Worldwide Garden Inspiration
Situated on the sunny, south-facing flanks of the Lamb Hill in the foothills of the lofty Wicklow mountains, Hunting Brook garden is the boldly idiosyncratic creation of Jimi Blake, the noted Irish horticulturist, teacher and plantsman. Take a birds eye view of this stunning contemporary Irish Garden. For more go to huntingbrook.com.
Nearly 85 percent of the world’s flowering plants depend upon pollinators to reproduce. Bees – honey bees, bumblebees and solitary bees – play a vital role in bringing life and beauty to our world and food to our tables.
Threats to bees include varroa destructor mite, nosema fungus, deformed wing virus, acute bee paralysis virus, slow bee paralysis virus, chronic bee paralysis virus, colony collapse disorder, loss of natural forage, habitat loss and fragmentation, loss of nest and breeding sites, intensive agriculture, neonicotinoid insecticides, and climate change.
Help bees – many websites give practical advice including:
Xerces Society: xerces.org/bringbackthepollinators/
Royal Horticultural Society: rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=648
Jim McColl is sowing hardy annuals direct and comparing it to planting plugs. It should create a succession of flowers all summer long. George Anderson may have lost the (veggie) plot as he sows some very unusual crops, from rat’s tail radish to electric daisies and mustard spinach. George will try them all out to see if they are worth the effort to grow them. Meanwhile, Carole Baxter creates a whole mountain landscape in miniature in troughs with tiny rock plants.
Carole also visits a garden restoration in the Trossachs. Until recently, Dun Dubh was a hidden Victorian garden. With views and terraces that stretch down to Loch Ard, it is painstakingly being uncovered and brought back to life as a stunning six acre garden.
Chris Beardshaw takes a third visit to his new-build families to move them on to the next stage of development in their gardens. In Cove, he is showing how to plant and train climbers and in Portlethen he is talking nuts and currants
