Ken Thompson

Reading a magazine article recently, I was surprised to find “marsh fritillary” included among a list of plants.

Let’s assume you would like your garden to have a “tropical” look.

One of the less welcome consequences of my now not-so recent move to Devon was making the acquaintance of a pest that I’d not previously heard of:

Even before they do any climbing, twining stems revolve and, once they hit a support, this revolving leads naturally to twining in whichever direction they had previously been revolving.

Chlorinated hydrocarbons are widely used as solvents and as raw materials for the synthesis of all kinds of useful products, such as cleaning agents and pesticides.

Niger seed is great for attracting goldfinches, but it comes with exotic baggage

We all know about holly and mistletoe, but the story of frankincense is sadly lacking in Christmas cheer

The doctrine of signatures suggested fern ‘seeds’ could make you invisible, Ken Thompson explains why the news is “absolute nonsense”

If a plant has pollen and berries, then surely it must flower? If it doesn’t, what is it? Ken Thompson investigates the evidence

Painted lady butterflies are starting to arrive in the UK after an epic journey to get here