Author's articles

Sensory Gardens (if not necessarily sensible!)

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

To many, a garden is just a glorified bouquet, somewhere to apply an artistic touch and allow nature to do the leg work and, while the aesthetic appeal of this idea is undeniable, to truly ...

Expanding your Horizons - Tricks to Make your Garden Look Bigger!

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

While an experienced gardener will have a knack for best taking advantage of the space they’ve got, for example with the correct balance of small to large plants or how their borders are positioned, there ...

Earth Plants are Easy

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

We are all perhaps familiar with the stress and difficulty that comes from attempting propagation of our beloved perennial plants using cuttings or division, particularly the ever present threat of diseases that are so easily ...

Many Colours Red

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

In conjunction with our regular editorials bringing you the latest news feeds and suggestions from the gardening world, Floral and Hardy will now also be presenting a colour focused commentary - a regular piece that ...

Heed the Seeds!

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

The January sales might not apply to gardening, but garden bargains can begin early with ordering seeds in preparation for the planting period of early spring to give yourselves plenty of inexpensive colour in the ...

Mistletoe - Where Did It Go?

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

Mistletoe - second to the Christmas tree, it is the staple yuletide plant. Songs are written about it, doors adorned with it and kisses won under it, but this seasonal decoration and great matchmaker is ...

I Wanna Rock - Planning a Rockery

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

A rockery can make for a very interesting focal point in a garden and also an excellent platform on which to plant choice specimens where they can be raised up and appreciated. It also allows ...

How to Plan a Vegetable Garden

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

Though there will be plenty of toil involved in raising your own produce aisle, that part does not begin for at least a few months, however, the genesis of the vegetable patch occurs in the ...

Flavoursome Fungus

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

This week I bring you the first in a two part piece concerning those fine fungal frequenters of our forests - the mushrooms. This first part concerns the edible of their kin that you should ...

Gimme Shelter

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

Trees serve many purposes in the garden. Whether it be providing excellent punctuation in your borders, housing a throng of blackbirds, or even hiding an unsightly feature on your Eden’s horizon, they are a gardening ...

Luring the Bobbing Red Robin

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

There’s much to be said for a healthy bird population in the garden - in winter most of all, when your blooms have retreated from cold weather and the space becomes a mesh of grey ...

Something Fungal This Way Comes...

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

The gardening headlines this week have been plastered with the threat of two new diseases that could potentially devastate Europe’s indigenous tree population. In southern France, along the famous Canal du Midi, a plan has ...

The Asian Invasion

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

A recurring nuisance to gardeners across Britain has been the introduction of a fairly persistent little bugger known as Japanese Knotweed. Originally introduced by the Victorians as an ornamental garden perennial, this invasive plant broke ...

Which Wonderland?

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

If you’re looking for something to do over the festive break, there are many heritage sites and public gardens that over the winter months pay a particular attention to Christmas and seasonal themes. The biggest ...

Ten Beauties of Winter

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

Winter has its ups and downs, whilst we’re treated with festive cheer and an excuse to eat all the food we can stomach, we must also suffer cold weather and darkened days. But, while the ...

Tucking in the Beds

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

At this point we’ve all been nipped by the Christmas bug and the responsibilities that come along with it, from decorating the house to seeing that a sizeable turkey is secured. However a key concern, ...

Last Minute Gifts for Gardeners

By Joshua Ellison · 12 years ago

The gardener at Christmas is a hectic creature, trying to put the beds to bed so to speak before the coming of the winter cold, raising what remains of a vegetable patch from the ground ...

Toxic Caterpillars

By Joshua Ellison · 13 years ago

In recent weeks a new threat to the British ecosystem has reared its tiny head. Due to the rising rate of imported plants by domestic horticulturists, an infestation of exotic moth larvae has seen the ...

Small Garden Design

By Helen Ellison · 13 years ago

Small gardens can be just as challenging as working with a larger plot, if not more so. There are so many demands on our outside spaces, whether for entertaining, for play, or just for relaxing, ...

Bluebells, bluebells ... Anywhere??

By Joshua Ellison · 13 years ago

A recurring theme of our blog has been the preservation of British wildlife and protection of institutions like the hedgerow and our native forests. However, this week we address a much subtler and perhaps overlooked ...