My impeccable lack of shame
Some people bring the garden indoors with houseplants. Others favour bowls of lemons, tasteful linen, and a neutral palette so calming it could sedate a horse. I, however, bring the garden inside by recreating a full-blown perennial border… in glass.
Enter: the Tiffany lamp.
Yes, those ones. All jewel tones and florals and lead lines. The lamps that cause otherwise polite dinner guests to pause mid-sentence and say, “Oh. That’s… bold.” The lamps that divide humanity neatly into two camps:
Those who love them
Those who are wrong
A Tiffany lamp is essentially a herbaceous border in peak summer, frozen in time. Delphinium blues, poppy reds, iris purples, except instead of deadheading and staking, you just plug it in. It’s gardening without the slugs. Frankly, it’s genius.
Yes, I’m aware they’re divisive. I know this because people tell me, uprompted and with concern. As though I’ve announced I’m thinking of paving over the lawn and installing astroturf shaped like flamingos.
But criticism washes over me. I’m completely impervious, my levels of style and panache simply too advanced. Some people are ahead of their time, while others are confidently standing alone in it, bathed in coloured glass light, insisting they’re right.
And I’m obnoxious about it. I don’t merely like Tiffany lamps. I assert, loudly and repeatedly, that they’re the absolute height of floral taste. Why settle for beige minimalism when you can have a lamp that looks like it’s photosynthesising?
As the great philosopher Taylor Swift reminds us, the haters are, indeed, gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. But personally, I take more comfort from Freddie Mercury’s worldview. You know the one… “I want to break free”, and not ask permission from people who think Resene Triple Spanish White is a “strong colour choice.” That song. That energy.
At present, I own three Tiffany lamps. This is not enough. I would like more. Many more. Enough that my house gently resembles a Victorian conservatory that’s had a colourful gardening incident.
The Husband, sadly, doesn’t share this vision.
He’s strongly voiced his disapproval, regarding them as an aesthetic crime scene. When I floated the idea of acquiring another, he reacted as though I’d suggested installing one in the fridge.
But then - and this is where things took a turn - I suggested putting one in the bedroom. He was horrified, deeply unsettled and visibly alarmed. Until I reframed it - because, ladies, it’s all about how we market it. Mood lighting, I said. Romantic. Soft. Warm. A jewel-toned glow. Like candlelight, but floral.
He stopped.
You could see it happen. The pause. The recalculation. The mental image forming. The slow warming to the idea - not to the lamp itself, you understand, but to the possibilities.
And that, my friends, is the true power of the Tiffany lamp. It’s not just lighting. It’s persuasion. It’s the garden, indoors. It’s stained-glass confidence. And I’ll absolutely be buying another one.
Did you know?
Plants can actually tell who’s family. With kin, they grow politely, sharing water and space like good neighbours. With non-relatives? They bulk up roots, hog nutrients, and turn your garden into a botanical Hunger Games. 🌱💥
What to do in the garden this week
Northern hemisphere
You’ve nearly made it! Winter is on its way out and spring’s just around the corner. You’ll need to start gearing up and getting your garden ready for the future Instagram and Substack photos that’ll sustain me through our winter. So, hop to it!
🌿Remove dead plant material from your garden beds to reduce disease risk.
🌱Sow onions, shallots, early peas, and broad beans (🤢) under protection if soil is workable. Cloches are handy for helping warm up the soil.
🍅Add compost to your veggie beds now in preparation for planting out when the soil warms up.
🌸Late frosts can catch you out, so be prepared to provide protection for anything you’re starting early, just in case.
🌼Spring is another season where you can lift and divide overcrowded perennials if you didn’t do it in autumn. As the soil and weather starts to warm, it’s an ideal time to get this task done so the plants can get nice and established before the summer heat arrives.
Southern hemisphere
As we head into autumn, it’s easy to feel a bit despairing that summer is on its way out. But autumn is my favourite season. The autumnal tones of the trees, the warm days and cool nights…there’s plenty to love about autumn.
🪲Aphids, caterpillars and whiteflies can still be active at this time of year. Treat as needed. If you feel like you’re losing the battle with bugs in your veggie garden or greenhouse and you don’t use companion planting techniques, now’s the time to consider this approach. It works. Trust me.
🍂As we head into autumn, it’s time to gear up for lots of garden activity. Autumn is THE season to do a lot of prep work. Put the effort in now, and your spring and summer garden will reward you in spades. So, if you haven’t already, start planning what you’re going to move, lift and divide, or plant new.
🌹I know I say this almost every week but keep on deadheading your roses. I had some blooms right into early winter on some roses last year. They really are a plant that heroically aims for four seasons of colour. They don’t quite make it, but they give a good three and a half seasons of effort in my garden.
Changes afoot
Over the last year I’ve been working on ways to generate an income from my garden. It’s been a steep learning curve and has really shown me what works, what doesn’t and where to focus my energy. It takes a lot of effort to generate the blogs and stories, but I enjoy it, so I’m going to continue doing it, just more efficiently. So, I’ll be focusing my efforts on Substack where I’ll be publishing all my content.
For both free and paid subscribers to my website content, don’t panic. I’ll continue to upload the same content for my free newsletter and my paid members-only, Behind the Gate, page until the last paid subscription has expired. As many paid subscribers are annual memberships, it’ll be a while yet before I permanently move everything to Substack.
Once I’ve migrated everything over to Substack, if you’d like to continue receiving my content, then you can subscribe to my page over there (I’m on Substack as The Manic Botanic, not Behind the Garden Gate). The beauty of Substack is that you receive my content directly to your inbox whenever I publish anything, regardless of whether you’re a free or paid subscriber. There’s no requirement for you go to my website to find the content. Substack is much better set up for a subscription-style service. I’ve recognised that now, and so I’m aiming to do it better and more efficiently both for you and for me 🌞
So, in summary, everything stays the same until around January next year when the last annual subscription expires. For those on monthly subs, you’ll be able to continue subscribing on a monthly basis until December 1st, 2026, when the ability to renew a subscription on my website will end. If you’d like, you can always end your monthly sub here on my website before then, and pick it up over there on Substack. It’s the same price:)
Thank you to everyone who has subscribed, whether to my free newsletter or my paid subscription. I appreciate you all. I also appreciate this is a bit of a faff, but once the transition’s complete, I think it’ll be far more streamlined for everyone.
What’s new on Behind the Garden Gate this week?
🌼Feature plant: this week it’s all about Gaura, that gorgeous, billowy, long-flowering plant that looks fabulous in any flower garden. They’re pretty tough, easy-care plants, but some struggle with getting them to play the game, so this article has plenty of info on how to grow Gaura and what might be going wrong if you’re struggling with it.
💲Earn an income from your garden: this week I’ve written about social media collaborations. While I don’t have extensive experience in these, I do have one major success and one flop that I’ve learned plenty from, so I’m passing on all that I’ve learned in this post.
📷Snapshot shed: more photos from my late summer, early autumn garden to give you planting inspo and ideas.
Photo: Japanese Anemone in my shade garden. It’s a great addition if you want autumn colour. They prefer some shade but will grow in sun. Depending on your soil type, they can try to take over the world. In my clay, they’re fine and haven’t gone too far. In my previous garden, I had lovely loam and they did tend to spread over time. However, I didn’t find them too hard to knock back as they were fairly easy to pull out.