What would it be like to enjoy a magical garden, filled to the brim with flowers but without having to constantly worry about watering? In times of climate change, with hot, dry summers, that’s a conundrum worth thinking about. Photo: Syl Gervais Whenever I’m asked if I spend my early summer mornings roaming the flower beds, armed with watering can and hose, my simple and honest answer is "Nope". I only water pots. The plants in my flower beds usually have to look after themselves, and many of t...

Who needs early bloomers when you look out the window right now? That's what you would have heard me say last week. Up until then, our world wasn't the muddy sludgy brown mess it is right now, left behind by melted snow. Instead, it was swaddled in a thick and beautiful white blanket. Every noise muffled and the (few) persistent colours popping brilliantly against their white canvas. At least, that's how it was down here in the South of Germany. Of course, things were even better in the good old...

The world doesn't just need love, it also needs more sweet peas! At least, I think so. And it seems like it’s not just me. In England, there’s an entire society devoted to them: “National Sweet Pea Society”. Now that’s what I call dedication! Photo: Flora Press/Visions So let me tell you a little about these beauties. True to their name, sweet peas are closely related to the vegetables we see on our plates. Don’t let that stray your imagination to a plate full of bright green ‘balls’ (or if you’...

I have Provencal roots – at least on my mother’s side of the family. Come autumn, my French grandmother would fill the house with the wonderful smell of homemade quince cheese (Pâte de Coing). Although, I always think "cheese" is a weird word to use – quince candy would be more accurate. The quince cheese was dried in the attic and then served as one of the traditional 13 desserts at Christmas. Luckily, my grandmother wrote all her recipes down in a little notebook – and since our quince tree sp...

It’s that strange in-between time of year where summer is not quite ready to say goodbye yet and fall is slowly starting to sneak in. Sunshine and t-shirts one day, gray clouds and thick jumpers the next. The garden is glowing while it makes one last big push before winding down for winter. The most beautiful colors everywhere I turn, from glorious dahlias to asters, Japanese anemones, the last of the roses and plenty of cosmos. I love the changing seasons and, after a long hot summer, the thoug...

Bright sunshine, beach weather and long balmy nights sitting outside – it's a summer right out of a picture book. As lovely as it all is though, there's just one thing missing: water. Prolonged (extremely) dry spells create an enormous amount of extra work for gardeners and farmers. For the latter, it can threaten their livelihood when crops suffer. Photo: Janina Laszlo It has – phew – rained a little here from time to time. For me, that's sufficient because I brazenly claim that I don't really ...

What an utterly lovely new flower pot: beautifully clean, orange, smooth – and sterile. Is that really what we want in a cottage garden? That'll be a hard 'No'. What we're looking for are items with soul that tell stories instead of looking all "shiny & new". Especially with flower pots though, I'm often required to switch over to brand-new models. I need too many to be able find enough combing through flea markets. So I buy new ones and then they just sit there as I wait, season after season, f...

It grows each year: my love for fall. Not to go too dark on you here but it shows us that life is somewhat fleeting. Autumn's arrival can take us by surprise, all dark and gloomy, making us swap flip-flops for boots. Bye-bye balmy nights and hello wind whipping around the house. The ground is covered in leaves and the outside world feels cold and uninviting.

But: it’s also a time for truly special moments of happiness that only this time of year brings. Fall is colorful and mystical and that li...

Once upon a time… Isn’t that how all good fairy tales start? Only this one isn’t fiction but actually happened all the way back in the 17th Century. There was a time when tulips were two-hundred-times more expensive than… gold! That in itself seems entirely crazy. Almost unimaginable is that the highest demand was for ‘infected’ tulips – but more on that later. These days, seeing tulips poke their little heads through frosty soil, announcing that spring has arrived, is an entirely ‘normal’ occur...

So, here’s a perfect example that you never stop learning in life – and the garden. Last year was the first time I stumbled across Hardy Annuals, also called Cool Flowers. It’s a concept that’s little known here in Germany, even though nature shows us how it's done every year. Sweet Pea "Hi Scent" And the best thing? Right NOW, when we’re lovingly looking at the last of our summer blooms and longing for spring, when we can start our annual seedling Kindergartens all over again – THAT’S when the ...