In June the garden is at its freshest. It's time to sit back and enjoy long summer evenings surrounded by abundant flowers and lush foliage whilst surveying the results of all your work earlier in the year. If you worked hard in May, you should already have crossed many of June's jobs off your…
Image: Canva The garden is really racing ahead and it's a job to keep up with it. Getting on with tasks now will enhance your summer displays, but don't forget to give yourself some time to relax outside and just enjoy it!BeddingSummer bedding is perfect for plugging gaps in bordersImage:…
Drought-resistant planting at RHS Garden Harlow Carr. Image: Olivia Drake Spring and summer droughts are becoming increasingly common across many parts of the UK. With temperatures rising and rainfall becoming less consistent, drought-resistant plants have never been more important to gardeners. A…
Chaenomeles x superba 'Pink Lady' Image: Canva April is an exciting time and there is plenty to do in borders:As perennials emerge, look out for losses and gaps and plan how you are going to fill them. Get new perennials in as soon as you can and sow drifts of hardy annuals into warm soil. Hoick…
Top 10 Perennial PlantsPerennial flowers add colour and seasonal interest to the garden from April to November, often attracting bees and butterflies to their blooms, and making great cut flowers too. They are incredibly versatile and can be used as fillers between shrubs, planted as groundcover…
Some of the best plants for curb appeal are both attractive and low-maintenance, making them ideal for part-time gardeners who are also full-time plant lovers. Use this fact to your advantage, whatever your reason for sprucing up your curb. Your front yard will return the investment manifold in the…
The RHS conducted a survey in spring 2013, in which it asked its members for their favourite scented plants.Traditional flowers such as sweet peas, hyacinths and honeysuckle topped the list, which consisted mainly of spring-flowering plants. We’ve selected one of our own best-selling plants…
Drought tolerant plants look good and are low maintenanceImage: Peter Betts There are lots of good reasons to grow drought tolerant plants. During hot summers the need for frequent watering is time consuming. Not to mention costly to the environment and your pocket too, should rainfall in your area…
Brighten up dark corners with shade-loving plantsImage: Elena Elisseeva Does your garden have a Cinderella spot? A part that doesn't get the same love and attention as the rest? Chances are, says Mandy Bradshaw of The Chatty Gardener, it's a shady area. Sunny borders might seem more interesting and…
Go native and plant the ultimate wildlife hotel! Winter is the perfect time for hedge planting, and if you seriously want to put conservation into action, planting a native hedge is an easy and effective way to help some of our most threatened UK species. For most of us, large trees and woodland…
Fuchsias are extremely versatile with a variety on the market suitable for most situations. Few other plants perform so well in the garden with so little upkeep, even the tender types can make it through winter with minimal protection. Fuchsia plants are easy to grow, long-lasting and make the…
Dear Gardeners, I'm afraid I have been an April Fool. We went on a much needed holiday to the New Forest the day after the Easter Bank holiday. My first holiday since the cancer and heart failure, the weather down in Hampshire wasn't the best, but the break was. I'd planned the timings of all the…
Top 10 Evergreen ShrubsEvergreen shrubs provide permanent structure in the garden and all-year-round interest. Some have beautiful flower displays or are highly scented in winter when little else is growing, and some have variegated or colourful foliage which is a perfect foil for summer perennials…
Plug plants are a convenient and easy way to fill your garden with colour. Although seeds are cheaper to buy, there is often a lot of work involved, from germination to pricking out tiny seedlings. Cuttings also pose the same problem, requiring nurturing undercover for some time and with varying…
Choose AGM winning vegetables for sturdy performanceImage: Swiss Chard 'Bright Lights' from Thompson & Morgan Royal Horticultural Society 'Award of Garden Merit' winning vegetable plants have earned a seal of approval for reliability. If you're looking for tried and tested fruit and veg to grow…
Foliage adds structure, depth and interest to any garden planting schemeImage: Shutterstock Foliage gives your garden all year-round interest. Not only does it fill the gaps between flowers, it's a good way to add vibrancy to shady areas. We've chosen 18 of our favourite plants includingconifers,…
Give your garden a pollinator friendly makeoverImage: Dogwooddays Planting for pollinating insects has never been more important. As insect populations decline across the world, we need to find ways to help these essential invertebrates, for our future as well as theirs. Gardeners can play a vital…
Low box hedging surrounding parterre beds at National Trust Wimpole Estate. Image: Canva There are many situations that call for a low hedge. It could be a formal edging to a border or path, a way to divide up a small garden into separate areas without cramping the space, a structural backdrop to…
