Early one evening in late July I found a struggling stag beetle in a bowl that had filled up with water, on an apron in front of our open woodshed.…
Ursula Buchan
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Apple Trees
There are three certain things in life: death, taxes and the presence of at least one apple tree in the garden you get when you move house. Of all ‘top…
Buying Gifts For Gardeners
‘Tis the season to spend money and ’tis no good pushing back against the fact. Nor, I imagine, do we really want to, since we don’t want to be thought…
Autumn Gardening
I like to think that I am a proper gardener, by which I mean that cataracts and hurricanoes have to spout until they drench our steeple (we live next door…
The Appeal Of Coloured Foliage
What is it with gardeners and coloured foliage? Why do purple, red or yellow leaves seem to appeal so strongly? Is it a positive aesthetic reaction to these colours or…
Garden Roses
I can’t help it. Every time a friend tells me that they bought their house because of the wonderfully friable, medium loam soil in the garden, I gnash my teeth.…
Weeds in the garden
Ah, the merry month of May. How much we look forward to it, since it always feels like the time of greatest promise in our gardens. You can almost taste…
Bond and Scotland: was 007 a Scot?
Much like an extra character, Scotland has had a starring role in many Bond films – but was 007 a Scot? Daniel Pembrey takes a look