Blog

Lost, But Happy
By Michael
Aug 2, 2022
I spent last week in the second-most remote community on the continent.  Which must make it one of the most remote communities in the world. Besides loving the work I was doing, a
PLANT OF THE WEEK #101: Miscanthus sinensis var. condensatus 'Cosmopolitan'
By Michael
Jul 25, 2022
So there are miscanthuses that fall into a ‘landscape’ category – that look fabulous en masse, or repeated about – and there are ‘novelty’ miscanthuses that should stan
PLANT OF THE WEEK #100: Euphorbia 'Copton Ash'
By Michael
Jul 19, 2022
One of the great ‘discoveries’ of my unwatered ‘steppe’ garden has been Euphorbia ‘Copton Ash’. I’d admired it, from a distance, for several years.  It’s always ha

PLANT OF THE WEEK #101: Miscanthus sinensis var. condensatus 'Cosmopolitan'
By Michael
Jul 25, 2022

So there are miscanthuses that fall into a ‘landscape’ category – that look fabulous en masse, or repeated about – and there are ‘novelty’ miscanthuses that should stand alone – that you ...

PLANT OF THE WEEK #100: Euphorbia 'Copton Ash'
By Michael
Jul 19, 2022

One of the great ‘discoveries’ of my unwatered ‘steppe’ garden has been Euphorbia ‘Copton Ash’. I’d admired it, from a distance, for several years.  It’s always hard to recall why you ...

How would your garden perform under the Jane Austen taste test?
By Michael
Jul 11, 2022

So while bed-bound with covid last week, I wallowed in some culture and read Jane Austen’s Emma, having heard from a reliable source that it eclipses the better known, and perhaps better loved, Prid ...

PLANT OF THE WEEK #99: Caryopteris 'Heavenly Blue'
By Michael
Jul 5, 2022

OK, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that today’s Plant of the Week has to be out of season.  Once the last of the autumn leaves blows away in my garden, there’s really nothing to see until the ...

PLANT OF THE WEEK #98: Helleborus argutifolius
By Michael
Jun 21, 2022

It’s a complete mystery to me why, of 100,000+ photos of plants in my photo library, I don’t have a single decent pic of Helleborus argutifolius.  It more than merits tens, if not hundreds of pic ...