Transatlantic Plantsman

My new blog on new plants

I’ve started a new blog.

Going by the impressively catchy title of New Plants and Trials, it began last week on the Royal Horticultural Society’s website. You’ll find it here.

I’m sharing the space with the Trials Office at the RHS garden at Wisley: I’ll be posting about new plants and Ali Cundy, Trials Recorder for the RHS at Wisley, will be posting about the many and varied trials on flowers and food crops which the RHS runs every year.

Why not take a look? I've just started a series of three posts on new hardy geraniums. And while you’re there look over the other RHS blogs including one by the Curator of the garden at Wisley, Jim Gardiner. I’ll post an occasional catch-up list here – just so you know what you’re missing if you don’t pop over and check it out.

That’s my new blog - New Plants and Trials - over on the Royal Horticultural Society’s website.

White Bird of Paradise

Yes, yes… I worked in the Palm House at Kew so I should know this plant. Well, perhaps I did water it every day, but that was a long long time ago - perhaps I’ve just forgotten it. But coming across it in the new catalog from Stokes Tropicals that just arrived it really looked amazing. Strelitzia nicolai, it’s called and it’s a huge, 20ft, white-flowered version of the familiar orange Bird of Paradise. Likes the same conditions, too, so shouldn’t be too tricky to grow – if you have a conservatory big enough or if you garden in zone 10… Florida perhaps.

Then I found it on the University of British Columbia’s exceptional Botany Photo of the Day blog – with some startling pictures.

And all I can say is this:
1. Go check it out on Botany Photo of the Day blog here
2. If you’re in the US you can order a plant from Stokes Tropicals here
3. If you’re in the UK, the RHS PlantFinder lists a good number of mail order stockists here

Enough said.

Happy Birthday Transatlantic Plantsman!

It’s one year today since I started this blog… Almost 160 posts, countless pictures and plenty of interesting comments from you the readers. During this time I’ve featured some stunning new plants, like Impatiens ‘Fusion Peach Frost’ (pictured) from both sides of the Atlantic, some excellent books, and I’ve occasionally stretched the horticultural point a little to include fish and music. Sadly, I couldn’t find a way to include the startlingly inventive Imagined Village, a “folk” band featuring ex-punk Billy Bragg and veteran folkie Martin Carthy whom I saw recently in England,. On the other hand…

Thank you for your comments and suggestions, those posted publicly and those emailed privately, and here’s to another year of Transatlantic Plantsman.

I‘ll be recommending some recent books in the run up to the holidays… but, if I might be so bold, perhaps you’d be kind enough to take a look at my own books in the column to the left and see if any would make suitable gifts for your family or friends in the coming holiday season.

How to read blogs – by request

A number of readers, especially in England, are new to blogs and have asked about how to read blogs and how to find out when there’s a new post at Transatlantic Plantsman.

The Simplest Way

1. Bookmark/Favorite Transatlantic Plantsman - http://TransatlanticPlantsman.com – just like any other website.
2. Click on it whenever you remember.

Better still, and still very easy

1. Bookmark/Favorite the site, as above.
2. Enter your email address in the window above the Subscribe button, top right, click the button and follow the simple steps. Then, whenever there’s something new to read, you’ll receive an email to prompt you to take a look. You can either follow the link in the email, or click on your Bookmark/Favorite.

Simple way for people already reading blogs

1. Click the Subscribe to this blog's feed link, top right.
2. Some browsers will simply let you Bookmark/Favorite the page (e.g. the latest Firefox or latest Explorer) and will automatically bring up the most recent posts.
3. Otherwise, it will open up a window allowing you to click on buttons through which you can easily subscribe using one of the popular blog readers. If you’re already set up with a reader, it should be there.

If you don’t have a blog reader and think you might want to read lots of blogs

• Sign up with a free reader and I suggest Bloglines, a service which checks the blogs you want to read and highlights new posts. (There are other similar services.) It’s easy to set up, just follow it step-by-step.

If you use the Firefox browser…

• The Sage reader is excellent. It creates a sidebar which lists the blogs to which you subscribe, and highlights in bold those with new posts. One click, and all the posts appear in the browser window. This is what I use.

Searching for a blog?

1. Try Google Blog Search
2. Or try Technorai Blog Search

Ten recommended blogs
Finally, to get you started, here are ten recommended gardening and plant blogs from the UK and USA. There are more in the sidebar over on the right.

GardenWeb’s Garden Voices
Daily highlights from the gardening blogs

Garden Rant
Firm opinion, with an endearing touch of justified hysteria from Susan Harris, Elizabeth Licata, Michelle Owens and Amy Stewart. Superb. There are links to their own individual blogs too.

Horticultural
Jane Perrone's organic allotment and garden blog from England.

Invasive Plants in Arlington
Photo diary or working on non-native, invasive plants in Arlington, Virginia.

Mostlymacro
Sightings and photographs from the natural world in Yorkshire, England.
http://mostlymacro.blogspot.com/index.html

Irene's Garden and Beyond
New York Newsday’s gardening columnist Irene Virag on her garden and beyond

GardenDesignOnline
Gardening and landscape design with attitude from Jane Berger in Washington DC and Woods Hole, Massechussets.

Cold Climate Gardening
Hardy plants for hardy souls from Kathy Purdy in zone 4, New York state.

A Study in Contrasts
Mostly garden-related musings of a transplant living near the sandy shores of Lake Erie.

May Dreams Gardens
From Indiana, including the Garden Bloggers' Book Club