White House Farm Open Day on Hydrangea aspera

“Per aspera ad astra“ That quote punningly just about sums up this season for Hydrangea aspera: translated as roughly ‘Through asperities (hardships, adversities, rigours) to the stars.’ The ‘aspera’ in H. aspera is usually taken to refer to the rough texture of the underside of the leaf, but I have not since 1976 experienced suchContinue reading “White House Farm Open Day on Hydrangea aspera”

Mahonias: mainstays of the garden from September to March

One of our main occupations at present is to review all genera in the collection here at White House Farm, with a view to completing an accurate database, and creating permanent labels. Trustees Chris Sanders, Jack Aldridge and Rod White have all recently been trawling through the Mahonia collection in a valiant attempt to sortContinue reading “Mahonias: mainstays of the garden from September to March”