Veg Plotting

I've walked down the Mall lots of times, but not noticed this place tucked away in the elegant buildings there before. It turned out to be a pleasant discovery yesterday. I was lured there with the promise of some contemporary garden art courtesy of the Mall Galleries  and their Royal Society of British Artists annual exhibition. It promised to be a good follow-up to Painting the Modern Garden I saw in January. I wasn't disappointed. I particularly liked Melissa Scott-Miller's Front Garden with Self Painting (click to enlarge and you'll see her), which reminded me of Renoir's painting of Monet at work. Melissa's work won the Galleries Bookshop prize and also graces their shelves as a greetings card. On the left we have Morning Light by Rowan Crew, and then his  Worcester Pearmain which reminded me of the plum tree paintings I saw at Painting the Modern Garden   Most of Nicholas Verrall's Olive Tree amongst the Vines , a painting to ge...

I have two books for your delectation today, both are courtesy of review copies obtained from Francis Lincoln . The Garden Anthology is Ursula Buchan's pick of the garden writing published by the RHS for more than a century. I don't envy her the task as so much has been published by the RHS in The Garden (in all its forms) and other journals. Over 80 authors are featured, which in turn means a whole host of gardening topics are covered. The pieces are bundled into 13 broad chapters which range from Seasons & the Weather through to Inside the RHS. In between there are plenty of plants, people, science and a number of different gardening styles. In the International Dimension it's good to see George Forrest rubbing shoulders with Toby Musgrave, who both describe plant hunting and the flora of the Yunnan, but almost a century apart. This is a wonderful celebration of garden writing, which lets the words loose on the page unfettered by images. Each chapter is ...

The recent warm weather has awoken the hibernating butterflies from their slumbers and it's been great to see them a-fluttering by in the garden :) Those of you who like me wish to encourage more butterflies into your garden will like Butterfly Conservation's great offer for this month: Half price membership A great new book* added to the membership pack (see below) Free seeds to the first 100 who sign up - a random selection from cornflower, pot marigold or phlox. These plants are known to attract butterflies and moths into the garden (including Common Blues, Small Tortoiseshells, Humming-bird Hawk-moths and Painted Ladies) The book was inspired by Butterfly Conservation's popular gardening tips section in their e-newsletter and shows how to create a butterfly friendly garden. Those of you who've read Kate Bradbury's The Wildlife Gardener  will be delighted to see she's the author. To take advantage of this offer, simply take the link to the ...