by Karen Pratt | Aug 19, 2021 | Gardening Posts
Hyacinths such as ‘Berries and Cream Mixture‘ can be grown in water to enjoy throughout the depths of winter
Copyright: Dutch Gardens
Growing hyacinths in water gives you the chance to enjoy vibrant and beautifully scented spring bulbs in the depths of winter. In fact, with a little bit of planning, you’ll have a windowsill full of colourful bulbs just in time for Christmas. Here’s how to grow hyacinth bulbs in water at home.
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Karen works in the Customer Care Department at Thompson and Morgan assisting customers in their orders and gardening queries. After growing up watching her dad and granddad in the garden, she is now keen to improve her own gardening knowledge and expertise. Karen likes to try out new and quirky ideas in the garden, and appreciates any tips or advice!
by Caroline Broome | Jan 28, 2019 | Customer Trial Panel, Flowers, Gardening Posts, Winter gardening
I’m really not a fan of the aforementioned festive season, but I’ve suddenly realised that I lurve January! The inclement weather gives me the perfect excuse to be bone idle guilt free. Mind you, some things can’t wait, especially when you are up against the horticultural prowess of Diane, she of the London Gardens Society Best Large Back Garden 2016/17/18. (When will it end?) The task at hand is simple muck spreading. (Some might say we are experts in the wider sense already!) So I was galvanised into action after a phone call from Diane on New Year’s Day to tell me, smugly, that she had managed to lay seven bags of well-rotted horse manure over her borders that very day. And I, readers, hadn’t even placed my order yet! Quelle horreur! Within the week I had spread three-bags-full but more supplies were required on both sides so off we went to Crews Hill, Horticultural Retail Epicentre of The World. A dozen bags duly loaded into the vehicle, off we went to Myddleton House, home of celebrated horticulturalist E A Bowles, (ancestral connection with our very own Duchess of Cornwall having never occurred to me before).
Myddleton House Border.
© Caroline Broome
What a lovely way to spend a dull January morning. The grounds were empty bar a couple of in-house landscapers who were rebuilding a dry-stone wall. We wandered around admiring the snowdrops and hellebores in the crisp echoey stillness of a typical winter’s day, the fragrance of hamamelis contorta and chimonanthus praecox filling the air. Mistletoe was abundant in the tree canopies but also at ground level, where we were fascinated to see how it grafts naturally onto its host. The ornamental grass borders looked so orderly combined with sedum spectabile – my sedum never looks that erect even when it’s in its prime. The hot houses were full of exotic succulents, tillandsias and cacti in pristine form. Reminded me of when I was a gel; I lived opposite Broomfield Park in North London and used to love to sneak into their huge lofty greenhouse. Somehow it seemed forbidden and eerie, with its seemingly bottomless irrigation channels sunk into the floor under the benches. (Didn’t care a hoot about the plants but just loved the otherworldliness of it.)
Contorted hazel, mistletoe and tillandsias at Myddleton House. © Caroline Broome
…But the rivalry doesn’t end there. There’s even Green Bin One-Upmanship! With the regular collections having been suspended for six weeks over the New Year, it’s a competition as to who’s created the most waste: “I’ve filled up my two garden bins as well as my two allotment bins.” “Well, I’ve filled up our bin and ALL the other neighbours’ bins in the entire street!” And now she informs me she’s had her silver birch trimmed. I tell you, she doesn’t let the grass grow under her feet (boom boom!)
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. There’s something so satisfying about spreading the mulch. Apart from the opportunity it gives you to get up close and personal with your plants, to get a sneak preview of spring as bulbs, shoots and buds start appearing, the borders look so finished once its down. (Reminds me of the flattering effect a layer of moisturising foundation can bring to one’s tired and dull complexion, my dear!) Mind you, it seems impossible to imagine the garden at full tilt in high summer with so much bare earth exposed right now. And of course there is the small matter of my digging up half the garden last autumn ‘cos I was bored with it all. Pity the poor transplanted perennials cowering their pots, exposed to the elements, until I’m ready to replant. (Hmm, wonder how soon I can start – steady on, its not even Valentine’s Day yet!) Seems everyone’s at it now, Rosie’s been out mulching the borders in her garden in all weathers. I really can’t be lagging behind so it‘s off to the nursery to buy bark chippings for the fernery and gravel for the stumpery.
Every year, a clever acquaintance makes a note of all plants flowering in her garden on New Year’s Day. Wish I’d the wits to think of that. So here’s my list of flowers for mid-January instead, some bang on target, some way off the mark seasonally speaking:
- Hesperantha Major formerly known as schitzostylus (so annoying all these name changes.)
- Salvia Black and Blue insinuated itself up the fence alongside a variegated trachylospurnum, its flowers cascading like wisteria. Hope I can bring that through the frosts, what a combination!)
- Salvia confertiflora
- Salvia Uliginosa
- Coronilla glauca Citrina
- Rosa Mutabilis ish, one or two bedraggled blooms amongst the orange hips.
- Viburnum tinus Eve Price
- Hellebore hybrid Spring Promise aptly named and much admired in the front garden, underneath the contorted hazel.
- Fuchsia thalia on the patio
- Fuchsia thymifolia
- Snowdrops
- Aconites
- Melianthus major no natural timing this one, always produces buds just before the first frosts!
Hellebore hybrid Spring Promise and Caroline’s front garden border. © Caroline Broome
There are an amazing amount of little treasures to be seen out there if you go looking. Over the holiday season David and I did our usual New Year’s Resolution walks in Kenwood on Hampstead Heath. Some might find the low light levels rather bleak but I love the paired down landscape, the bare trees, clear ponds and uninterrupted views of The City. You share your strolls with every dog and his man, chitchatting with owners and catching snatches of conversation as your pass. Cormorants and parakeets, magpies and crows, sparrowhawk.
