The Garden Log

Celebrating the beauty and strangeness of plants.
This week we lope into the half-shade with graceful Magnolia kobus, elegant Abutilon 'Patrick Synge' and the monstrous Hydrangea aspera 'Bellevue', before bursting into the light with golden Acacia pravissima (the sawtooth wattle), duskyVitis vinifera 'Incana', and the tiny-leaved Myrtus communis subsp. tarentina.
Also featuring one of the finest accounts of plant hunting The Mountains of the Moon and a recommendation of what to read in gardening this this week.
https://www.thegardencollective.uk/ben-dark/
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/463428/green-kingdom-by-dark-ben/9781847928337

An existential defence of high maintenance gardening. Why should we strive for ease when working outside feels so good? With some carex, some meristems and some plant morphology for good measure.
And thank you for preordering Green Kingdom! https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/463428/green-kingdom-by-dark-ben/9781847928337

In this post-rain episode of cult gardening podcast The Garden Log we say goodbye to the universal uncle Monty Don who is to retire from Gardeners' World.
But our Gardeners' World keeps turning, so also enjoy introductions to the gorgeous autumn snowflake (Acis autumnalis) and the Corsican knotweed (Polygonum scoparium) a must-have evergreen perennial for the dry garden.

In this late summer sunset of an episode Ben visits Down House, home of Charles Darwin, considers the hybrid geranium and praises the Michaelmas daisy.
Any emails to thegardenlogpodcast@gmail.com

Are the best gardens designed or created? Why are there beetles crawling on my World of Interiors magazine? What cut flowers would go with my collection of pornographic postcards? These and other important questions answered in the guide to effortless good taste.
For more of this sort of thing join me at https://www.thegardencollective.uk/ben-dark/