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@HoratiosGarden, @Greenfingerscha,@thrivecharity and @PerennialGRBS.Making connections, meeting people,

intros personal and professional, findingpeople we’ve lost touch with, discoveringnew or old gardens, learning about newplants — what’s not to love? If there aredownsides, the most obvious is the timeall this connecting takes up. It’s all tooeasy to get lost in the lure of Instagramor dawdle in the Twittersphere, andtrawling through a back catalogue ofblogs is akin to bingeing on a box set.The result is a nagging feeling that oneought to be outside actually gardening,rather than reading and writing about it,or obsessively photographing anincreasingly neglected plot. Not allowingyourself to get sucked into the vortexrequires discipline.I try to follow a few simple rules. Be

polite and be kind: it’s easy to forgetthere’s a human being beyond the

smartphone. Ignoring a one-off hurtfulpost is generally a better course of actionthan taking the bait. Whenever I’mtempted to post a cutting response, I turnoff and go and do something else, thenthe need to have the last word fades.Be generous: give photo credits where

they’re due, and retweet. Finally, admitwhen you’re wrong: on severaloccasions, I’ve misnamed a plant becauseI couldn’t be bothered to get my readingglasses before posting a photo.Has social media made snappers of us

all? Certainly, there is wonderfulamateur photography, but it’s easy tofall into the trap of trying to improveevery shot. Who has not occasionallypumped up the colour saturation orplayed with filters? I’m beginning tofind the relentless vivid images rathersickly — like eating too much cake —and am tweaking less, or not at all. Afterall, being continually bombarded with

From pots to

Three years ago, I forced myself toabandon my holier-than-thou gripingabout social media. I stopped makingderogatory remarks about Twitterers andjoined the enemy (@RacheldeThame).More than 2,300 tweets later, and witha fledgling Instagram account(racheldethame), I feel less than proudof what, with hindsight, seems a stancebased on snobbery and ignorance. Fornow at least, I’m an evangelising convert,regularly trying to persuade othermiddle-aged antis to give it a go.As soon as I signed up, familiar faces

popped up to say hello and strangersreassured me that there was a friendlyonline gardening crowd. They were right:despite seeming the most unlikelybedfellows, gardening (outdoors, olderdemographic) and social media (indoors,much younger) have made a surprisinglygood match, with benefits all round.The most popular accounts have

hundreds of thousands of followers.That’s a lot of people, and gardeners seemto be increasingly hooked, with a vibrant,varied and vociferous crowd of bloggers,tweeters and Instagram addicts. How elsewould I know what’s coming into flowerin Sydney, or see pomegranates beingharvested in Kurdistan?There are huge upsides for horticultural

businesses, too. Twitter and Instagramwhet the appetite and create a zeitgeistamong users. Stephen Davies, managerof house plants at Clifton Nurseries, theoldest garden centre in London, hasnoticed a definite change over the pastcouple of years, and credits social mediawith generating new business among18- to 30-year-olds, who now accountfor a substantial number of Clifton’scustomers. “We’ve seen a big increasein the sale of house plants,” he says.“Most young people don’t live in houses,they live in flats, so house plants haveswung round from being almostunpopular to really cool.“I think most of it is to do with social

media. They communicate with eachother, and it creates a wave of interestthat gathers momentum.”Other benefits abound. Want to find

a job in gardening? Social media is thegrapevine. It’s also the shop windowfor nurseries, from small independentsto nationwide chains. Open days, plantfairs and farmers’ markets benefitfrom free publicity, and gardening goesviral before and during all the RHSflower shows. You can follow everydetail of the build-up as individualdesigners, growers and exhibitors keepus in the loop.Public and private gardens now share

what’s happening with an immediacythat cannot be matched on a website:checking Twitter or Instagram is the bestway to know whether the snowdropsare in flower before you head off acrossthe country. And at long last charitieshave a platform with limitless reach —among those you should follow are@NGSOpenGardens, @Love_plants,

RACHEL DE THAME

TWITTER:@RacheldeThame

Publicity houndsMonty Don’s goldenretriever, Nigel, hasmore than 23,000followers on Twitter.Top, an image fromthe Dahlia Papersblog. Above, DanPearson and HuwMorgan’s onlinemagazine, Dig Delve,is a source ofinspiration

GARDENINGGLOVESKeeping warmis a prettyobviousreason to weargardeninggloves at thistime of year —but my ownreasons havemigrated fromsimple handvanity andprotection tothe rather less

glamorous need to look after smallchildren at a moment’s notice, sothey must be easy to remove quickly.

Gold Leaf’s Winter Touch leathergloves (£25; rhsshop.co.uk) arereally good for warmth. Forprotection, Sophie Conran’sgauntlets are favourites (£15;burgonandball.com) — they extendright up to the elbows, so I canquite happily grab a thorny stemand strip it.

Next are fair-weather gloves,which will help you to do all theweeding, lifting, pruning anddigging while offering a layer ofprotection. I love the neoprenebiker-like Ultimax gloves by Town &Country (£12; amazon.co.uk), whichare padded in all the right places,but flexible, too. They are my go-toall-round gloves.

Lastly, the new generation ofsuperlight, superthin gloves, suchas those from Joe’s Garden, are abrilliant option for many gardeningjobs (£6; joes-garden.com). Theyare really just a tougher, knittedstep up from Marigolds.

