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A Taste For The Tropics: Creating A Jungle Garden!

If summer holidays to far-off places feel out of reach right now, maybe it's time to plan for a holiday at home? Creating a tropical feel on your suburban patio isn't as far-fetched as it might sound. There are plenty of exotic beauties that will flourish in our cooler climate, but still create…

Top 10 Hardy Perennial Herbs to Plant Once and Harvest for Years

Herbs are incredibly useful for culinary and medicinal purposes. Perennial herbs get to spread their roots for many years, so they're great at looking after themselves. They'll provide you with harvest after harvest, thriving on little to no TLC. There's no need to re-plant them every year, saving…

Top 5 flower and vegetable seeds recommended by our experts

Sue Sanderson and Colin Randel, two of Thompson & Morgan’s experts give their top 5 flower and vegetable seeds for the new season…FlowersSue Sanderson is Thompson & Morgan’s  Horticulturist and has 11 years of gardening experience.Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’When…

Ho ho sow

In ‘Ho ho sow’, Jane Scorer shares some great ideas for Christmas gifts.Are you in the midst of your Christmas shopping? If you are, then I bet you can feel an oppressive weight on your shoulders, that burden of what to buy for people this year. What do you buy for the ones who have…

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,…

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…

Tips for growing flowers in your garden

The successful combination of shape, colour, texture and height makes this border singImage: Paul Wishart Flowers bring colour, texture and scent to our gardens and provide a welcome source of food for pollinators. With a little patience you can grow many flowers cost-effectively from seed. Short…

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…

A Life in the Garden of....Suffolk businessman, Jeremy Scowsill

Ipswich-based property developer doubles as self-sufficient organic gardener Isn't it funny how, at a certain age, you realise that many of the people you've known for years have apparently 'suddenly' got into gardening? I'm not sure if it's actually an age thing - it clearly isn't as the growing…

Grow your own meals - these 11 Instagrammers will show you how

These Instagrammers provide plenty of new serving suggestions for homegrown produceImage: Markus Spiske on Unsplash Food delivered straight from plot to plate is the freshest, healthiest and most delicious food you'll ever eat. With an allotment, veg patch, or even just a couple of window boxes,…

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…

Customer trial panel member profile – Corinne Brown

Corinne BrownI’m Corinne Brown, a 61year old retired geography teacher. I have been fortunate to have had a garden to play in all my childhood and a garden to tend all my married life (ruby wedding this summer). My husband is the grass cutter, hedge trimmer and maintenance man whilst I am the…

Customer trial panel member Geoff Stonebanks

In this gardening blog post Geoff Stonebanks writes about his gardening experiences on the south coast of England and becoming a member of Thompson & Morgan’s customer trial panel.I’m Geoff Stonebanks, fast approaching my 60th birthday and retired now with my garden in Sussex for 9…

Zany Zinnias!

Zinnia varieties come in deliciously fruity shades Image: Canva I'm an unabashed lover of zinnias. There is something about the luminosity of their colours and their unique shape - a ruff of stiff petals surrounding a central cone which is crowned with star-shaped golden florets - which I find…

How to create beautiful displays with annual flowers

Nigella damascena provides a beautiful display all summer longImage source: Shutterstock Once March arrives, Nic Wilson's potting shed is launched into action as her annual flower seeds come out. Here, the experienced gardener behind dogwooddays talks to us about the many roles that annual flowers…

Green roofs: the only way is up

The top of Nic's green-roof bin store in all its glory. Image source: dogwooddays So your flowerbeds are full, the greenhouse is overflowing, there's no more room for pots on the patio and every vertical surface in the garden is covered in foliage. How do you find space for new plants and enjoy the…

Growing berries in pots and containers

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…

GYO & BYO: Grow Your Own & Blitz Your Own

Green smoothies are packed with leafy greens that offer a range of health benefits, including being full of antioxidants and vitamins, boosting your immune system and helping to improve digestion. Many of the most popular ingredients of healthy green smoothies are vegetables and herbs that can be…

