May kicks off a whole summer of garden and flower shows starting with probably the best known and most widely viewed, the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show. Who knows exactly what new designs and trends will be revealed this year but the main show gardens have certainly changed since my first visit about 35 years ago. My flower show...
One of the brightest spots of late autumn and winter gardening must surely be the potted Cyclamen that are on offer as winter bedding and Christmas presents. This blog post is all about Cyclamen because there is more than one species that we can grow in the UK and not all types suit all uses and spaces. Cyclamen are native to...
October is a prime month for planting and if you visit a nursery or garden centre you will see, alongside plants in pots, a range of dry bulbs for autumn planting. Much of this will be a dazzling variety of daffodils and tulips. I will say a little bit about those first and then mention some other perhaps less well...
Whatever style of gardening you prefer, I doubt that very many people in the UK grow solely native plants in their gardens. Including plants that originated in other parts of the world gives us much greater scope for colour and interest and variety all year round. Although we all love to talk about the weather and from season to season...
Holidays, summer events and children to entertain may mean people do less gardening, in August and I would like to encourage you to continue this into the autumn and beyond. Now that is not as surprising as it might sound from someone who spends their time encouraging people to get gardening. Firstly I should say this is not a call...
In May, I wrote about the start of the Flower Show season and what we can all learn from looking at those fabulous show gardens, whether in person or on television. By the time you read this at the beginning of June, of course, the biggest of them all, the Chelsea Flower Show, will have finished. But as always, I'm...
I do not suppose that many gardeners will miss the fact that May is the start of the Garden Show season. The Malvern Spring Show kicks off, with a more relaxed feel at the wonderfully scenic Three Counties Show Ground at the foot of the Malvern Hills. Fair to say though that it is the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, this...
You may be familiar with the phrase succession planting from vegetable gardening where it is used to ensure a constant supply of fresh produce, especially for quick summer crops grown from seed. In the ornamental garden we grow fewer annuals - although I will come back to these very useful contributors to the summer borders – and the term succession...
Have you ever noticed how many of the flowers we rely on for a late summer display tale the form of a Daisy? Although daisies are one of the most familiar flower forms that we see from the small native Lawn Daisy (Bellis perennis) to the tall Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) the flowers themselves are most definitely worth a closer look....
With the upcoming coronation this month and the common practice of planting up pots, baskets and even flower beds to celebrate significant events, my thoughts turned to gardeners seeking blue flowers in a Red, White & Blue scheme. There is no shortage of red and white blooms in a wide range of plant types but blue is a different kettle...
