For as long as I can remember plants have captivated me - whether on a windowsill, in a bouquet, a garden, a flower meadow, a wood, as the subject matter of books and art, or even on textiles and wrapping paper. I am interested in the history of gardens and garden design, the plant hunters and how professional horticulture has developed and changed. I love floristry and botanical art, and I get excited about gardening in all its modern guises - from community gardening to pop up gardens and guerrilla gardening. And though botany et al. is not my forte, I also find science fascinating.  Anything, as long as it has plants in it, really.

I can't be the only one with such a wide-ranging "green spleen". So I intend to fortnightly write about whatever takes my fancy and hope you will enjoy it, too.