HeyJaredPen And Trowel
Advice and information for those with larger gardens but not necessarily larger budgets.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
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- Sep 29, 2026
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- Aug 18, 2026
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Plant Files: Franklinia alatamaha (opens the original)
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Exciting news! The young plant of Franklinia alatamaha at Trewithen, down in mid Cornwall has flowered.You can entirely be forgiven for never having heard of this plant. It was discovered growing on a river bank in Georgia, USA, in 1778 and hasn’t been seen in the wild since 1803. This plant is considered completely extinct in the wild, with every plant in cultivation a descendent of that original 18th century introduction.It’s fairly rare in cultivation. You will need to buy it from a specialis
Shed And Shelves: The Light Eaters (opens the original)
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In 1995 the BBC broke away from its animal-centred wildlife documentaries to give us The Private Life Of Plants, a six part series where just a few mysteries of the plant world were brought to the public’s attention.Each episode was themed – Travelling, Growing, Flowering, The Social Struggle, Living Together and Surviving – and showed how just a few members of the plant world go about their business. It was a groundbreaking series, not only because it was the first series that the BBC had done
X-raying Your Garden (opens the original)
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A rather helpful hang-on from the Covid-19 era is the online lecture. A lot of people like to go out in the evening and sit in a village hall to listen to someone speak, drink tea and meet other people, but I’m not one of them. It’s not just that I’ve never been particularly sociable as a person; by the time I’ve got home from work it would have to be a quick turnaround before I had to head back out again.By contrast an online talk means that I can get clean, change my clothing and cook my eveni
Plant Files: Heptacodium miconioides (opens the original)
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Autumn is the dominion of the aster, and so may it continue. From the tasteful whites and pale pastels through to the lurid pinks, I’m here for them all. The strong and clear light of summer is giving way to a gentler, easier light and we can afford to embrace colours that would have been hideous a matter of weeks ago.This is not to say that there aren’t other plants to enjoy, albeit there aren’t as many woody plants. Most trees and shrubs flower early in the year and produce their fruits in aut
Burning Out (opens the original)
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I had great plans for this, my 201st Substack article.The overriding reason why this will not be a Pen And Trowel Special is that I’m absolutely exhausted. This year has sapped so much energy from me. I’ve not been well for a few months, and while I’m nearly better I’ve still got to be careful. Exhaustion doesn’t help. The challenges of summer swelled my workload but not my reward, so I’ve spent enormous amounts of physical and mental energy and feel like I have nothing to show for it. Keeping g
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