Ground Control: achieving balance
Unsettled, unpredictable and downright unfriendly weather created challenges in landscape maintenance in 2012. To mitigate similar problems in 2013, here are some essential steps for ground renovation, disease prevention, and ongoing maintenance. (Originally published in The Landscaper magazine, February 2013) It all begins with soil analysis Soil analysis is recommended as the first step in [...]
Good Business: Gender Diversity at the Top
Gender diversity at the leadership level is recognized as good for business, with hiring, appraisal and succession planning recognized as a critical development strategy. Successful companies that lead by example choose to work with suppliers (from media and marketing, through to executive search) that demonstrate their own development and understanding of gender diversity. (NOTE: pdf [...]
Sail, sun and serendipity: wind-powered, and not-so-solo Mediterranean adventure
(originally published in Cruise Life magazine, December 2012) “We sail,” Captain Sergey Utitsyn asserts firmly. “This is a sailing ship!” He was responding to my temerity in calling the ten-night Star Clipper Eastern Mediterranean voyage from Venice to Athens, a ‘cruise’. And his choice of words really is the best way to describe the Star [...]
Day of the Knotweed
Originally published in The Landscaper magazine, November 2012 COVER STORY Once desirable, it is now seen as aggressive, virulent and definitely not a plant to be trifled with – Japanese knotweed, that is. Ffion Llwyd- Jones weeds out the facts. Japanese knotweed, a native of eastern Asia, was welcomed to Britain’s shores as an ornamental ‘architectural’ [...]
Four Oaks Special
(See this article in its original form in the online The Landscaper magazine, September 2012 issue.) Four Oaks Special The rain held off for Tuesday and Wednesday, ensuring outside exhibitors an equal share of the trade visitors to the 2012 Four Oaks show on September 4th. and 5th. in Cheshire. While some exhibitors felt that [...]
The Joy of (solo) Contact
(Originally published in Solo Traveler Blog, September 2012) The simple approach, like so many others to come, is my first solo lesson of this tall ships voyage: even cruising solo, it’s all about the people you’re with. I am overwhelmed by the sheer ‘coupleness’ around me: the elegant pair already perched on bar stools, enjoying a [...]
Breeding for the Ideal Amenity Grass
Marker-assisted breeding and genotype mapping may eliminate long-term field trials, bringing improved grass varieties to market – and to amenity turfs – in record time. New processes at the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS*) means plants can be tested as seedlings, reducing the time from initial development to completing STRI trials – [...]
Canine Couture
From Tinkerbell’s Simple Life wardrobe to New York’s Pet Fashion Week, canine couture is challenging runway displays from Los Angeles to Paris. Human fashion pales in comparison with the riotous colour, vivid styling, and total fantasy of the fashions offered for our dogs. But is your pooch’s fashion style up to scratch or is there [...]
Tie down or fly free?
Kiah, my canine companion, and me were finishing off a lovely Sunday afternon of walking and dawdling (me), and walking and sniffing (her), with a quick stop at a local beach to watch the tide come in. Oh, and to share a sandwich too, as it was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. As we [...]
Whisky and waves: the future of Scottish isle’s power?
Communities on the Isle of Islay are moving forward with plans for tidal energy and renewable fuels while maintaining age old methods of agriculture and whisky distilling. (originally published in The Ecologist 12 November 2010). Everything seems to slow down on Islay – this southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides – also known as ‘The [...]
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Ffion Llwyd-Jones
