Before Christmas I was tempted by Sarah Ravens www.sarahraven.com new hyacinth selection. I was intrigued by the unusual amethyst colours of purple and maroon-now blooming in the middle of our kitchen table they are very lovely-if a little sinister. I don't think they smell as strongly as the traditional pale blue or white but they cannot be beaten for...

Eighteen months ago Mark Hearld and I agreed to swap one of his lovely collages for a long knitted scarf-I don't know how he's doing with the collage but I still haven't finished my part of the bargain.................The scarf has kept me warm over the past few weeks as it has grown and wrapped itself round my legs, reaching the...

It is a beautiful autumn day and the Cosmos planted in a metal pail several months ago is now flowering joyously-It is a vivid and cheering sight as we leave or return to the house, I only hope that it doesn’t suffer with a hard frost while it is this magnificent!Behind the pail of Cosmos is a greenhouse bursting with...

We went to Antwerp on a fantastic offer shown in the Independent.We spent three nights in a four star hotel and travelled there on EurostarI love Eurostar and the holiday spirit starts its magic as soon as you board.We had read an article by the designer Ann Demeulmeester and we followed her suggestions around her home city.Although out of season...

The end of last year was not good for me, and indirectly this lead to not putting a straw mulch on my Dahlias! Poor things have been exposed to all our extreme winter weather and I am not optimistic about them coming up again.This gave me the perfect excuse to go to the wonderful Sarah Raven website this week and...

Well I guess if this is it we just have to pretend…… The shop in Holt is about to open, we are excitedly amassing goodies and assembling stock; hanging prints and also meeting new artists about showing their work. The shop, bless it, is not the prettiest building in the world but between us we will make it...

It finally feels like spring is in the air, that magical point when the ground elder overtakes the dying bulbs!Our shop in Norwich is about to have a spring clean and a lick of paint and we are busy filling the new glass extension with homegrown plants-I really enjoy helping people decide on different species and explaining where they...

Another thing that has kept us busy this spring is the arrival on the 8th of March of a litter of 7 maremma sheepdog puppies. This was not a planned event but the result of my errant son not listening to me (again!) and leaving the wrong door open at the wrong time! We have had Maremmas for over twenty...