In early April, I was excited to join a press trip to Antwerp. It’s a place that I’ve always wanted to visit for its museums and a long tradition of printing and design culture. Something I hadn’t fully appreciated was that Belgium’s second city has horticulture in its DNA. New discoveries are being made all… Read More »
city breaks
Amsterdam Open Gardens 2024
Rather belatedly, I’m writing about my lovely trip to Amsterdam for the annual Open Garden days. I first heard about Tuinen Dagan about ten years ago, and it has been on my Wishlist ever since. But it only happens on one weekend a year, and the timing never seemed to be right. Finally, the planets… Read More »
Return to RHS Chelsea Flower Show
I always feel as if I’m stepping into another world when I cross the threshold of RHS Chelsea Flower Show, sponsored by The Newt, Somerset. The entrance to the preview day is via the Thames Gate, so I get off the tube at Sloane Square, and walk towards the river. It’s 8.15am and there are… Read More »
Plants & people: RHS Chelsea Flower Show Part II
Once the initial wonder of the show gardens has subsided at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, I like to home in on the smaller details and ideas to take home to my own plot, which I write about every month in Modern Gardens magazine. I recorded my first impressions of this year’s show on my blog… Read More »
Spring is springing
A visit to Kew Gardens last week was full of the earliest signs of spring. Birds carrying scraps of nesting material in their beaks, a carpet of Crocus tommasinianus in the grass, swelling buds on the magnolias, and the camellia walk in full colour gave me a tiny glimpse of what is to come. I… Read More »
Goodbye January
I had a trip to London last week. I was attending a work event at the Linnean Society next door to the Royal Academy. It is the world’s oldest active biological society, and somewhere I’d love to return to with an appointment to browse in the intriguing library. After my press launch had finished, I… Read More »