** If you want to buy any of the plants mentioned below for your own garden, visit www.countrylife.co.uk/nursery
and type or copy and paste the name into the search. Plants are
delivered in sturdy boxes in a matter of days from one of the finest
nurseries in the country. **
The shocking amaryllis, king of winter pot plants, is really the hippeastrum, dull though it sounds. These big, dry bulbs, dormant for weeks, are planted now. Fill a jam jar with water and place the bulb on top overnight so that the base absorbs water. Then plant the bulb in a pot just bigger than itself of loam-based compost, leaving a third of the bulb standing proud. Place it in a warm room in a north light and watch it go. The prodigious rise of the flower stalk should be accompanied by a perform- ance of Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra.
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Galls: Nature's most beautiful, horrifying and intriguing parasitesA playground for aphids, wasp eggs, and funghi — galls come in all shapes and sizes
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The market for super-prime houses in England's biggest millionaire's playground is booming — and this £10m example is one of the bestWhirley Hall is a 17th century building that's a perfect example of how 21st century updates can transform an old home almost beyond recognition.
