I am writing this on November 30th and it is cold and foggy outside - we are entering the season of "dreich" (a Scottish word pronounced...

Our "Christmas cacti" are in full bloom. They are always early and, despite the name, are never in bloom on the day itself. In the USA...

Today is November 11th so it is a good time to mention the cornflower, or Bleuet (Centaurea cyanus). The bleuet is the French emblem of...

It's the end of an amazing weekend in the garden and things are definitely turning autumnal. I spent some of the time cutting back spent...

After an unforgivable delay here is an update on what to do each month in the garden.... November is when you start to put much of the...

....Or what to do about box moths and their very hungry caterpillars. Damage caused by box moth caterpillars - and a dead box moth...

I will feel like the Mad March Hare this month ..... so much to do.....so little time..... Well this has been a challenging year so far....

I have finally got back into the garden and spent yesterday afternoon clearing out a border which surrounds two large trees - a very old,...

January 1st and I have spent about an hour and a half in the garden today - doing things I usually manage to do in November. It was a...

Garlic is the Marmite in our vegetable garden – I love it while my husband loathes it. So I grow and eat the garlic while he gives the...

When we moved here, eight years ago, we had three very small clumps of unidentified bamboo. Idiotically I only removed one - and decided...

And still we swelter in this exceptional weather - temperatures in the low 30s at the beginning of October in SW France means that some...

If you are a gardener in Gironde, Lot et Garonne, the Dordogne or Landes then this is for you - the first Fête des Plantes Insolites ...

It's "La Rentrée" - the start of the academic year in France and, in many ways the start of the gardening year too. I love getting back...

I have been collecting seeds. The best time to do this is on a dry sunny day, which is certainly what we have today. It involved a...

It's August - usually hot and dry and the month that is traditionally seen as the French holidays. However - there are still things that...

Our local villages had an open day recently - and I went to have a look around a neighbour's saffron farm. I had not realised until...

I love June - the start of summer and the weather is starting to feel hot but not, usually, unbearably so. Flowers are at their peak as...

Tender edibles can go out into the garden now - tomatoes, chillies, basil, aubergines, peppers, courgettes can all be planted outside...

The popular shrubby salvia is really easy to propagate and now is the time to do it. If your friend has a nice example of Hot Lips (the...