Flaming June in Pembrokeshire

Hello Gardening Friends, For the first time in many years Pembrokeshire is experiencing an actual "Flaming June!" With temperatures exceeding 25c most days and sticky 18c nights, it's been mostly impossible to garden. The water butt has been emptied days ago, and for now we are using our "Grey…

The minty fresh taste of summer

Chocolate Mint is one of the more interesting varietiesImage source: Nic Wilson Mint is the most versatile of herbs - it adds zest to summer desserts and savoury dishes, and flavours herbal teas and cocktails. It thrives in semi-shade where other Mediterranean herbs like thyme and rosemary might…

Messy Job, This Gardening Lark

Autumn colour came late this year, and puff, it was gone, leaving chaos and disorder in its wake. Now I'm a bit fussy about tidiness, not the best character trait for a gardener. And I'm not a fan of formal or minimalist gardens, preferring the organised chaos of more naturalistic schemes. This…

Top 10 best-selling plants of 2012

This list of Thompson & Morgan’s top 10 best-selling plants is quite a mix – from cottage garden favourites to new and unusual flowers – and shows that customers really do like variety when it comes to their gardens!Apple Cox’s Orange Pippin1. Apple Cox’s Orange…

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…

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…

Basil bonanza

Discover how to cultivate this fast-growing annual Image: isak55 Early summer is the ideal time to sow basil seeds for late summer pizzas, salads and pasta dishes. In fact, professional garden designer Nic Wilson of dogwooddays says one of her favourite jobs of the year is collecting armfuls of…

Five tips for planting for pollinators

Important pollinators like bees, butterflies and moths are in declineImage: Marek Mierzejewski Bees, butterflies and other pollinators are under threat, so there's never been a better time for gardeners to help by adding a few plants to support them. Here, Mandy Bradshaw from The Chatty Gardener…

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…

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…

Top 10 best-selling plants of 2018

This pretty hydrangea won the nation's hearts and Chelsea's Plant of the Year 2018Image: Hydrangea Runaway Bride' by Thompson & Morgan Are you looking for some garden inspiration? Or just curious about which plants were gardeners' favourites last year? Here are our ten best-selling plants of…

Gardening is a waiting game

Gardening isn’t one of those hobbies that we can just roll out of bed and do such as running or dancing. It requires a considerable amount of time to carefully plan what to sow and when. Therefore, gardening is a bit of a waiting game, and sometimes our patience is put to the test, but the…

Are you feeling the Love yet?

I'm just not feeling the love! Apart from sloping off to the greenhouse every few days to check on the cuttings (progress not great. ) I've done nothing NOTHING, I TELL YOU! Oh the guilt! I've come up with every excuse: it's too wet, too cold, too early, too late. Apart from one manic flurry of…

....And It Was All Going Snow Well!

So I wasn't far out about snowfall on Feb 20th, wasn't I? I had a bad feeling.... . BUT NOT THIS BAD! Would you believe it, yesterday I was on the allotment pruning the blackberry hedge in my shirt sleeves and today I'm back in my thermals! I'm not sure my nerves can stand it! During the first…

A great way to grow herbs – the windowsill gardener

Now I’m not a drinking person. But the people I live with do like the occasional bottle of wine, so when I went outside the other day and found the glass recycling box was rather full, I decided to do some recycling of my own.I wanted something that would look neat and tidy but at the same…

Top ten wildflowers

Ox-eye daisies are easy to grow and very popular with pollinatorsImage: Ox-Eye Daisy from Thompson & Morgan Wildflowers are a low-maintenance and long-lasting addition to any garden. Often planted as annual or perennial meadows, they make a wildlife-friendly alternative to lawns or a quick and…

Top 10 winter bedding plants

Top 10 winter bedding plantsAs summer draws to an end it’s an ideal time to be thinking about winter bedding plants for cheerful colour during the coldest months of the year! Winter bedding plants are biennial or perennial plants which are planted in the autumn, some flowering throughout the…

January....

Hello Gardeners, I can't quite believe this will be my fourth year writing for T&M. I have learned so much more about writing blogs as well as gardening over the years. I've shared my ups and downs with you, and formed many friendships with the blogging community. One of things I love is your…

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