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A blog about my garden, my inspiration to garden and things about gardening that make me happy. UK No: 1 Garden Blog 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 (Vuelio). Garden Media Guild Blog of the Year 2019

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Showing posts from January, 2026

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Hamamelis - light in the darkness

January 25, 2026

garden renovation Hamamelis Hamamelis intermedia x aphrodite my garden winter colour winter scent

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Plant of the Month January 2026 - Cornus 'Midwinter Fire'

January 22, 2026

Cornus 'Midwinter Fire' dogwood Irritating Plant of the Month Plant of the Month

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Madam and the wonky arch

January 15, 2026

Forest Whitby Arch garden arch gardening my garden winter garden tasks

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The Blackberry Garden Plant of the Year Award 2025

January 04, 2026

althaea cannabina Blackberry Garden Plant of the Year Award Chrysanthemum Mavis Smith gardening Mad about Mangave 'Praying Hands' my garden Plant of the Month Viola Bunny Ears

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End of Month Review - December 2025

January 01, 2026

cyclamen coum Daphne Jacqueline Postill End of month review End of month view my garden pleached hornbeam

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Garden Media Guild Blog of the Year 2019

Alison Levey: I have been writing about my garden on ‘The BlackberryGarden’ blog since 2011. I am an amateur and somewhat obsessed gardener and I am based in Leicester. I write about my own garden and what inspires me to garden: gardens I have visited, plant fairs and garden shows. I also review garden related books and products. The Blackberry Garden is not a ‘how to’ blog, the aim is to talk more about the enjoyment of gardening and it is read by people who garden and people who do not, all readers and followers are very welcome.

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End of Month Review November 2025

and then December started knocking on the door. Winter is coming, it feels like it has already arrived though the weather has oscillated between mild and sunny to cold frosty and rainy. November has been an all weather month. All weather apart from snow so far I suppose. The garden is cold and wet and thinking about Spring. I look at the colours of the emerging cyclamen leaves and love the glitter of their silvery finery. Every year more and more pop up in the garden. From a few pots planted over a few years there are now so so many. It is a joy. I can wait for Spring but seeing these now gives me real hopes for it. A couple of limp, soggy looking snowdrops keep appearing. They don't look hugely happy which is a bit of surprise as snowdrops expect to be cold and a bit soggy. Maybe they are awake just a little too early and not prepared for Winter yet. I am not sure I am prepared for Winter either. The lawns also hav...

Tree Following December 2025 - Oops

I have a confession to make. I did a bad thing. This is a beautiful, almost perfect quince. One of the four quinces that made it through to the ripening. Isn't she lovely? Isn't she beautiful.... But I did a bad thing; actually if I am being precise, I did not do a thing which is sort of different but the impact is the same. I did not pick them in time to use them all. This is casualty number 1. Casualty number 2. and yes you've guessed it.... Casualty number 3. On the plus side the birds and other wildlife have been enjoying them. Did I pick the last one standing to try and recover situation? (whispers) not yet - I don't really deserve any quinces do I? I shall do better next year, I have to. Take care and be kind. For more from the Blackberry Garden follow me on Bluesky Twitter X Facebook Instagram and Substack

Gone over, but not forgotten

There are still buds on some of the roses, I doubt they will come to much, but there they are, clinging on for every moment that they can. Meanwhile in the lounge, the last cut of the roses are looking a little, erm, dry. I keep walking past them and thinking 'I must deal with them'. I keep walking past them and thinking 'for heavens sake chuck them on the compost and clean out the favourite vase ready for next year'. Does this happen? It does not. Instead I start to walk past, pause and step back and look at them and think that in this dried state they have beauty. Of course dried flowers have great beauty, this is not news, but these are accidental dried flowers and are the product of inactivity rather than deliberate choice. Y et now they have become a deliberate choice. Now I look and make sure I notice them and they make me smile. I am not casting them out as I see their new beauty. This is not the beauty of them forming from buds, this is not the beau...

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©Alison Levey and Blackberry Garden, 2 February 2011 to 31 December 2026. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Alison Levey and Blackberry Garden with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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