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Great Dixter- gardening inspiration

April 1, 2015 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

great dixter topiary

Having not visited the garden at Great Dixter for over a year, I went twice last month and it has been quite a heady experience.     The first visit was with a group of fellow writers for a look round the garden with Rachael, one of the gardeners and a talk by Fergus Garrett, […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Inspiration, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: Great Dixter, hellebores, how to garden, sustainability, sustainable gardening

Growing rhubarb & making rhubarb cake

February 21, 2015 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

rhubarb & almond cake, how to grow rhubarb

A home baked cake is always a lovely thing, it’s as fresh as you like and you know exactly what’s in it. In this case it’s rhubarb from the allotment that’s been stashed away in the freezer since last year. Planting fruit makes sense for sustainable growing, once it’s in the ground it carries on […]

Filed Under: Blog, Recipes, Recycling & Sustainability, Uncategorized Tagged With: growing rhubarb, rhubarb & almond cake, sustainability, sustainable growing

Cut flowers from the garden in January

January 13, 2015 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

cut flowers from the garden in January- euphorbia Humpty Dumpty

Aside from the miles of transportation, there’s something about the brightness of imported, exotic flowers for the house in January that jangles the senses. In any case, big, bright blooms are unlikely to be found in January in my part of the world, but there’s a surprising amount of coloured, shapely foliage and a few […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Plants Tagged With: Brisitsh flowers, cut flowers, Euphorbia Humpty Dumpty, Nandina domestica, sustainability

A Tudor house and a beautiful garden

September 30, 2013 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

Tucked away behind this beautiful Tudor house in Coggeshall, Essex, is a simple but charming garden. The garden is divided into three distinct areas. The first section near the house has a handsome, herringbone brick path leading through to a lawned area. This style of path works so well with the Tudor building. There are plenty of […]

Filed Under: Blog, Garden Design, Inspiration, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: flowers, garden visit, plants, sustainability, Tudor garden

The creative recycling of a garden after the Chelsea Flower Show

September 20, 2013 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

Way back in May the Wilson McWilliam Studio exhibited a highly acclaimed garden at the Chelsea Flower Show which won a silver-gilt medal. I became very familiar with this garden as I followed it’s progress and wrote a weekly blog post over 10 weeks as it was developed for Chelsea.                                                                                    But the story of […]

Filed Under: Blog, Garden Design, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: Chelsea Flower Show 2013, garden, recycling, show garden, sustainability, sustainable garden, upcycling, Wilson McWilliam Studio

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2013 – inspiring gardens

May 28, 2013 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

After a busy few months culminating in a few weeks of hectic activity, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is over for this year. There were lots of inspiring gardens in all sorts of sizes, here in no particular order, are a few of them with ideas that you may like to use in your garden. Regular […]

Filed Under: Blog, Garden Design, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: Chelsea Flower Show 2013, Echium pininana, gardens, plants, sustainability, Wilson McWilliam Studio

Some helpful tips when you’re shopping for plants

March 11, 2013 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

It’s a well known fact that in spring most keen gardeners thoughts turn to buying plants. Easter weekend is one of the busiest ones of the whole year for garden centres, so if you’re tempted to go plant shopping, here’s some helpful information. I’ve written a lot about having a list of plants that will do well […]

Filed Under: Blog, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: beneficial insects, gardening classes, gardens, plants, sustainability

Friday inspiration – 5 reasons to grow flowers for cutting

March 7, 2013 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

  Well, spring has finally arrived and I’m starting to sow flower seeds for my garden. I’ve been inspired by these photos that I took at Hampton Court Flower Show a couple of years ago. The photo shows: Tall yellow                   Achillea Blue spires                   Delphiniums White                           Ammi majus Pink                             Cosmos Dark purple               Cornflowers These flowers are grown […]

Filed Under: Blog, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: flowers for cutting, grow flowers for cutting, plants, sustainability

Inspired by these sustainable little plant pots

March 1, 2013 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

I’ve been longing to sow some plant and vegetable seeds and now we’ve finally reached the month of March I’m cranking up to get started.   I’m going to be making paper pots for my seedlings, my first ones will be extra long for sweet peas because they like plenty of room for their roots.     […]

Filed Under: Blog, Inspiration, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: growing seedlings, paper plant pots, sustainability

Take a seat and enjoy the garden

July 30, 2012 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

However much you enjoy gardening, at this time of year it’s even nicer to make the time to sit in it and relax as well. Having seats and benches permanantly in place around the garden is the best way to encourage you to do this. If you have to find the keys to the shed […]

Filed Under: Blog, Garden Design Tagged With: Cleve West, garden bench, garden design, garden seats, sustainability, Viburnum carlesii

Growing flowers for cutting

August 26, 2011 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

I’ve been growing flowers for cutting in my garden for the last couple of years, they look lovely, but it also means that I don’t buy so many from supermarkets. 

