Diary entries

21 December 2021 – Winter jobs in the alpine garden

3 December 2021 – Autumn in the rock garden

11 August 2021 – 14 dwarf shrubs for the alpine garden

18 July 2021 – Cultivation and Propagation of Dwarf Rhododendrons

23 May 2020 – Rhododendron Choices for Small Gardens

07 May 2020 – Pasque Flower Gems for the Alpine Garden

06 Mar 2020 – Spring has sprung!

06 Feb 2020 – A trip through the winter garden

20 Dec 2019 – December doldrums – but Christmas & New Year joy!

02 Dec 2019 – No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds – November!

29 Oct 2019 – An unremarkable October

29 Sep 2019 – A mainly miserable, murky September

29 Aug 2019 – The first inklings of autumn

29 Jul 2019 – A (mostly) unremarkable British summer, so far…

02 Jul 2019 – Flaming June… I think not!

28 May 2019 – May update

24 Apr 2019 – Where were all those April showers?

29 Mar 2019 – March update

05 Mar 2019 – Spring in February – good or bad?

24 Jan 2019 – Early Snowdrops & Bodnant Garden

14 Dec 2018 – Now where did I put that Souwester?

28 Nov 2018 – November update

22 Oct 2018 – October update

06 Sep 2018 – Into autumn

16 Aug 2018 – Normality resumed

19 Jul 2018 – Take care what you wish for

10 Jun 2018 – Too hot to sit out in the sun

27 May 2018 – A good May in the garden

Read older entries in our diary archive.

The garden

About the author

John Good is a retired research forest ecologist with a lifelong interest in all aspects of the observation and cultivation of plants, alpines and woodlanders being of particular appeal. He has lived in North Wales for more than 40 years and for 27 of them, he and his wife, Pam, have lived in their current hillside home and garden overlooking the sea.

He is an Emeritus Professor of Environmental Forestry at Bangor University and maintains a strong interest in all matters related to land use in general and the balance between agriculture and forestry in particular. He has been a member of the AGS for more than 50 years and a judge at our shows for half of these, as well as being a member (now friend) of the RHS Joint Rock Garden Plant Committee.

John has travelled and lectured widely on alpines and written many articles and several books on the subject, the latter leading to his having served as AGS Director of Publications and Assistant Editor of our journal. He has also always been heavily involved in his local North Wales Group.