The latest from Carol's beautiful cottage garden… plus her diary for the week!

As the sun sinks over the moat encircling Columbine Hall, reflections of the manor house stretch and soften on the still surface of the water. This is a profoundly romantic setting and, along with the

The sweet violet, Viola odorata, may be a diminutive flower, but its small, slightly asymmetrical, pansy-like flowers are highly fragrant. They open in early spring before most plants have even though

Erysimum Rysi Copper One of the definitions of a wallflower is that of a shy and awkward person with whom nobody wants to dance: I am sure we have all felt like that at some point in our adolescence.

In this new series, I’ll explore just how clever plants are, the complex ways in which they respond to the environment around them, the adaptations they make and the survival strategies they employ. I

Clouds of noxious gas, stink bombs and purple smokescreens may sound like schoolboy pranks, but the animal world is just as capable of executing arresting chemical warfare, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee