A pink wig and false eyelashes….not something I usually don on a Tuesday evening, but when duty calls! The main borders were the magnificent venue for our Opera Evening, ‘Don Pasquale’ a 70’s musical romp, where Harlow Carr staff stewarding the event dressed up to get the party started – hence the costume... Read more..

The umbrellas were up and down like yo yo’s last week at Harlow Carr . It appears the autumnal chill has descended over the country and the only glimmer of warmth is our success at the Beijing Olympics! We have done so well with our swimming medals, and you could have done a fairly credible backstroke... Read more..

What a change in the weather since I last wrote the blog on the 6 th Feb, then we were ankle deep in snow, whilst this week it’s been a good 8 degrees warmer and we’ve had some lovely heart warming sunshine. Tom and I have been working hard on our Island beds this week; lifting and dividing plants from... Read more..

May for me is my favourite month, everything is looking lush and fresh, and all plants are still so vibrant at this time, before a lot of the foliage has deepened to the true colours of summer. I’ve been away from Harlow Carr for one and a half weeks holidaying in Germany and then down at Chelsea on... Read more..

On this the last day of the year, I'm looking ahead to 2010 and picking out five perennials to watch for in the coming year (click the picture to enlarge it). One or two may have been available in very restricted quantities recently, but I expect all to become available by mail order during the year... Read more..

If you're at all interested in modern 'naturalistic' planting, Wisley's the place to be on September 17th & 18th. The 'Contemporary Borders' event features horticultural heavyweights Noel Kingsbury (prolific writer and designer) and Neil Lucas (grasses guru and owner of Knoll... Read more..