Winter Dogwoods by Martin Blow
In winter after leaves have dropped and plants have been cut back and tidied, the bare bones of the garden come to the fore and add shape, texture, and sometimes colour in the low angled sun. Few small shrubs add more colour than the Winter Dogwoods (Cornus alba, Cornus sericea and Cornus sanguinea). […]
Setting The Scene by Katherine Sorrell
Style a festive table for delicious meals with family and friends
Carefully setting and dressing the dining table for a Christmas meal is part of the ritual of Christmas Day. It is best to plan ahead, consider how to achieve the desired look and what key ingredients are required. […]
Five Tips For a Greener Home
Five considerations and potential changes we can make at home, if we’re serious about helping the planet. […]
Green Fingers…The Alan Titchmarsh Column
He’s a brilliant presenter, accomplished gardener, talented novelist and all-round horticultural inspiration. This month, Alan Titchmarsh talks about getting our youngsters involved in gardening projects. […]
Top 10 Christmas Lighting Safety Tips
As Christmas approaches and you bring the fairy lights down from their storage areas, follow these top 10 electrical safety tips from Charles Wisdom at Electrical Experts in Coventry, to make sure your Christmas is safe and sparkles! […]
Butt, Butt, Butt… by Nicki Jackson
It may be the middle of winter and the thought of manually watering your garden may be further from your mind than the furthest thing in your mind right now, but trust us, if you haven’t already got things covered, now is the perfect time to be thinking of those longer, drier summers that are coming our way; because simply speaking, longer, drier summers means less available water in our gardens, and less available water means that some of our precious garden plants may begin to suffer through those drier summer days. […]
Fan The Flames
Even though 95% of UK homes are centrally heated and a fire isn’t necessary, there is something mesmerising and cosy about a flickering flame.
An open fire or a wood burner will give the best aesthetic, but both options come with a number of downsides: wood-burning is the single biggest source of small-particle air pollution in the UK, you need to store wood and coal, there’s the mess and you will need to do a certain amount of maintenance e.g. chimney sweeping. […]
Hesperantha Coccinea by Martin Blow
Hesperantha are one of those lovely late bloomers that surprise and delight us gardeners every autumn with their stunning show of brightly coloured flowers whatever the weather. […]
A Guide To Wooden Floors by Katherine Sorrell
Laminate or solid, engineered or reclaimed, timber flooring is a classic choice.
Preparing for a new timber floor
Timber floors can be fitted anywhere, although they’re often not advised for bathrooms or other wet areas, where it’s best to stick to high-quality engineered wood. Insulate the sub-floor and consider what effect the new flooring will have on your final floor level. When fixing boards down, avoid pipes and wires running beneath the existing floor. […]
Do I Have To Repeat Myself? By Nicki Jackson
Ask any garden designer what they are trying to achieve with a garden and hidden behind a client’s wish list and a certain style or theme you’ll usually find words like harmony, unity, proportion, scale, rhythm and balance lurking there too. They might not be words that immediately come to mind when you’re thinking about planning your own garden but chances are high that all of the gardens you love have these main garden design principles very firmly at their core. […]
