A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...

 ... or so someone said, Shakespeare, probably.

Then, while looking for a particular photo to illustrate a forthcoming article, I found this in my "used photos" archive:

 

And it made me laugh so much that I thought I'd share it with you.

Yes, I know that "one" is not supposed to laugh at "one's" own jokes.. but I thought it was funny!

 

 

To see other articles, rather more sensible than this one, please hop over to Patreon.

Salix Kilmarnock - how to tame an over-exhuberant one!

 

I've written about this particular plant many times over the past few years - if you go to my “archive” blog: oh no, wait, you're already here! 

So you'll already know that if you type the word Kilmarnock into the search box, top left, you will find a whole heap of articles about them.

For those who are not quite sure what I'm talking about, this is a small grafted ornamental tree, which is incredibly popular for smaller gardens, because it is - or can be - so dinky.

And every so often, I get a photo of a particularly shaggy one, and a plea for advice....

 

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Squirrels: So far, I'm winning. So far...

 Well, it's been two days since the Dreadful Incident, where the squirrels found the weak spot in my fortifications, and chewed through them: and so far, the newly wired anti-squirrel cage is holding firm.

Not for lack of trying on their part: I have just spent ten minutes watching one particular thug wrenching on the bars, chewing them, pushing them with his head, pulling them with his claws: I tell you, if squirrels were sized up to be as big as dogs, they would be bears - if you see what I mean....

 

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Did you know that "Hellebore" means "poisonous food"?

No, nor did I, until I did some research for the eBook I've just published - or rather, re-published.

This one originally came out in 2015:

... I wrote it for a Client, who could never remember which type of Hellebore was which, in her garden.

I didn't expect it to be a top-seller, because most of my Field Guides are for Botanists, so they cover plants which are found out in the wild (or "Weeds" as I call them), whereas this one is mostly garden plants.

But I've been surprised that it sells quite well.

Then I got some bad feedback - not for this eBook, for the one I wrote on Snowdrops - which complained about the shortage of photos, and how "short" the book was. Well, a Field Guide is exactly that, a Guide, it's not supposed to be a novel... but at around the same time, I had some good feedback from other of my eBooks, commenting that they liked my "chatty" style.

So I decided I would revamp the Field Guides, with the addition of more description, more photos, and a bit of general information, which apparently people like, in addition to the strictly relevant botany stuff.

It's taking me months to go through them all - am I the only one who finds it a lot easier to write something from scratch, then to go back and revise a past work? - and I finally reached the Hs, so here is the revised, expanded, and enhanced Hellebore eBook:

...and yes, I re-did the covers, too!

Check it out, to find out the truth about "poisoned food", the reason why Hellebores hang their heads (well, my reasoning, at any rate) and several other mildly interesting facts - as well as how to tell the difference between the various Hellebores you are likely to find in your garden, and occasionally out in the wild.

Let me know what you think of it!

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Reversion: what, why, and what to do!

I've had a couple of questions, recently, about reversion of variegated plants, and as luck would have it, I have photos of an example from my own garden, to illustrate the point, so now is a good time to talk about it.

This picture shows some variegated Lonicera nitida (Shrubby Honeysuckle, also known as Blimey Does It Need Clipping Again Already?) which is showing some reversion:

 

The shrub was bought specifically for the variegated leaves which, instead of the normal plain green, are attractively edged with silver.

Now, I say “attractively” because I like variegation: I think it brightens up an otherwise slightly dull shrub, but I know that some people......

 

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Mistakes Wot I Have Made: a GRAVE error!

Under the general heading of Mistakes Wot I have made..... 

 ...the Client has a row of roses, running alongside a path. 

I like to neaten up the holes around roses, for many reasons.

So I did.

But why do they look hauntingly familiar??

 

 

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