Welcome to The Garden Notebook — a journal of thoughts, tips, and seasonal musings from life among the borders.
Here you’ll find a growing collection of reflections from my own gardening journey — practical advice, stories from the soil, and inspiration drawn from the ever-changing rhythm of the year. Whether you’re battling clay, coaxing colour into shade, or simply enjoying a quiet moment among the plants, I hope these posts offer encouragement and useful ideas to carry back into your own patch of earth.
Settle in, have a read, and feel free to share your own garden stories along the way.
Arisaemas: Mystery and Theatre in the Shade Garden There’s a certain kind of plant that doesn’t announce itself loudly. It doesn’t blaze with colour or cover itself in blooms. Instead,
Nettles in the Garden: Friend, Foe, or a Bit of Both? Yesterday, while reclaiming a bit of ground from the ever-ambitious bindweed, I found myself tangled up, quite literally, with
Weed Fabric Struggles: Why I Stopped Using It (and What I Do Instead) An honest look at the downsides of landscape fabric — and better ways to build a healthy,
Glowing Through the Gloom: Why I Love Geums Some plants shout. Others whisper. But geums? They glow. Not in a flashy, look-at-me kind of way — but in that steady,
Buzz in the Shade: Pollinator-Friendly Plants for Dappled Gardens We often think of pollinator gardens as sun-drenched meadows — buzzing with bees over lavender, coneflowers, and daisies, all basking beneath
The Promise of Peonies: A Bloom Worth Waiting For Add Your Heading Text Here There are flowers we fall for because they’re reliable — the ones that show up year
Tetrapanax ‘Rex’: The Tropical Drama in a Temperate Garden Every so often, a plant comes along that rewrites your sense of what belongs. Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Rex’ is one of those.
The Shredded Umbrella: A Quiet Wonder for the Shade Garden Not every plant announces itself. Some you fall for in an instant, with a flower that catches the light just
A Harmony of Companions: Four Plant Pairings That Sing in May I’ve always believed the best gardens aren’t designed on paper, but discovered over time — slowly, quietly, through observation
May in the Garden: The Season of Soft Progress There’s a certain softness to May — not just in the light, but in the way the garden grows. It’s the