Laetitia Maklouf

The annualorchid festivalat Kew Gardens,in southwestLondon, opens onFebruary 4. Mugup on one of thelargest floweringfamilies withJim Endersby’s

Orchid: A Cultural History, whichcovers topics such as naming, the19th-century mania for collectingthem, their place in literature andart, and their extraordinary diversity.It’s lively, gripping stuff.£22; shop.kew.org

CUTT INGS

BE INSP IRED

A POTTED GUIDE TO . . .

n Learn about winter pruning atScotney Castle, Kent, on Wednesdayat 2pm. Admission costs £13, NTmembers free (nationaltrust.org.uk).

nSee works by the 19th-centurybotanical artist Caroline MariaApplebee at the RHS Lindley Library,London SW1, until March 10,10am-5pm. Entry is free (rhs.org.uk).

cuttings@sunday-times.co.uk

WE D IGTH IS

15 . 0 1 . 2017 / 31

posts

Instagram posts fromthe garden designerLuciano Giubbilei, top,and the ‘no dig’ vegguru Charles Dowding,top right. Alex Hoyle,above, updates hisInstagram followerswith posts fromKew Gardens. Right,David Marsden blogsabout the garden atthe Priory, in theSussex Weald

FOLLOW MY LEADERTWITTERn RHS (@The_RHS) It needsno introduction, but it’s worthchecking out our nationalgardening charity daily.Regional RHS gardens eachhave their own feeds.

n Fiona Davison (@fjd65)Tweets from the head ofthe RHS Lindley Libraryfuel my fascination withgardening-related books.Regular photos display pagesfrom, in her words, “the finesthorticultural library in theworld, by all accounts”.

nCotswold GardenFlowers (@CGFBobBrown)An always interesting feedfrom a perennials nurseryin Worcestershire. Behindits success is owner BobBrown, who always writeswith honesty.

nDr Dale Dixon(@dale_dixon) Howreassuring it is in thesegloomy days to be able tolook at a feed that overflowswith warmth, colour andexotic blooms. Dixon is thecurator manager of the RoyalBotanic Garden Sydney, andhis copious tweets are betterthan a flu jab for fending offmidwinter ills.

nMonty’s Dog(@montysdognigel) As thestar of Gardeners’ World,Nigel the golden retrievernaturally has his own Twitteraccount. The posts are oftenhumorous, and it’s fun tospeculate about who theanonymous author might be.I’m also a fan of Monty’sown feed, @TheMontyDon.Here I must declare aninterest, as Monty is a friendand colleague, but the postsare beautifully written, oftenfunny and sometimes verymoving. As a bonus, heoccasionally gets into a verbalscrap with someone, whichcan be entertaining.

INSTAGRAMnCharles Dowding(charles_dowding) As anaficionado of the “no dig”method of growing veg, themarket gardener and author’sInstagram feed is a sourceof year-round inspirationand shows how attractivevegetable gardens can be.

n Luciano Giubbilei(lucianogiubbileigardens)As one would expect fromthis multi-medal-winningdesigner, his digital offeringis impeccable andinspirational, with wonderfullycontemplative imagery.

n Flowers from the Farm(flowersfromthefarm) Thisaccount represents the

nationwide network ofcut-flower farmers, with adifferent business postingeach week.

nAlexander Hoyle(kewplantsman) Hoyle isa gardener at the RoyalBotanic Gardens, Kew. Heposts from the gardens andoccasionally ventures furtherafield, and has a keen eyefor a good picture.

nRichard at Withypitts(withypitts) An unashamedlyone-track feed — dahlias,dahlias and more dahlias.Perfect if, like me, you’re intodahlias. Otherwise not.

BLOGSnAde and Sophie Sellars(agentsoffield.com) Thispolished blog from a couplewho tend an urban allotmentin Hertfordshire, cookingwhat they grow, won aGarden Media Guild awardfor blog of the year in 2016.

nDan Pearson(digdelve.com) Focusing onthe writings of the renowneddesigner Dan Pearson, this is“a magazine about gardens,landscape, growing andmaking”, says Huw Morgan,his partner and editor of thesite. Garden-writing bliss.

nNon Morris(thedahliapapers.com)Written by a designer witha passion for plants andgardens, but often servedwith a side of art, designand other complementarytopics. Photography isstrong and the variedsubjects often include visitsto gardens in the UK andabroad.

nAndrew and CarolOldham (lifeonpigrow.blogspot.co.uk) Regularposts from a kitchen gardenin the Saddleworth hills,where the owners followmake-do-and-mend,dig-for-victory principles.A fuss-free zone of realgardening and family life.

nPetra Hoyer Millar(oxoniangardener.co.uk)An entertaining, chatty blogfrom an Oxfordshire-based“very keen amateurgardener”. The accompanyingphotos of her quintessentiallyEnglish garden are excellent.

nDavid Marsden(theanxiousgardener.com)Marsden, who worked ata garden centre beforebecoming a self-employedgardener, started this blogto share the Priory, a gardenin the Sussex Weald, witha wider audience. Copiouslyillustrated, his pages are ajoy to browse.

Thought gardeners were all stick-in-the-muds?Think again. The green-fingered are provingadept at growing their presence on social mediaand cultivating new converts — so get online

images of horticultural perfection canmake one feel dreadfully inadequate.Reassure yourself with the knowledgethat, in most cases, just out of shotthere’s a bed full of ground elder or ahideous water feature.See the panel for my recommendations:

not necessarily the most influential ormost followed, just those I regularly enjoychecking out. Some are prolific, postingseveral times a day. Other people,including Fergus Garrett at Great Dixter,and the designer Tom Stuart-Smith,are elusive, teasing you with occasionalbut wonderful Twitter posts. I’vedoubtless many more to discover: pleasetweet me suggestions.I’m increasingly following feeds that

reach beyond gardening, too. The artsand architecture, beekeeping, poultryfarming, countryside issues, woodlands,hedge-laying and shepherding are amongmy online guilty pleasures.

Non Morris; Luciano Giubillei; Stephanie Hafferty; David Marsden; Royal Botanic Gardens Kew; Huw Morgan;