Plants from Ashbrook Nursery near Arbroath.

Added by John Gordon at 14:25 on 25 April 2023

I am often asked by customers “ Where is the best place to buy plants?” . Apart from trying to plug my own service, I always recommend Ashbrook Nursery. It is my go-to nursery for many of the flowering herbaceous perennials I supply. Although there are some plant retailers closer to me...

Wildflower seeding, problems & solutions

Added by John Gordon at 12:06 on 13 March 2023

I have been offering my gardening service for nearly 30 years to both private and commercial clients. Although an eco-friendly approach has always been around during this time, it is now starting to become increasingly popular with sowing mixes of wildflower seeds to attract pollinators, particularl...

How to choose the best climbers for your garden

Added by John Gordon at 20:17 on 09 March 2023

There is lots of information on the internet and in books on climbers and specific species of climbers on how to plant and care for them. The aim here to provide a brief over view of climbers , from my experiences in the gardening industry , to help you decide which type of climbers are most suitabl...

What is ecology and biodiversity

Added on 24 January 2023

There are a number of ways of defining ecology. Here I define ecology by the definition given by ecologists Robert Ricklefs & Rick Relyea (2014) as ‘the scientific study of the abundance and distribution of organisms in relation to other organisms and environmental conditions.’ Or mo...

What are the criteria for eco friendly gardens?

Added on 24 January 2023

Many of us, whether having busy working lifestyles or older retirees, want to follow a more environmentally responsible route in our gardens but can be put off by a number of perceived factors such as the garden may not be big enough, it’s hard work, the lack of required knowledge, fear that t...

What’s a UK native plant and what’s a non-native plant?

Added on 24 January 2023

A plant is considered a UK native if it arrived here naturally ie. without any human influence. These are plants evidenced through fossil records to have arrived here between the finish of the last ice age around 9500 years BC when our island was connected via a land bridge with mainland Europe and ...