The Green Queen

14/06/2026

🍅🪴🌸 I’ll be here with a selection of ornamental garden plants, house plants and veg 🥬 from 10am Sat 20th June!

Please pop along and help raise funds to keep this community building open and running.

28/05/2026

Babies are dying. Simple. Please put water out, clean water, large bowl for mammals and small dishes for birds, thank you 🙏

RESCUE. Rehab. Release.

How you can save lives…

Boom boom was spotted by his guardians after his parent disappeared four days ago.
He was collapsed and panting and as soon as he was brought indoors he fell asleep, apparently dehydrated and exhausted.

Our rescuer quickly rushed him to Mallydams, the wildlife hospital, where he will be properly assessed and treated and we are keeping our fingers crossed for him. The finders also took a really useful video showing his breathing rate which we were able to pass on to Mallydams before his arrival to help with his initial assessment.

Cubs who are orphaned can be viable at this age but, without a parent , may struggle to find food and, in this heatwave, particularly water.

Please take a minute to help all wild life by putting out shallow bowls of water.

You can save lives from mammals to the tiniest insects, they need you right now more than ever.

21/05/2026

From ❄️ to 🌞 in just a few weeks!

And if your in coastal area of Sussex like me, we’re still facing a drought problem.

What will I be doing in my garden?

🌱 I’ll be moving my cuttings into a shady area during the hottest days.

💧 a sprinkle of water each early morning. Focusing on pots, adding dishes to them.

🌿 adding mulch to exposed soil, around the base of plants to shade root systems.

💡 TIP: If you don’t have mulch pop to your local roadside and collect some young Bracken (it looks like fern on a single stem) it’s great to lie around the ground, and will feed the soil as it breaks down.

🍸 Wash and top up water stations for the wildlife 🦊 🐝.

🪏 avoid disturbing soil, the critters will be sheltering 🪱.

‼️ But most importantly… don’t over think it. The gardens are looking absolutely fabulous and this May heat is exactly what they, and we need, the life giver 🌞

🏖️ Remember to bask yourself in the sunshine and let that healing radiate throughout you. Enjoy!

12/05/2026

It doesn’t have to be all ferns 🌿

North facing courtyard?

When I moved here 4 years ago this garden was decked, empty and cold.

I have enjoyed trying things and see how they go.

Going against “the label” seems to suit my personality 😝

it’s full shade until May, then part shade throughout summer. But during midday hours it gets enough sun, plus I compost straight into a corner of the beds, literally our raw food waste, weeds and cuttings go onto a heap and feed the soil.

I’ve successfully grown:
Clematis - Astra Nova & Ernest Markham
Perennial sunflower
Shasta Daisy
Roses - wild and hybrid tea
Sea thrift
Crocosmia
Sorrel
Calendula
Osteospermum
Fuchsia - the lovely “fat” one 🥰
Gaura
Verbena - vervain and bonariensis
Michaelmas Daisy - gorgeous hybrid I don’t have the label 😭 (not the common one)
Aquilegia
Star Jasmin
Acer
Ornamental Lillies
And recently added a little apple tree which bore fruit 🍎

What have you grown against all odds in a tricky spot?

30/04/2026

Great advice, have a look before your spray! Or better yet don’t spray at all ☺️

Pardon the long post but I talk about this a lot. I found this on a Facebook site called Kindness for All Living Beings. It's a great illustration and explanation of why you should not spray for aphids in the spring!

Quoting their post starting below.

"The first aphids of spring just appeared on your roses. Your instinct is to grab the spray bottle immediately. That instinct is about to cost you the best pest control team you'll never have to pay for.

Aphids reproduce fast — a single female can produce 40 to 100 offspring without mating. That first cluster feels like an emergency. It's not. Those aphids are bait, and the predators that eat them are already mobilizing.

LADYBUG LARVAE look nothing like adult ladybugs — they're tiny black-and-orange alligators covered in spines. A single larva eats roughly 400 aphids during its two-and-a-half-week development. The adults are already laying yellow egg clusters on your infested leaves. Spray now, and you kill the eggs before they hatch.

LACEWING LARVAE are called "aphid lions" for a reason. They pierce aphids with hollow, sickle-shaped jaws and drain them dry. One larva consumes 200 to 300 aphids before pupating. They hunt at night and camouflage themselves with the carcasses of their prey — most gardeners never see them working.

PARASITIC WASPS are too small to sting you. They lay a single egg directly inside a live aphid. The larva develops inside the aphid's body, killing it from within. The dead aphid swells into a papery husk called a "mummy" — and a new wasp emerges to parasitize more. One generation can collapse an entire colony.

HOVERFLY LARVAE are translucent, slug-shaped, and nearly invisible against a leaf. A single larva devours up to 400 aphids before becoming an adult hoverfly — one of the most effective pollinators after bees. Spray the aphids, and you wipe out a pollinator nursery without knowing it existed.

University research found that unsprayed gardens reduced aphid populations from 50 per leaf to fewer than one — in just one to two weeks. Sprayed gardens had higher aphid populations later in the season because the predators were gone.

Two weeks of patience buys you a pest control crew that renews itself every generation."

27/04/2026

Gardener, also available for puppy play dates 🥰

27/04/2026

“I’m ready for my close up 😘 “

24/04/2026

A little reminder that in East Sussex we've had little to zero rain for over a month.

Please put water out for insects and animals.

I am seeing water butts empty, and ponds low.

Thank you from me and the animals x

PS pls share

22/04/2026

3 years ago Tiannah joined as my part time assistant.

Our time together, mother and daughter, was priceless.

We’ve climbed, we’ve dug, we’ve chopped, we worked in the freezing rain and scorchio sun. Some days tested us physically and mentally but one thing we had was each other.

To share my work with her has been a learning experience for both of us… Tiannah learnt she loves pruning roses and I learnt what a wonderful young woman she has become!

She always greets my clients with her warm sunshine smile, she works bloody hard and will gladly take time out for puppy cuddles!

Although I’ll miss her terribly, she is back to building on her career with RNLI, and I couldn’t be prouder!

Tiannah will then be off following her dreams and setting sail for new lands and new adventures!

She has taught me something invaluable, never let anyone or anything stop you being your true self and fulfilling your destiny!

Love you my darling girl, my best friend, your biggest fan,

Mum x