Homes & Gardens

The RSPCA is warning gardeners to tread carefully to avoid harming the wildlife which may be living in their gardens.

Every year the RSPCA receives calls about animals with distressing and often fatal garden injuries which in most cases are completely avoidable.

Past cases include a toad with its hind legs chopped off by a strimmer, a hedgehog burnt in pampas grass clearance, a blackbird speared by a garden fork and a toad stuck in a watering can.

Already this spring we have seen several hedgehogs caught by strimmers, a snake fatally injured by a lawnmower in...

Back in the autumn of 2011, the quest began to uncover parts of the garden at Overbeck’s that had been closed for over 30 years. After nine months of hard work by the garden team a path 103 meters long has been re-opened. It follows the line of an old route through the woodland which leads to an area beloved by Otto Overbeck – his 50ft high natural rock garden. The area is particularly sheltered, even by Overbeck’s standards, and Head Gardener Cat Saunders has started planting palms and other sub tropical plants down there already. "As I led my team through the undergrowth I didn’t know...

It may be too late to get tickets for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show but there is still plenty visitors can do to get into the Chelsea mood at RHS Garden Rosemoor. The garden is looking wonderful with cheerful daffodils, woodlanders such as Trilliums, alliums, and fresh new growth unfurling in the Rock Gully. The many fruit trees are putting on exquisite blossom displays, too. If you were thinking about seeing the show gardens at Chelsea take a trip to the model gardens at Rosemoor instead. They share a similar focus on garden design and future similarly intricate planting. Irises are also...

Following the recent good weather spring is finally taking hold at Killerton. The garden and surrounding countryside, after enduring a long winter, have quickly adjusted to the warmer weather almost overnight. Gardeners and countryside team members have been stunned by the sudden appearance of spring flowers and abundance of wildlife in a burst of spring activity.

As a result of the sudden weather change, the swallows and house martins are finally back, and are even more active than normal. After months of little or no sightings, the sudden appearance of these birds have delighted...