A Walk in the Cloud Forest

In one of the two large cooled conservatories in the Gardens by the Bay is a huge mountain. This is covered in various ferns, orchids, begonias and a whole host of other plants to create a massive living wall.  On entering the Cloud Forest Conservatory (Cool-Moist) you are welcomed by what is claimed to be the tallest indoor waterfall in the world, (and who am I to argue!), casting a welcome...

Read More

Better than St. Albans

The lure of a day out every Saturday is always there. From Monday to Friday I always look forward to the weekend when we'll get the chance to do lots of gardening (weather permitting). Somehow though when the weekend actually arrives, on Saturday especially, the urge to have a day out somewhere, anywhere is always there.  Not that I don't want to garden on Saturday mornings, in fact its one...

Read More

Succulents in the Dome

As an antidote to all that tropical lushness we've been posting recently about from our recent trip to Singapore, it's now the turn of Cacti and Succulents as we found a fantastic display of them inside the Flower Dome of Gardens by the Bay. Succulents inside the colossal Flower Dome The Flower Dome is one of two cooled conservatories (or glasshouses) within the complex of Gardens by the Bay...

Read More

Let the Show Season Begin!

The plant show season for this year has officially started with the RHS London Plant and Design Show being held today and tomorrow. And being the first major plant show and fair of the year, this event is something we always look forward to with much excitement as it signals the start of more plant shows in the following months. Not to mention that after many months of winter, where the horticultural...

Read More

Karma Camellia

Just before we went off to Singapore we were kindly sent a beautifully packaged Camellia 'Kramer's Supreme' from the lovely folks at Plants4Presents. There is something particularly enjoyable about receiving plants in the post, especially when the box itself is a delight, and on opening the contents lived up to the packaging! A lovely healthy plant, full off buds and ready to burst...

Read More

Glimpses of Spring

Back to Blighty now and garden business as usual! The time we spent in tropical Singapore flew by so quick, it was a blast and the experience of going there hasn't fully sunk in yet. Fortunately we did take hundreds of photos to help us remember our visit , and it's just a matter of actually taking the time to gradually sort them all out (it still amazes me how time consuming sorting out photos...

Read More

The Gingers in The Jungle

Yesterday we featured our visit to the Bromeliad Collection at the Singapore Botanic Gardens but prior to that we first visited the Ginger Garden which is another one of their dedicated areas and this one concentrates on plants from the order Zingiberales. It features plants from the genus Alpinia, Hedychium, Costus, Etlingera, Curcuma, Zingiber, Canna, Heliconia, Strelitzia, Musa, and perhaps...

Read More

Beautiful Bromeliads

The weather here in Singapore has been pretty much unpredictable on a daily basis, one moment it is sunny and dry, the next moment it is absolutely wet and pouring down with rain. Such is life in a coastal, tropical location but whether it may be rain or shine one thing remains the same: it's still warm and feels nice nevertheless especially for temporary cold winter refugees like us! So on...

Read More

Supertree Grove at Night - Singapore

It's snowing again at home but we've managed to escape it this time as we are currently enjoying the warmth and tropical lushness of Singapore. This evening we've just been to watch the light and sound show of the Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay - the newest and grandest botanical attraction of this metropolitan and very green nation. Seeing the Supertrees in person has been amazing,...

Read More

It's Oh So Quiet

It's oh so quiet, it's oh so still, it's oh so peaceful until... Snowcone anyone? As I found myself painting this trellis indoors recently (it's the way to go with the weather still too cold and wet to paint outdoors, plus it's only small) I also got to thinking how horticulturally quiet January has been. For us anyway, and more likely for a majority of gardeners in our region and anywhere...

Read More

The Pond that Spawned the Big One

Fondness... that's how I will always view the 'Prequel' pond, with fondness. Not only did it lead to us to building a much bigger one but the lessons we have learned from maintaining it have been invaluable. Yes lessons, so many lessons learned and they are all valuable, like a string of real pearls (how aquatic appropriate!)....

Read More

What's Ahead?

With just a handful of small jobs left to do on our big pond project we are frequently asked what will we do next... Well to be honest we haven't entirely decided, sure we have a few ideas but as yet we haven't prioritised them all. One early project that we will do something with is the area beyond the filter house, we have referred to this as the working area, and it's our intention...

Read More