The heat at the 2015 RHS Hampton Court Flower Show has highlighted that when it comes to the weather, nature is always in control. With temperatures reaching 34c today, the Show Gardens are sizzling but need plenty of watering to keep them looking beautiful. One of the most popular gardens has been the Community […]
Continue reading...20. June 2015
Comments Off on What is sustainable gardening?
Gardeners are the custodians of the UK’s 27 million parks and gardens and have a responsibility to make sure that we look after them in a responsible and environmental way – hence the phrase sustainable gardening. Sustainable gardening is the concept of using garden practices to maintain a garden so that natural resources (such as […]
Continue reading...31. May 2015
Comments Off on Greening Grey Britain – new RHS gardening campaign
The RHS is the UK’s leading gardening charity and it was established to share the best in gardening. The RHS is driven by a simple love of plants and the belief that gardeners make the world a better place. The RHS latest campaign launched at Easter 2015 with a three-year target to transform 6,000 unloved […]
Continue reading...1. May 2015
Comments Off on How climate change might affect our bees
Climate change has serious implications for bees.An article by Mark Patterson, Forage Officer at the London Beekeepers Association explains how extreme weather can affect their survival. What is climate change and what are the issues around it? To understand how climate change will potentially affect our pollinators we first must ask ‘what is climate change?’ Simply put […]
Continue reading...13. November 2014
Comments Off on How London could become a national park
47 per cent of London is green space: Is it time for the capital to become a national park? Daniel Raven-Ellison is a guerrilla geographer, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and a man on a mission. Working with students at Queen Mary University, Daniel inspires engagement with the world around them and creates opportunities to […]
Continue reading...1. November 2014
Comments Off on Climate Change in my back garden
Summer has lasted forever in the UK and extended into Autumn with beautiful mild temperatures lasting to the end of October. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29851285 Long days of glorious sunshine have without doubt extended the growing season in my garden. Still enjoying a beautiful floral display with blue plumbago mixed with one of my favourite plants this summer – […]
Continue reading...28. July 2014
Comments Off on Three weeks rain in one hour
After the heatwave came huge thunderstorms delivering record breaking rainfall over Southern England today. Around three weeks of rain arrived in one hour in parts of East Sussex bringing chaos and flash flooding that affected the morning rush hour. http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/11369589.Storms_causing_delays__disruption_and_damage_as_heavy_rain_and_lightning_hits/?ref=var_0 Here is my East Sussex garden at 9.30am today. A very different scene to the […]
Continue reading...5. June 2014
Comments Off on Trees tackle climate change
The UK needs to plant 20 million trees a year for the next half century to tackle climate change, protect wildlife and provide benefits for people, according to the Woodland Trust. The charity’s president, TV personality Clive Anderson, wants to see the UK’s tree cover double – bringing the amount of woodlands up to the […]
Continue reading...23. April 2014
Comments Off on Bluebells flower early in 2014
The rising temperatures of climate change mean spring is arriving earlier in the UK. British flowers came out two to 12 days earlier in the past 25 years than in any previous quarter-century , and the seasonal timing of reproduction has shifted forward by about 11 days between 1976 and 2005, previous research has shown. Bluebells in particular are flowering earlier […]
Continue reading...7. April 2014
On April 1st I attended the RHS Spring Fair in London on a beautiful sunny day. The blossom was out and the warm sunshine helped everyone think that the heavy downpours of […]
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30. June 2015
Comments Off on RHS Hampton Court Flower Show greening grey Britain