We have a Paul McCartney in our garden – it’s the lovely rose created by French rose breeder Alain Meilland in 1988. It was paid for and named by EMI, the record company that issued all Beatles records in the 1960s. This was EMI’s 50th birthday present to Sir Paul
In late spring one corner of the huge Richmond Park harbours an oasis of exotic blooms, which is the Isobella Plantation. This woodland park was created in the 1830s, when former Prime Minister Lord Sidmouth, then the Deputy Ranger of Richmond Park, wooded off a boggy corner of the park
March is the month of Camellias. I have three blooming in my garden. Chiswick House has 32 in the conservatory alone – home to the oldest collection of camellias under cover in England. Camellias come from Eastern and Southern Asia. Botanist Karl Linnaeus, who classified all our plants, named it
