This is an interesting combination of plants. The border at Savill Gardens where I took this image, was almost 50 yards long and seriously dramatic. At the rear is Eupatorium cannabinum purpureum (Joe-pye-Weed) a plant almost narcotic to bees, they... [more]

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."....Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. Many readers will remember the articles (Letters... [more]

The hatracking is finished. However there will be much more but less drastic work on this tree to bring it into full glory, it will be glorious, of that I am confident. For example, such was the state of this... [more]

We are about half way through. Elizabeth has helped by removing her skirt, the hollies that is. It is important to start at the bottom and work up. The tree had no shape before, it was a blob of green... [more]

"Prune when the knife is sharp" An old nursery adage I was told by Fred C Galle author of the holly growers bible, "Hollies, The genus Ilex'. The pruning of hollies is something singularly important and not for the faint hearted... [more]