CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

  It’s the flowering season for fragrant meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria , the ‘Queen of the Meadows’, here in Durham - and bumblebees go wi...

 Stinking hellebore is an unappealing name for a very bee-friendly plant. It has been the epicentre of bumblebee activity in our garden ever...

 Himalayan balsam is notoriously invasive and the chances of ever eliminating it on a large scale seem negligible. Even when plants are pull...

 Flowers of goat'sbeard Tragopogon pratensis  always close at around mid-day, giving the plant its alternative name of Jack-go-to-bed-at...

  This shaggy member of the daisy family, with its beautifully geometric spiral pattern of unopened central florets, originates from the Him...

  February is the month when the tiny male cones of yew trees begin to shed their yellow pollen. These were photographed in Teesdale a coupl...

We found a population of about 30 broad-leaved helleborines Epipactis helleborine beside the Deerness Valley walk, a disused railway track ...

The Korean fir Abies koreana in our garden has been releasing vast amounts of pollen over the last few days.  T...

I've seen ants visiting small flowers before ( like this one visiting sea milkwort ) but I didn't notice the ant on this heath bedst...

If I was a fastidious gardener I'd probably have dug out the dandelions in our garden long before now because ...