Hints & Tips

With decades of experience growing and critiquing thousands of plant varieties, Bob Brown shares his passion, expertise and candid opinions on all things horticulture. From practical gardening advice to deep dives into hardy perennials, this blog is a resource to inspire and inform gardeners of all levels.

Hints & Tips

Adults only

Adults only

Lavatory humour? In plant names? Well, yes, but only with some imagination.

Adults only

Lavatory humour? In plant names? Well, yes, but only with some imagination.

Clematis Cuttings

Clematis Cuttings

You can propagate clematis in several ways but May is the time to take semi-ripe cuttings. The critical test is to bend the shoot and discover where soft growth runs...

Clematis Cuttings

You can propagate clematis in several ways but May is the time to take semi-ripe cuttings. The critical test is to bend the shoot and discover where soft growth runs...

Pot Drainage

Pot Drainage

Gardeners don’t like throwing things away. If you need evidence look in your garden shed or, indeed, at the plants in your garden. And, if you can bring yourself to...

Pot Drainage

Gardeners don’t like throwing things away. If you need evidence look in your garden shed or, indeed, at the plants in your garden. And, if you can bring yourself to...

Son, Sex and Sambucus

Son, Sex and Sambucus

I am proud to announce that my son Edmund is a plant nerd! His wife jokes that hourssearching the net are for a special kind of pornography called Sambucus that...

Son, Sex and Sambucus

I am proud to announce that my son Edmund is a plant nerd! His wife jokes that hourssearching the net are for a special kind of pornography called Sambucus that...

Digging up Celandines, Grape Hyacinths and Bluebells

Digging up Celandines, Grape Hyacinths and Blue...

March and April are good times to begin the long eradication of these plants. Of course not everyone views them as undesirable – they are easy to grow, colourful, present for...

Digging up Celandines, Grape Hyacinths and Blue...

March and April are good times to begin the long eradication of these plants. Of course not everyone views them as undesirable – they are easy to grow, colourful, present for...

How to grow Frits

How to grow Frits

Gardening is suffused with actions based not on reality and best practice but misinformed common knowledge. (If I use the phrase ‘Old Wive’s Tales’ I worry about the insult to...

How to grow Frits

Gardening is suffused with actions based not on reality and best practice but misinformed common knowledge. (If I use the phrase ‘Old Wive’s Tales’ I worry about the insult to...