Filed Under: Blog, Plants Tagged With: calendula, cornflowers, cosmos, dahlias, delphinium, flowers for cutting, RHS Hampton Court, sustainability

Chelsea Flower Show 2011 – It’s not just a shed

May 27, 2011 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

Did you notice that most of the show-gardens, large and small have a building of some sort in them? The gardens are created in just three weeks and a building of some sort helps to give an impression of permanence, a feeling that the garden is well established. I love this garden, it ticks all the boxes for me, […]

Filed Under: Blog, Garden Design, Inspiration Tagged With: Chelsea Flower Show 2011, Cleve West, garden buildings, sustainability

Why this light bulb is a bit like good garden design

March 3, 2011 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

Because at it’s most fundamental, any really good design, be it for a phone a garden or a kettle, must be both practical and pleasing to the eye. Garden designers need to understand all about proportion, scale, context and how a garden plan works in it’s three dimensional form. They must also understand all about […]

Filed Under: Blog, Garden Design, Inspiration Tagged With: Design, sustainability

Can sustainable gardens be stylish?

January 24, 2011 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

  Well of course it can…. with a bit of creativity and planning TIMBER: We all know about using old wooden palettes to make compost bins, but how about transforming used scaffold boards into decking. Sanding them will reveal the lovely timber under the old bits of plaster etc. The picture above shows a creative […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: compost, Hampton Court show garden, Royal Horticultural Society Show Gardens, sustainability

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Hello, I’m Jill Anderson.
This is where you’ll find good, solid information about gardening, growing fruit & vegetables and how to keep it all looking good.
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The healing, calming power of nature in one photo. The healing, calming power of nature in one photo.
These wonderful autumn colours won’t be around for much longer. But that’s ok, because now is what matters, & their fleeting beauty makes them even more precious.
It’s easy to see how being among trees & nature is so beneficial for our health & wellbeing. 
Have a great Sunday.
Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it lo Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it look spectacular with this bold front door.
Today has been hard work, after a lovely time last week in Norfolk. The north coast there is spectacular. Realising these last few months, that there are so many beautiful places here. 
Have a nice evening.
Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Vis Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Visiting to see the Anish Kapoor sculptures, which are amazing, but unprepared for the beauty of the grounds & garden. 
Such a treat, worth coming to Norfolk for this alone!
Hope you’re keeping well, & managing to smile some of the time. x
P.S. more of Houghton Hall & Anish Kapoor on my stories
We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberrie We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberries, after coffee & cake, sitting in the churchyard - the cafe was full, & the churchyard is a quiet, peaceful spot..... as you’d expect.
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One little advantage of lockdown is walking so much more, rather than using the car. Though it shouldn’t have taken something as momentous as this, for me to change bad habits 🙁
Hope you’re weekend is going well.
My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from a random clump of hazel on the garden. Now looking much better covered in winter squash plants, so you can’t see just how ramshackle it is. I like to think it has a certain home-spun charm .

Great for small space gardening, imagine how much room you need to grow these without vertical supports.

I’ve got 2 Uchiki kuri, lovely nutty flavour.
1 Turks turban, for its flamboyant shape & colours, though it also tastes good.
One unknown, grown by my grandsons in their homeschooled science lesson.
Close-ups of the squash over on my stories.
Stay cool my friends x
I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium reg I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium regale) which is flowering right outside our bedroom window. 
It gets sun for about 4 hours only, you can order the bulbs now for planting in September. It’ll reappear every year & waft delicious scent around your garden, or through your windows.
Have a very happy Monday x
It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be said for fabulous seasonal flowers that haven’t travelled thousands of miles ...... & are wonderful for biodiversity
A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-s A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-summer!) & it’s, mostly, all growing nicely.

Spinach, courgettes & garlic in shot here. 
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x
Hope is a decision I’ve thought long & hard abou Hope is a decision
I’ve thought long & hard about how to view the tumult in the world we’re living in now. 
The only thing that works for me, is to choose hope.

It’s a tall order, but avoiding mainstream news & speculation helps avoid the anxiety, that’s often waiting in the wings.

One day soon there’ll be grandchildren clambering over this again.
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