These sad looking plants are actually a successful experiment. For the past few years I have been growing autumn crocuses in pots. But they have been quite miserable and floppy and not pretty, and I have been trying to work out what they need. First, a bit of terminology. While officially the term “autumn crocus”…

Flower arranging for beginners – bung a gladiolus in a bottle. If I leg it out fast enough, I can usually snip these “Priscilla” gladioli at just the right moment – when the majority of the flowers on the spike have opened, but before the Irish wind snaps them.