I have been scrabbing around for signs of spring for a few weeks now. First came the snowdrops and the aconites, and now the irises are starting to pop up. Early irises always make me giggle, because they look so alien and silly on their short little stalks, with their strangely-shaped flower heads. ——————————————————————————————————————————- Fennel [...]

Although we’ve been held back by the weather, there are some jobs which just had to be completed this month. We applied a second spraying of winter wash, which will hopefully keep some of the fruit tree pests at bay. Winter washes are based on plant oils and are suitable for organic gardening. Before we [...]

Image by bycolley Click here to visit the Fennel&Fern Flickr group and upload your own images {Weekly wrap-up} Hot posts, stories and images from the web this week. Susy at Chiot’s run has developed a fab way of organising her seeds. You can win a pair of pruners from the Guardian Gardening Blog. Claire at [...]

…these two stylish habitats from Garden Boutique. One of the (many) things I get a little ranty about is that sustainable gardening practices can still be stylish. And this bug habitat and fabulous bird feeder are proof of that. I’m always looking for ways to get wildlife into my garden without festooning it with garish [...]

Double form pink picotee Helleborus x hybridus This month we’re collecting gorgeous hellebores from Ashwood Nurseries. The way hellebores hybridise makes it very difficult for the nurseries to give each cultivar a name, so you’ll find these plants labelled by shape and colour. And nursery owner John Massey has kindly shared his tips for growing [...]

Image by sighnensis. Do you love snowdrops? How about a snowdrop tree? It sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? Native to North America and notoriously difficult to propagate Halesia diptera ‘Magniflora’, commonly known as the snowdrop tree, is quite rare and makes an extremely beautiful, if rarely seen, specimen plant. It can be [...]

Parsnips are a very useful vegetable. Sweet with a mild earthy flavor, these healthy vegetables pair nicely with many mild fruits such as apples, pears or even grapes. Sweet and creamy, lightly spiced, this soup is very tasty. ——————————————————————————————————————————- Fennel & Fern readers can get 10% off on flower, vegetable and fruit seeds and plants [...]

I went for a little scamper around the city parks at the weekend. Southampton isn’t renowned for being the most aesthetically pleasing place in the world (although it is one of the most sustainable cities in England), but it has some marvellously beautiful parks right in the middle of all the bustling shops. And right [...]

Image by Michiteru Kodama. I know I’ve picked some rather well-known Plants to Love for February, but I just couldn’t resist gushing about my favourite spring plants. In case you feel I’ve let you down, here’s a real beauty that not many people have heard of. The Paper Bush (Edgeworthia chrysantha) takes a little bit [...]

Image by Lindsey Click here to visit the Fennel&Fern Flickr group and upload your own images {Weekly wrap-up} Hot posts, stories and images from the web this week. Gorgeous post on Design Sponge featuring Daphne. The wonderful winners of the RHS Photographic Competition have been announced. Lila Das Gupta has written a brilliant post for [...]

Image by Sharon. How fabulous - a white forsythia. Abeliophyllum distichum is a beautiful, far more refined late winter-flowering shrub, with almond-scented white star-shaped flowers that blush pink at the centre. Like its yellow-flowered relative Forsythia, it flowers profusely on bare branches in February, although it often beats true forsythia to the first bloom. ——————————————————————————————————————————- [...]

…these fabulous prints from the RHS. I’ve always been a bit mad on botanical illustrations, and when the RHS contacted me to say they are selling an enormous collection of fruit, veg and flower pics for Mother’s Day, as well as memberships and tickets to their fabulous shows, I got rather over-excited. ——————————————————————————————————————————- Fennel & [...]