One of the many pleasures of visiting the South of France in late winter is to walk amongst the Mimosa trees and feel that uplift of the heart from th...

This beautiful little primrose, saddled with such an unwieldy name, comes from the eastern Mediterranean and Balkans, and is a subspecies of our nativ...

The skies all around are grey and dismal, and the ground is heavy and sodden.  But I look down and see that the promise of a new year is unfoldin...

In the autumn of 1994 David Noble, an Australian park ranger, was abseiling down one of the many otherwise impenetrable canyons in the Wollemi Nationa...

I’m quite excited to be writing about one of my favourite plants – Cyclamen hederifolium, although I have a strong suspicion that my choice changes fa...

Roses are generally chosen on the basis of the shape, colour and scent of their flowers; but at this time of year the fruit (or hips) of the roses com...

If I could fill every available surface with pelargoniums, and particularly the species and scented varieties, I would do so: unfortunately I have a c...

In the gardens of The Royal College of Physicians by Regents Park are two large specimens of Drimys winteri, an elegant and evergreen aromatic tree wh...

Monardas – or Bergamot – are old-fashioned plants that are thankfully having a bit of a revival. The flowers are gorgeously shaggy like a giant exotic...

I first started noticing this Sweet Woodruff when I was young and obsessed with the herbs used in Elizabethan times for nosegays and for strewing on t...