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Best plants for shady gardens

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…

Jobs to do in the garden in May

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:…

Jobs to do in the garden in June

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…

Best Drought-Resistant Plants

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…

The 10 Best Plants for April

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…

10 Best Plants for Curb Appeal

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…

Top 10 perennial plants

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…

Hedges for Wildlife

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…

Best plants for low hedges

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…

Tough plants for tough places

Sedum Herbstfreude' is ideal for poor soil and dry conditionsImage: Peter Turner Photography Many people have a tough spot in their garden - too dry, too shady, or just too exposed to be able to easily grow plants that will thrive. Others have damp, boggy areas or frost pockets that present…

Fantastic foliage: 18 plants to green your garden

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,…

Genuinely romantic men grow their own cut flowers

Win a place on a course at the Kitchen Garden School. See below for detailsLast month a branch with a very early blossom on it broke off one of the ornamental cherry trees in the main garden I watched my husband from the warmth of the house take a pair of secateurs and cut the lonely fallen branch…

Low-maintenance outdoor plants for busy gardeners

Plants are beautiful decorations for your garden, and luckily there are many of those which are easy to care for if you have a busy lifestyle. There are plenty of varieties that don't need staking, frequent deadheading and dividing, complicated pruning, or excessive watering. Below we've listed the…

The Best Hedges for Clay Soil

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…

Plants for winter colour

Let’s not be shy about this, ensuring winter colour in your garden will take a little bit of planning. In the harshest winter months, it’s only the odd turbo-charged pansy that has enough energy to push through a blanket of snow and ice. You need to guarantee yourself some winter colour…

It takes two - Fuchsia planting partners

Discover your fuchsia's perfect planting partners in our guideImage: Fuchsia Colour Collection (hardy) from Thompson & Morgan The world's your oyster when it comes to choosing the best companion plants to complement your fuchsias. Seasonal tender fuchsias blend so well with other summer bedding…

Evergreen Shrubs

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…

Gardening Tips – Tower Pots

Our decorative pot and support frame is specially designed to train plants into pillars of colour. It can be used as a half frame, for supporting plants to use as cut flowers, or as full frame for showy climbers such as Clematis. The Tower Pot is so versatile! Here are our gardening tips to get you…

Favourite scented plants, voted by RHS members

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…

What to do in the garden in August

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…

Top 10 Fuchsia Plants

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…

Best flowering hedges

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…

Top 10 evergreen shrubs

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…

The Best Hedges for Chalky Soil

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…

Shrubs masterclass: best expert content

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…

Winter hanging baskets - planting ideas

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…

What to do in the garden in May?

Gardening is an annual task, or hobby to most, and requires attention all year round. For me this is perfect because I do not have to find something else to do that will keep me occupied whilst my hobby is ‘not in season’. Of course there are down falls to this, for example when I am…

Blooming good tips for flower growers

Colourful flower borders are a joy to behold. Image source: Artens To help you get the most from your flower garden, we asked some of our favourite green-fingered bloggers for their expert tips and advice. From planning your beds to pruning, here's some great advice to get your flowers blooming…

Drought tolerant 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…

Variegation across the nation…

Guest blogger Jane Scorer has gardened the same half acre plot for over 30 years and has opened her garden for the NGS (Yellow Book) scheme. She has an RHS qualification, but feels that her main qualification is the years she has spent with her hands in the soil.Variegation across the…

Top 10 summer bedding plants

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…

Wisteria masterclass: best expert content

Wisteria flowers are highly scented and look fantastic trailing en masseImage: Wisteria floribunda Domino' from Thompson & Morgan Find everything you need to grow fabulous wisteria here. From troubleshooting flowering issues to keeping these vigorous climbers under control with correct pruning…

Roses masterclass: best expert content

Roses are quintessential English country garden plants Image: Rose 'Belle du Jour' from Thompson & Morgan Delve into these gems of expert knowledge to help you grow fabulous roses in your garden. We've scoured the internet to find the best planting, propagating and pruning advice from a wide…

Whiffery in the borders

Whiffery in the bordersMy children get sick of me rushing off into the undergrowth with a cry of “What’s that smell?” as I try to track down the source of beautiful perfumes drifting from nearby plantings.In my current incarnation as a cutting garden gardener, I’m always on…

Choosing the right plants for your garden

Selecting the right plants for your garden can be a daunting task, especially when there are so many to choose from.We’ve put together a few ‘top 10′ lists of our best-selling patio plants, hanging basket plants, evergreen shrubs and crops for pots.Fuchsia ‘Giants…

What to sow and grow in July

As most experienced gardeners would appreciate, timing is very important when sowing and growing in the garden. But, as a complete novice this is not my strongest point and I would end up planting sweet peas in the summer. As some of you may know, sweet pea plants aren’t particularly heat…

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