The colder days (and nights) are setting in and perhaps the last thing on your mind is an evening in the garden as the temperature drops. Now feels like a really good time to snuggle up in front of the log burner with a cosy blanket, and this can leave the garden rather lonely as winter sets in.

But not every Autumn and Winter evening brings a raging frost – in fact, back in 2015 in Trawsgoed, Wales the temperature hit a toasty 22.4C in November, smashing the previous November record of 21.7C back in 1946 (also in Wales). That year, the UK saw the warmest December in 350 years – and a year later, the Welsh were again enjoying 17 degrees – more than twice the average for the time of year. [Read more…]

There’s something particularly classy about a neat boxwood artificial topiary ball hanging on a curly iron bracket at the entrance to your home or office. Topiary dates back to Roman times although become popular during the 16th Century where popular shapes such as balls, cubes, cones, spirals and pyramids where established. The idea of clipping bushes into these shapes was to add vertical features to what was otherwise a flat landscape and today, topiary continues to be used in much the same way. [Read more…]

Winter is just around the corner and if you’ve not already tackled the garden, you might be looking out into a dismal jungle of wilting plants in dismay. Once the cold weather has kicked in, it can take an awful lot of motivation to get out there and do the tasks your plants are crying out for, to help them survive the colder months. However, completing a few simple tasks now can help protect your plants and save you a lot of work when the weather warms up again. Here’s a quick guide to what you need to do whilst the weather will still allow: [Read more…]