Kenwood, Hampstead Heath. © Caroline Broome
Talking of birds, I’m looking forward to introducing three newcomers to the results of my Big Garden Birdwatch: goldfinches, starlings and a black cap. Must be the extensive array of seeds on offer, costing me a fortune. Black sunflower seeds, white sunflower hearts, meal worms, three flavours of fat block, oh and mixed birdseed for the squirrels. So worth it.
I feel quite inspired now, so it’s back to the T&M Spring Catalogue to place my Trial Plant Order. Colour colour colour 2019.
Roll on Spring! Love, Caroline
Caroline Broome has been gardening for more than 20 years. Having passed the RHS General Certificate, she has since developed her East Finchley garden into a “personal paradise” that she and her husband invite the public to visit each year via the National Garden Scheme. Learn more about our contributor using T&M’s ‘Meet the experts’ page.
by Sue Russell | Nov 24, 2017 | Gardening Posts, Winter gardening
Today I’ve spent time sorting out the winter bedding from the greenhouse which are in need of transplanting into the herbaceous borders.
The Stocks ‘Most scented mix’ and the Polyanthus ‘Crescendo’ have been desperate to be planted, out growing their nursery pots so I cleared areas for them and cut back some of the perennial plants.
Our beds are plagued by Bindweed, this weed is a real pain, left to its own devices, it grows quickly, climbing up the nearest plant and choking it.
I try not to use much spray any more, but this time of the year (when not cold and icy) and spring is perfect to dig it out. Even the smallest piece left in will regenerate. I actually find it quite therapeutic and collect as many pieces as I can.
In between planting my plugs, now garden readies, I have put some more Alliums using my trusty Wolf Garten bulb planter.
It’s so easy to use, my general rule of thumb with planted bulbs is, whatever the size of the bulb, the hole needs to be double that size. The bulb planter has measurements on the side. Simply turn the planter into the soil with a twist, lift out the core of soil held inside the planter, then place the bulb in the hole, roots down! and then replace the core by gently squeezing the top.
The Phlomis russeliana, (Turkish sage) I leave in the borders and cut back in the spring, as the old seed heads look great with a dusting on frost and gives the birds somewhere to perch. The foliage is lovely too.
After going on my walk of the garden, firstly I could smell my favourite winter flowering plant, Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’, it’s a real beauty, it flowers on bare stems and gives that sweet fragrance as you walk past. It is a must for any garden in my opinion, adds height to borders and winter interest.
The Fatsia japonica also was in flower, attracting any little insects that may be around. Its glossy dark green leaves really are something at this time of year, stunning!
Anyway, back to getting outside while the sun is shining and it’s relatively warm!
One of my earliest memories; helping my Mum and Dad weed the veggie plot and collecting chicken eggs from the chooks at the end of the garden. I grew up on a farm as a child and always had my own piece of land to grow and learn with, so I suppose its in the blood!
In my mid twenties, I re trained in Horticulture (Professional Gardening ANCH) and set up my own Gardening business working for clients in the Suffolk/Essex area. For the last thirteen years I’ve had the pleasure of working on a private twenty five acre estate tending to the grounds.
In 2016, I joined the team at Thompson and Morgan in the Customer Care department.
Also season ticket holder at Ipswich Town Football Club!!
by Holly Taylor | Oct 8, 2013 | Michael Perry's Gardening Blog
2014 is all about big planting schemes, perennials doubling up as annuals and falling in love with shrubs again. Here are our top gardening trends…
Begonia ‘Lotto Mixed’
BIG planting
Lots of gardeners are starting to get wise with their planting schemes and choosing plants that give you “more bud for your buck”! Not only are these plants better value than some other choices, but they always cover more ground in the garden. Why grow a few, shy bedding plants when you can grow lovely, big, lush specimens that will act as a natural weed suppressant?
Some examples are huge Begonia ‘Lotto Mixed’, with giant leaves like water-lily pads and lovely big, clear flowers, twice the size of traditional begonias. Sunpatiens is also one to look out for – a mildew-free Busy Lizzie, which is 3 times the size of usual Busy Lizzies in plant size, root system AND flower size!
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Penstemon ‘Wedding Bells’ Mixed
Double annuals
Thompson & Morgan has also started a bit of a trend in using perennials as bedding. Penstemon ‘Wedding Bells’ Mixed is a perfect example – traditionally known as a cottage garden plant, penstemons actually make an excellent substitute for antirrhinums, they’re free of rust, extra long flowering and available in almost every colour you can think of! Coreopsis and gaillardia also make brilliant ‘double annuals’ with superb drought resistance, tolerating long, hot summers and surviving the coldest of winters too.
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Tulip ‘Everlasting’ Mixed
Bulbs that last for years
An occasional complaint with bulbs is they don’t come back reliably each year. With this in mind we had a good hard look and came up with some ‘perennial bulbs’ – specific mixes of tough varieties that come back as reliably as any border perennial. Tulip ‘Everlasting Mixed’ is the perfect example, as is the ultra colourful lily ‘Forever Mixed’. Each of these can last more than 10 years in the ground, unlike many other varieties!
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Philadelphus or Mock Orange
Shrubs are making a comeback
For many years, shrubs were seen as the tired old relatives of the border, but now they’re experiencing a revival. They’re so reliable and almost create the backbone of your border, supporting the perennials and annuals that you choose to grow alongside them. Even those shrubs which are seen as ‘parks and gardens shrubbery’ specimens are now being used in gardens – think hebe, philadelphus (for its sticky orange scented blooms) and the colourful, shimmering patchwork of euonymus.
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