'February' from Eliot Hodgkin's 'The Months, 1951. Other than a succulent stalk of forced rhubarb, and a florist's tulip, garden flowers now predominate. There's early primula allionii, dainty snowdrops, iris reticulata, celandine, sprays of daphne and winter jasmine, and two gladiolus bulbs.

It's pussy willow time! I don't know who the photographer is and some of the names seem questionable, but what a brilliant depiction of the different varieties. Each would have had unique properties for basket weavers.

Transatlantic alliance in 1929. British sweet pea breeder Henry Eckford (r) visiting Philadelphia breeder W Atlee Burpee in Burpee's garden. Eckford transformed the sweet pea at his nursery in Wem, Shropshire, raising 153 beautiful, large-flowered cultivars.

Alpine Pansy, Wills's cigarette cards, date unknown.

Just round the corner... Artist Angela J Simpson.

Wishing you a happy, healthy and peaceful 2026 and a year full of gardening enjoyment. Eliot Hodgkin, 'January', from 'The Months', 1950.

Wishing all you lovely people a very Merry Christmas. 'Forcing Garden in Winter', from Humphry Repton's 'Fragments on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening', 1816.

LOST APPLE 'RYMER' REDISCOVERED! Thanks to amazing sleuthing by Stephen Ainsleigh Rice in England and Gary Sully in Australia, this wonderful cooking apple has been confirmed rediscovered. Believed lost for nearly 100 years, DNA testing shows it was a grandparent of Bramley. 1/3

'December' from Eliot Hodgkin's 'The Months', 1950. The first Christmas roses, seasonal greenery, a dainty indoor cyclamen, a shop-bought anemone, a clementine from Spain and two shy early violets, with their promise of spring.

'Exhibition Extraordinary at the Horticultural Society of London' (later the RHS), George Cruikshank, 1826, City of London archives. Presiding over this mockery of the Society's pomposity sit the chairman, John Elliott, 1/2

The Greenhouse and The Garden, Eric Ravilious, 1932

A selection of more than 100 varieties of apple grown at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, in Norfolk, displayed and labelled for its annual Apple Day.

'November' from Eliot Hodgkin's 'The Months', 1950. A brocade-coloured chrysanthemum, reddening geranium leaves, the first blanched chicory, arbutus unedo fruits, bulbs and seeds for autumn planting.

Not from Britain, but such a beautiful photo. Workers stripping jasmine flowers for the perfume industry in 1915, at a convent turned into a factory in Notre Dame des Fleurs, Grasse, Southern France. The fragrance must have been intoxicating! Meanwhile, further north, war raged ...

A good haul (and a well-loved, hand-knitted gardening cardigan)! Found, mid-century photo.

Golden Crab Apples, Eliot Hodgkin, 1957, private collection.

First published in 1956, and written by Sir Sacheverell Sitwell, 6th baronet (1897-1988, brother of the eccentric Dame Edith), this remains an excellent bibliographical record of two centuries of finely-illustrated flower books from around the world.

'October' from Eliot Hodgkin's 'The Months', 1951. Cooking apples take centre stage, flanked by grapes, fungi and the first celery and Brussels sprouts. There's a button chrysanthemum, fluffy Old Man's Beard, a shiny conker and a reddening leaf of Virginia Creeper.

'The Garden', Charles Mahoney, 1950

Tea in the garden for an unknown Edwardian family.

'Yellow Ox-eye daisies', Charles Mahoney (1903-1968), Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Mahoney painted this post-war study of telekia speciosa at his garden in Wrotham, Kent, where he had constructed his studio from munition packing cases.

September from The Months, Eliot Hodgkin, 1950. A soft orange dahlia takes centrepiece, alongside the first sweetcorn cob and first of the autumn apples. There are delicate trails of Virginia creeper and blackberries, and a sprinkling of mushrooms and nuts.

A very interesting new article on Joseph and Florence Pemberton and their rose introductions (Buff Beauty probably being the most famous) on The Garden History blog. thegardenhistory.blog/2025/08/30/j...

All I can discover about this painting of terraced back gardens is that the artist is an E N Thurston and that it is 'vintage'. Does anyone know more?

Postcard of an impressively dressed Edwardian couple on their allotment, 1905. Annotated 78 Cornwall Road, Kettering - probably their home address.

With allotments under new threat, enjoy this short BBC film from 1971. Allotments aren't just about produce, they're also about community ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wci...

'Miss Edith Inspects the Sweetpea', by London artist Charles Mahoney, c.1934. The artwork depicts Mahoney's landlady overseeing work in her garden, and the painting was a significant contribution to the artist's 1976 posthumous exhibition.