Thompson and Morgan Triallist's Blog - June 2018 I have this fantasy image of myself in diaphanous summer dress, wandering around my garden with a woven willow trug and floral secateurs, in the hazy lazy afternoon sunshine, listening to the soporific buzzing of the bees, whilst gently snipping…
Red berries look glorious against a variegated silver leaf for the winter seasonImage: dogwooddays Once the last of summer's flowers have faded, it's tempting to discard the plants, store the baskets behind the shed, and give up until spring. But that would be to miss out on the colour, texture and…
There are always things to do in the garden whether it is planting, pruning or watering. So we have highlighted some what to do in the garden in august guidance to help you.In the flower gardenDead-head lilies for a better flower display next year.Mow meadows now to help scatter wild flower…
Customer trial panel member Caroline Broome has had a busy weekend, getting ready for spring.At last we have had a fine weekend and I’ve been making the most of it in spades, literally! Everything is coming into leaf, notably tree peony Hong Xia, and some plants like bog sage never died down.…
Couldn’t get tickets for the opening weekend of Fifty Shades of Grey? Get out in the garden instead; try our Fifty Shades of Green this season!We now offer a range of over 300 mature shrubs and perennials for instant impact in your garden. No garden should be without hassle-free herbaceous…
Joy Gough has just joined our blogging team of customer trial members and talks about her gardening experiences.Joy GoughMy name is Joy, I am totally new to this blogging, so please bear with me, just like gardening it is a process of learning as you go.Our garden started with 2 bought tomato…
This ornamental garden consists of flowers and leafy vegetables. Image: Arjuna Kodisinghe Picking your own fruit, vegetables and herbs is one of the highlights of the gardening year, but you don't have to turn your garden into an allotment in order to grow and harvest your own food. There are many…
Summer bedding plants don’t all have to be petunias and marigolds! As well as the more common bedding plants there are a huge range of annual bedding plants you can grow for height, scent and colour, from cornflowers and sweet peas to rudbeckia and zinnias. Some, such as petunias and…
Award-winning Hydrangea 'Runaway Bride' is the perfect flowering shrub for a containerImage: Hydrangea 'Runaway Bride' from Thompson & Morgan If you're looking for ways to add low-maintenance interest to your garden, shrubs are ideal. Brimming with expert advice, we've brought together this…
By Sasha Ivanova at London Plantology Swiss Chard 'Bright Light'Image source: London Plantology Your greens no longer have to be green! Recent research indicates that some of the healthiest 'greens' are actually purple, red and yellow. With new varieties of tasty salads and vegetables increasingly…
Lupins and alliums are classic cottage garden plants for May - their contrasting shapes work beautifully togetherImage: Shutterstock May is a fabulous time in the garden - fresh spring foliage is injected with colour from early herbaceous perennials, tulips give way to alliums and iris, whilst…
Cranberry PilgrimImage source: London Plantology There are many ways to grow fruit plants & berries in small spaces - wild strawberries in window boxes, a vertical wall of cranberries, dwarf raspberries in hanging baskets or blueberries in pots on the patio. Plant your containers now and you'll…
Guelder Rose hedging has beautiful flowers in the spring, and vibrant red berries in the autumn Image: Guelder Rose (Hedging) from Thompson & Morgan Hedges are generally viewed as practical but dull garden workhorses, marking boundaries and screening ugly vistas or providing a plain backdrop to…
Chalky soil can be tricky to work withImage: Shutterstock Chalky soils can be challenging. But, with the correct soil preparation and care, there are a host of suitable hedging plants which will happily cope with these conditions. Here is an introduction to some of the best, plus an A-Z list of…
Evergreen shrubs form the backbone of the garden. They provide structure and colour even in the depths of winter when other plants are dormant and bare.Evergreens offer more than just foliage. Many have attractive flowers such as Rhododendron and Camellia. In fact some even flower during the…
Viburnum is just one of many shrubs which thrive in moist clay soil and which make excellent candidates for hedgingIf you are selecting hedges for clay soil, here is an introduction to some of the best available, plus an A-Z list of other species to choose from. Clay soils demand tough plants which…
Plant Petunia 'Easy Wave Ultimate Mixed' for bright splashes of colourImage: Petunia 'Easy Wave Ultimate Mixed' from Thompson & MorganDo you want a spectacular display of bedding plants in your garden, pots and hanging baskets? We've searched the internet to find the best independent expert…
You may already be familiar with Steve Woodward’s previous posts on our blog. He is also a member of our customer trial panel, here is his profile…Collecting some produce for a warming stewHi, I am Steve and I live in the East Midlands Derbyshire town of Ilkeston, roughly equal in…
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