JOHN STOA: Peach of an experiment in John’s garden
My interest in gardening started in childhood encouraged by keen gardeners in the family, so it was natural to choose it for a career as well as a hobby.
House & Home
Beautiful former smiddy in Boarhills, near St Andrews, makes great home with Airbnb potential
Falside Smiddy is one of those houses I almost wish I’d visited in the winter.
Hot, wet summer helps John’s bush roses clamber to 7ft
We will always remember the summer of 2018 with its long hot and dry spell, but 2019 seems to be even hotter, but with plentiful thunderstorms so there was never any shortage of water.
COLLECTING: Colour for colour’s sake was artist Fergusson’s raison d’etre
The Round House, as it is known in Perth, at the junction of Tay Street and Marshall Place, is formally titled The Fergusson Gallery and is home to the largest collection of works in existence by the Scottish Colourist John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961).
SPONSORED: Win a beautiful Scottish mansion – just by answering one question!
The owners of a stunning five-bedroom home are offering you the chance to win their house – and help charity at the same time!
VIDEO: Breathtaking £1.3m Perthshire eco home has spiral staircase, jawdropping balcony view and even its own lift
Perched on a hillside in Perthshire, Ardlebank both fits into and complements the wooded landscape around it.
COLLECTING: Spoons commemorate Scotland’s 1953 football encounter with Scotland
With most auction publicity and Antiques Roadshow items being big budget nowadays, often in multiples of thousands, I am sometimes asked to recommend what to collect when funds are limited. I hope this week’s piece suggests an answer.
Stone and larch clad contemporary home in Highland Perthshire on the market for £495,000
Droplets from the morning’s heavy rain shower hang on the leaves of the trees surrounding Sealladh Na Beinn.
COLLECTING: Artist sketches in 40mph winds to create 1950s railway poster
This will be a familiar scene to many of us – a train making landfall in Fife after crossing the Tay Bridge – though the backdrop of industrial Dundee in this magnificent Terence Cuneo poster from 1957 is scarcely recognisable in the modern city’s waterfront.
JOHN STOA: Homing in on orchids in the garden
Fifty years ago orchids were rarely seen outside stately homes with large gardens and greenhouses. I don’t recall seeing them during my five year gardening apprenticeship training, though we were given notes on their culture.