book. The National Botanic Gardens at Kilmacurragh are significant for the historic collection of plants which are grown there, plants introduced by the most famous of plant collectors of a bygone era and because the gardens are now in a phase of […]
The Irish Garden by Jane Powers and Jonathan Hession, A Review
In a combination of lusciously delicious text and exquisite photography, Jane Powers and Jonathan Hession have produced the most wonderful and delightful book on Irish gardens. Although there was a short interlude when Jane spent some years of childhood in America she is truly an Irish woman as she has spent most of her life […]
Secret Gardens of the Cotswords – A Review.
What is most striking about this book is the wonderful number of beautiful gardens there are within the small area of the Cotswolds and that this is matched by glorious photography and delightful text used to present them to us. Twenty gardens, all within the circle of Cheltenham, Banbury, Oxford, Cirencester and Stroud, are described […]
Mount Congreve – A Preview
Mount Congreve Gardens, in Waterford, will open for the 2015 season on Thursday 12th of March but I took the opportunity to have a walk around the gardens during the last week. My first impression, as I remember the scenes of devastation we witnessed in the gardens following the storms at this time last year, […]
Authors and their Gardens by Paddy Tobin
A review of A Writer’s Garden: How Gardens Inspired Our Best-Loved Authors, by Jackie Bennett, with photographs by Richard Hanson – descriptions of nineteen gardens with the added interest of information on the authors who gardened in them. For some of the authors in this book their garden was a place which provided inspiration – […]
Designing and Planting a Woodland Garden by Keith Wiley: A Review
When I first visited Keith Wiley’s garden, “Wildside” in Devon, I though the man must be a complete nutcase. At the time, the planting of the garden was almost complete with some area still under development. To me, it didn’t seem much like “development” when I walked it as there was still a large area […]
The Plant Lover’s Guide to Snowdrops by Naomi Slade – A Review.
Naomi Slade has extensive writing experience, many years with Gardening Which – and won three silver-gilt medals at the Chelsea Flower Show in the Science and Education Section while with them. She has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The English Garden and The Garden. I mention this background because it adds to my […]
