Author Archives: The Gardens Trust

La Bourdaisière is just one  small chateau  in the Loire Valley among dozens and dozens of others.  It sits on a rise dominating its immediate surroundings, and in the middle of its parc classé [the equivalent of a registered historic park … Continue reading →

I’m at the Gardens Trust conference in Oxford this weekend and thought it would be nice to blog about something related to our proceedings.  So I obtained an advance copy of the conference brochure which is, as always, packed with … Continue reading →

Happy St Fiacre’s Day!   [and if you don’t know who he is click on the link! ] which makes it a very  appropriate day for  today’s post which is all about this rather dull looking image on the right. … Continue reading →

Today’s post is quite long but needs just a very short introduction… What do the thousands of  white roses at Queen Victoria’s wedding have in common with mediaeval nuns, the philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s head,  what your great-aunt Agatha probably had … Continue reading →

Two recent posts have looked at the plant collecting and travels of William Burchell in  St Helena and his more famous trek across South Africa.  Today’s looks at the rest of his long life and especially his long plant hunting … Continue reading →