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In May, I will be in London with a tour group, visiting the Chelsea Flower Show, which this year runs from May 21 to 25 in its usual spot on the grounds of the Chelsea Hospital by the Thames. This is always an exciting event. Chelsea is the world’s premier show. There...

Back in my garden today after five weeks away, leading garden tours in England, Wales and Ireland, and I already see how much work I need to do. There is so much morning glory. It has grown everywhere. How has it managed to get a hold so fast in such a short time. Jet-lag meant I woke early this morning and was...

The recent devastating dam disaster in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil, made me think back to our visit to the region in 2013 to see Inhotim, the fabulous garden/art complex, located in the same area as the dam, just a short distance from Belo Horizonte. Dam disaster in Minas Gervais, Brazi

We came to Ireland to see gardens and to experience Irish hospitality and culture. And today we did all of these things when we visited two of Dublin’s loveliest private gardens, one owned by Mark and Olive Wilkinson and the other by Patricia and Michael Maguire. We arrived at the Wilkinson’s garden at Tyrrelstown first thing in the morning and...

Pleaching is a clever technique that involves twining together the branches of a row of closely planted trees to create a stylish, formal hedge-on-stilts. It’s not something you see here in Canada or even in the U.S. much. But in Holland, and especially in France, you see it everywhere. Some of the best examples I’ve seen include rows of pleached chestnuts in...

In 2017, I visited Ireland with friends, after being in England’s Lake District and North Wales.From Dublin, we went down the east coast to Wexford and Waterford, seeing some fabulous gardens on the way.It was a glorious adventure. The gardens of Ireland are simply fantastic, far better than I ever imagined. I am still talking today about how wonderful...

Today I'm delighted to announce the release of my two novels, Paperboy and Roland. Both books are now available in ebook form as well as paperback from Amazon and major book stores. Two novels, Paperboy and Roland, by Steve Whysall, published 2025 I began writing Paperboy when I retired in 2017 and worked intermittently on the manuscript for a couple of...

Oh my, time once again to put the garden to bed for winter. Kew has mighty forklifts to place heavy citrus box planters into storage. But I have my own heavy-lifting apparatus - my son, Peter, who comes, without complaining every October, to help me lift heavy pots of tender plants into their winter quarters where they will be protected...

It is only a few weeks now until the start of our fabulous 15-day Ireland Grand Circle Tour which will start in Dublin on Oct. 1. (THIS TOUR IS NOW SOLD OUT)The tour will sweep around the picturesque south and beautiful west coast of the island, up to the north, with visits to Derry, Belfast and the Giant’s Causeway and...

Our last few days in Berlin were spent visiting Museum Island in the centre of the city.We also took the train to Charlottenburg Palace on the outskirts of Berlin and also enjoyed an open-top boat ride on the Spree River.On Museum Island, we visited the Pergamon Panorama, a 360-degree multi-media presentation designed to take you back 1,900 years to...

It’s not at all unusual for gardeners to grow old and discover they are unable to take care of their garden as well as they would like. It’s a sad but common eventuality. And what often happens is that such gardens - even very beautiful ones that have taken years and years...

Our 13-day Beautiful Cities Tour to Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Bratislava was a great success with everyone returning home happy and healthy after what was an exciting and action-packed trip. It was our 31st tour and many of the people who came had travelled with us  before. This made it feel like a reunion with everyone sharing stories of past...

Dozens of people have travelled with us over the years - to China, South Africa, Japan, France, Italy, England, Ireland, Spain and on and on. We have done a total of 32 tours. Each time we go, we like to take a few group shots. Here are some taken over the years. Enjoy spotting your friends. Florence South Africa 2012 Lunch on...

My next garden tour-adventure will be a 13-day Beautiful Cities Tour from May 17-29, starting in Berlin, then moving on to Prague and concluding in Vienna with a side trip to Bratislava in Slovakia.(AS OF JAN. 4, THIS TOUR IS NOW SOLD OUT)This tour will be a fabulous trip to some of Europe’s most beautiful, historic and culturally delightful...

Not sure what this has to do with gardening, except that I saw this demonstration at the Chelsea Flower Show in May and was quite amazed. Here you see artist Adrian Grey balancing a very large, heavy stone at an impossibly acute angle on another large boulder. At first, I thought he was just pretending to be a living sculpture, holding...

We've done 32 garden tours over the past 10 years. It's been great fun. We have had many, many party times with friends on trips. It has been a blast! Here's to the happy memories. Love and happiness to you all. Steve and Loraine Lyme Regis Venice Whiskey tasting, Dublin Ricks Aix rn Provence Spain Italy The Harp Pub, London France London Japan

We travelled in a luxury double-decker coach from Berlin to Prague, stopping on the way in Dresden where we had a splendid lunch and time to shop and look around.Dresden was tragically bombed during the Second World War and much of its heritage downtown was turned into rumble.  Dresden area next to the Church of Our Lady Over the past 20...

Just to get those creative juices flowing as you step into the garden this spring and think, hey, what can I do that is new and fun and different. Here are a few silly, serious, fun and quirky ideas to make you think outside the box. Cup of alliums. Okay, too late to plant alliums, but how about a big jug of...

My 15-day Ireland Grand Circle Tour was inspired by the desire to see more of Ireland - the parts we missed on our first Ireland tour in 2017.Seven years ago, we visited beautiful gardens in Dublin including Cork House, Knockrose and Tyrellstown as well as some of the finest gardens outside of the capital such as Powerscourt and Mount...

The Garden Tours Reunion Party on Sept 2 - a celebration of the 22 garden tours I have led over the past nine years - was a big success. Eight-two people attended the event at the Shadbolt Centre at Deer Lake in Burnaby, next door to one of the nicest gardens in the Lower Mainland, Century Garden. The Cory Weeds Trio...