August from Eliot Hodgkin's 'The Months', 1950. The colours are warm and rich - vibrant zinnias, cuckoo pint berries, the rust of a sorrel flower, the first pear, apricot and mushrooms of the year, and, by contrast, a cluster of snowberries and a pale ear of wheat.

Hop picking in Yalding, Kent, 1944. Londoners from the East End joined locals for several weeks each summer, staying in tin huts with straw mattresses and cooking on camp-fires. Despite the hard work, it is remembered with fondness by many London children.

Nectarines were a surprisingly popular fruit among Victorian gardeners, who generally had to grow them under glass. 'Victoria' was most probably introduced by Rivers Nursery of Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire in the 1840s to mark the new Queen's accession.

Land girls harvesting tomatoes, Lea Valley, Hertfordshire, 1944. Although enjoyed in salads, the tomato was still approached with caution in the UK. As a young man during WWII my father was warned by his doctor that they could cause appendicitis.

Land girls harvesting tomatoes, Lea Valley, Hertfordshire, 1944. Although enjoyed in salads, the tomato was still approached with caution in the UK. As a young man during WWII my father was warned by his doctor that they could cause appendicitis.

July from Eliot Hodgkin's 'The Months', 1950. A superb globe artichoke takes centre stage, surrounded by heady white nicotiana flowers, a variegated carnation, cornflower, begonia and Chinese forget-me-not. There are luscious summer berries but also the sinister touch of deadly nightshade.

The Dunbar family in the garden at The Cedars, Spring; Evelyn Dunbar, 1938. Evelyn's father, William, is presenting eggs to her mother, Florence. Evelyn is playing badminton with her sister Jessie, and her siblings Marjorie, Alec and Ronald also appear.

I suspect (am not certain) that this lovely Edwardian photograph was by Etheldreda Laing (1872-1960), a gifted amateur photographer, renowned for her images of daily life at the family home, Bury Knowle House, in Oxford. She was particularly fond of photographing hollyhocks.

Aster Alpinus (alpine daisy), plate from William Curtis' Botanical Magazine, 1 August 1792.

The Land Girl magazine was launched on 1 April 1940 at the price of 4d to help the girls feel less isolated. It became so popular (selling 21,000 copies a week) that the Ministry of Agriculture decided to fund its production. The last edition was published in March 1947.

Dachshund assistant gardeners, 1910 postcard. No such help from our mini-wirehair - his specialism is sunbathing 😂

The Elton Cherry, William Hooker, Pomona Londiniensis, 1817. Raised by Thomas Andrew Knight at Elton Hall, Herefordshire in 1806 from Bigarreau and White Heart. It is still obtainable and still delicious!

The Hawthorn Horse, Oakham, Rutland, 1932. Situated at the corner of Cemetery Road and Station Road, this topiary horse was a local attraction. It was in the paddock of Mr J Littler, a veterinary surgeon. The Old Barn, now Oakham School shop, can be seen to the right.

Hampstead Heath allotments, 1941. Photo ©Hulton-Deutsch Collection.

Three popular Victorian apples and their blossom: Braddick's Nonpareil, King of Pippins and Belle de Pontoise.

Eleanour Sinclair Rohde (1881-1950) was a Surrey garden designer and horticultural writer - the first woman to design a show garden at Chelsea. In 1940 she published The Wartime Vegetable Garden, a beginner's guide to growing produce, complete with recipes.

'May' from 'The Months', Eliot Hodgkin, 1951. There's double hawthorn (may blossom), fragrant lily of the valley, magnolia stellata, a tiny red azalea, a head of rhubarb flower, broad beans and the first summer fruits and (I think) a thrush's egg.

Beatrix Potter, background study for The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, c.1903.

A gardener in the grounds of Westminster Cathedral watering vegetables in a plot formed from a bomb crater left after a German air raid on London, July 1942.

'Easter Monday' by Winifred Nicolson, 1950, Tullie House Gallery, Carlisle. I love Winifred Nicolson's work and have a print of this favourite by the kitchen armchair where I cosy up to read.

Happy Easter, from our home to yours!

Blossom is so often overlooked when we choose a new apple tree, but as this wonderful montage from @thepackingshedtamar on IG shows, some varieties have especially beautiful flowers. Scent also varies greatly from variety to variety.

It will soon be lilac time and here is one of the loveliest whites, Madame Lemoine, bred by the incomparable Victor Lemoine of Nancy in 1890. It received an RHS AGM in 1937 and remains popular on both sides of the Channel. Photographer unknown.