Electric Green

A letter to my snowdrop-loving friends, after E. A. Bowles ; My Dear Galanthophil*, I am writing to you in some excitement: my book, The Plant Lover’s Guide to Snowdrops is finally released in the UK. By now you may even have a copy, in which case I hope you are enjoying it. There are, as you know, different sorts of books on Galanthus : The terribly serious academic ones, the terribly gorgeous arty ones, and mine. So what’s it all about? Well may you ask. Cover image is G. nivalis 'Blonde Inge' As a lover of snowdrops since childhood, I was thrilled to be approached by Timber Press to contribute to their new Plant Lover’s Guides series. But this is a plant we all know so well; what could be new and different, what could I do that was reasonably comprehensive but also engaging and fun? My first point of reference was the idea of ‘love’. People love for many reasons. The object may be beautiful or it may bestow hope and strength. There may be happy ass...

My local municipal flowerbed, back when it used to be fun. I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about municipal planting and garden design in public spaces. It is an opportunity to bring style, excitement or just a bit of beauty to the masses; and one that is usually left to languish in unkempt evergreen scrub. This is somewhere that a little planning and creativity could reap dividends, but the norm is either uninspired, high maintenance and wasteful, or both. Just up the road from me is a long curved flowerbed in a small public garden adjacent to a roundabout. It used to be fun, it really did. When I first met it, someone had put in some thought and the late summer display looked so good in a soft morning mist that I went home and came back with a camera. This is the same flower bed as below, five years earlier. It wasn’t a challenging or intellectual display, the plants are all quite ordinary but it had a cheerful flair and pizzazz. And then they dug the whole lot...

It may or may not be common knowledge that I have a book out this year. It is on snowdrops**, for which I have a lifelong love and appreciation. This is clearly not the same thing as having a humungeous collection of rarities. If you want such a thing, go and talk to my friend Joe Sharman . Where that is concerned, he's the boy.    Published by Timber Press. Out in the US in April, the rest of you will have to wait. As it happens, I have, numerically, lots of snowdrops - they are parked in a corner and there are more each year. They are mostly variations of common nivalis, including a few that I have selected ‘to watch’ but they are not what you would call posh. The fancy snowdrop collection is increasing cheerfully and enthusiastically but, until recently, has been kept intentionally fairly modest and realistically more hardy than fancy, depending on how high your standards are ***. Anyway, while writing, two things came up time and again – firstly that one shoul...

This is a not-necessarily-linear tale of a road-trip in France; there is the odd toll gate on the way. Quite a lot of ‘80s music and fast cornering. Tomatoes. Wildlife. To be honest, it is fairly abstract. You can leave if you like.         The Beginning, Folkestone, later than anticipated, July “It’s not the Nürburgring* you know!”  the man said, sternly. Hurtled to a halt. Sheepish, muttered apologies....late...made check-in by clear 30 seconds....embarrassed cough...continued towards customs.   Disco Lightning – Paris and South, 2-5am, July Surprisingly, underneath the most romantic city in the world is a labyrinth of dark underpasses, packed with fast moving traffic. Diverted off the motorway, I stuck to the tail of the crazed lorry driver in front. Screeching round corners, heading south. My great uncle’s theory was that if you get lost driving in London you should follow a taxi. Same difference in Paris (more or less), except t...

This is Dorney Court Kitchen Garden in Berkshire: a design-led independent nursery with equally good plants and cake There is a bunch of new kids in town. Pretenders to the horticultural sales throne lining up for a slice of the plant-purchase pie; supermarkets and high street retailers are jostling into the base of a pyramid of gardening expertise which is topped by artisan nurseries and with garden centres, DIY sheds and their ilk piled up variously beneath. So how are they doing? Donning a large hat and fake moustache dark glasses, I embarked on a little espionage.   First stop was a new budget supermarket that has opened in town I have been told great things about their simple, desirable range of stock nothing too complex...‘flying off the shelves’ was the message I got. I tend to champion specialists and the little guys, but I was open minded. Until I got there. Exhibit A was a Dutch trolley of wilted petunias. The box cones at about a tenner...were just a b...

Let me tell you a story. Several years ago, I was painting the bathroom of a house in Bristol. The window was open and it was a pleasant sort of day and people were wandering past. Around about four o’clock I heard a couple of sets of feet come down the hill and then stop. “Look, cherries!” said one voice (female, mid to late teens). “No, I don’t think they are. They can’t be.” Said the other, doubtfully (ditto). “Well, they look like cherries. Let’s try them!” “No, they are probably berries. Completely different. Some of them are not red, they are blackish. They are probably poisonous.” “Oh. Yes, I suppose so.” (disappointed) The feet moved on. I looked out of the bathroom window at the large and heavily laden cherry tree leaning over the wall of the garden opposite and wondered what the world was coming to. Red Sky in the Morning, Shepherds Warning ((c) N Slade) I am actually still wondering. When my grandfather was a child, he and his brothers (and a dog) ...

'Never Mind The Hollyhocks' Award Winning punk-themed conceptual garden by Naomi Slade Why a punk garden? Why not?! I had never seen one and it seemed like a good idea. And was it a good idea? Yes. Very. It turned out looking exactly like the picture in my head. And, (as I believe I have mentioned) I won a Gold Medal and Best Garden In Show. And people kept going past quoting Sex Pistols lyrics, which amused me enormously. So much for a decent upbringing! You describe yourself as a career conceptualist. Will you help me with my career? No. I find I have iterated concepts, often quite abstract ones, throughout my own career. In a ‘can’t really help myself’ sort of way. I see no sign of this stopping, although it is fairly under control. Are you mad? Quite possibly, but modestly entertaining , I hope. So why The National Gardening Show? I designed the garden as a conceptual garden for RHS Hampton Court, but I didn’t submit it for 2012 because I kn...