Deciduous deliciousness

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by Mark Evans

Winter is the perfect time to select and plant a deciduous plant in your garden. Deciduous plants are dormant during winter, making them easy to transport and plant and, at this time of year, nurseries tend to have the best selection including bare-rooted varieties that can make for a more economical purchase. 

Deciduous plants drop all their leaves as an adaptation to conserve water and energy, avoid physical damage from snow and ice, regulate temperature, … Read more »

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The power of three.

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by Mark Evans
‘Omne trium perfectum’ is a Latin phrase that translates to ‘everything is perfect in threes’. It is a pervasive concept throughout human culture, be it literature (three little pigs), rhetoric (I came, I saw, I conquered), advertising (slip, slop, slap), the colours of a country’s flag, (red white and blue), comedy (three people walk into a bar) or music (the third note of every scale provides the most basic harmony). The rule … Read more »

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Shining a light on bulbs

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by Mark Evans

Believe it or not, now is an important time to think ahead to spring, particularly when it comes to flowering bulbs.

To enjoy daffodils, jonquils, tulips, freesia, anemones, ranunculus and other late winter- and spring-flowering plants, the bulbs are planted in autumn, usually between April and early May. Several weeks of cold temperatures are needed to break dormancy and maximise full flowering potential. After flowering, many bulbs … Read more »

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Maintaining your decomposure

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by Mark Evans

As the daily temperatures start to cool and the leaves on the deciduous trees start to change colour and begin to fall, nothing makes it feel more like autumn than the sudden appearance of fungi season. Looking around it is obvious where we have removed trees in the past as a flush of fungi has suddenly thrust up through the lawn where the remnant root systems below ground are being slowly devoured and … Read more »

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Granny Plants

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by Mark Evans

Gardeners might like to imagine that they are immune to the vagaries of fashion, however plants go in and out of style, just like clothes, and often a garden can be dated by its components. Think of Cortaderia selloana (pampas grass) in the 1970s, Syagrus romanzoffiana (Cocos palm) in the 1980s, Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Frisia’ (golden robinia) in the 1990s and the Yucca spp. (yucca) craze from the 2000s. All these plants became incredibly … Read more »

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The Colours of Christmas

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by Mark Evans

Three of the most popular colours associated with Christmas are red, green and white. The origin of this colour combination is said to be derived from the appearance of Ilex aquifolium (English Holly) with its evergreen leaves and white flowers followed by bright red berries. Amidst the European snow, it symbolised hope in the depths of winter and played a role in winter solstice celebrations, predating the spread of Christmas. Unfortunately for us … Read more »

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