Sydenham Town Forum

re +- of qualifications. The RHS is considered the creme de la creme but there maybe this is just elitism. City & Guilds qualifications are widely recognised and last year I had a City & Guild horticultural student with me doing a work placement - on questioning, and working with her what sh...

It is winter flowering honeysuckle? Lonicera purpusii - possible 'fragrantissima'. Can be a bit of a thug - but can be very fragrant, and has that appeal of flowering on the bare stems. I have 4 - having been given 2, then some years ago I had 2 cuttings which I had labelled - 'Trachelospermum jasmi...

A propos the question of using qualified gardeners, when people are looking to use the services of the gardener they can always enquire what qualifications they have - general horticultural qualifications can be be awarded by the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) and City & Guilds. These are bot...

Maybe this is Tim's personal gardening blog but there's some handy hints and tips sprinkled about (or should that be sown about!). There are plenty of "what to do this month" guides but they can either be rather too prescriptive or can get you down if you haven't been able to keep on top o...

Mahonia x media 'Charity' has more upright standing racemes of flowers - so the overall effect is rather like a goblet shape - rather than the drooping effect of other Mahonia flowers. It is a large variety getting to 4m if not unchecked. There is a newer variety which is completely spineless and ha...

I’ve just acquired two red-stemmed Dogwood – Cornus alba ‘sibirica’ – Dogwood which I couldn’t resist to add drama to the winter garden. Impulse buy? Possibly but I do have a position in mind which is in between 2 winter-flowering honeysuckles – Lonicera x purpusii – Winter honeysuckle so the delica...

Holy Trinity Lennard Road run a food back alongside their Living Well Project which is open every Friday. Although food bank donations tend to be of the "storage cupboard" variety it may be worthwhile having a word with them as they also provide lunches so may have more capacity to take ot...