In January, gardeners stare longingly at soggy patches of lawn and bare trees, scouring the earth for the tender spear of a spring bulb or the plump purple protuberance of a leaf bud on a naked branch But, wait! I’ve already gone on about the best plants for a winter garden, which is all very… Continue reading Royal Horticultural Society Wisley Winter Walk
Tag: hedging
Hedgerow Heroes: Biodiversity Bloxham Oxford
This winter planting season, about 400 Oxfordshire volunteers spruced up 500 metres of neglected hedgerow, and planted over 2,500 metres of new hedges, beating their target by 300 metres. This is all part of Phase Four of the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s Hedgerow Heroes project. The local Banbury MP, known affectionately as “Sean-Off” Woodcock, joined… Continue reading Hedgerow Heroes: Biodiversity Bloxham Oxford
The Hedge Laying Down With A Lamb
Hedge laying is pretty important to anyone with an old country hedge: it’s uncommon to see a garden hedge laid, but most species are suitable Hedge laying is an ancient technology, passed down since at least the Bronze Age. It became super important in Britain with the Enclosures starting in 1603, when big open fields… Continue reading The Hedge Laying Down With A Lamb
Rose Hips are Pretty & Good to Eat
Rose hips are mostly an ornamental second display from Autumn into Winter, but all rose hips are edible if you want to go through the trouble of preparing them And almost all roses will make hips if they get pollinated and you allow them to develop, which is not usually the case with a typical… Continue reading Rose Hips are Pretty & Good to Eat
Killing Yew with Feet in Clay
October can be a peak month for planting and digging. You’ve got your Spring Flower Bulbs going in the ground, a flurry of pot grown plants from soft fruit to ferns (many of which are on discount in Autumn, as newsletter subscribers know), and gardeners on their ‘A game’ will work that soil in preparation… Continue reading Killing Yew with Feet in Clay
Resting behind your Laurels
Cherry Laurel is a delightful name for Common Laurel, despite not getting proper cherries off it – the birds don’t complain, though. It is such a popular evergreen hedging plant in British gardens that although it’s not native, it’s known abroad as the “English Laurel”. No one understands good old Prunus laurocerasus Rotundifolia like the… Continue reading Resting behind your Laurels
Millionaire Sustainable Hedgerow Living
Cornwall Council is Leading the World in Public Edible Hedge Planting Foraging berries and fruit from hedgerows for your breakfast is back! As we like to say around here since today: no matter how good things get, there’s always more fruit on the hedge. With the help of trend setters like the Shared Prosperity Fund,… Continue reading Millionaire Sustainable Hedgerow Living
Hedgerow Jelly Recipe
Make a unique Jelly from Country Hedges & Wild Plants This recipe uses fruit commonly found in mixed hedges and wild plants (identify before eating them). Wild plums generally ripen around late summer, apples & crab apples generally ripen later, both can be found in quantity in time to mix with blackberries, and whatever else… Continue reading Hedgerow Jelly Recipe
Holly Hedge Revenge: A Tale of Revenge and Hedges
Peter Walker-Smith and Tersia Van Zyl were best of neighbours until bins and hedges drove them to war…
YoungWilders Hedgerow Project
No one likes a pedantic so-and-so who points out that planting country hedgerows, which are a feature exclusively of landscapes managed by mankind (mostly farmers) is by definition not a re-wilding project, it’s really a re-ruraling project. I, naturally, would never do that, any more than I would sulk over age precluding me from joining… Continue reading YoungWilders Hedgerow Project