A seed sown – setting out on a horticultural journey.

Gertrude Jekyll, the influential garden designer, plants woman and artist, once said that ‘The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies.’ For myself, like many gardeners, this is profoundly true. 

Over the years, that love has almost become an obsession that shows no sign of abating. Not only does the time I spend in the garden bring many beneficial hours of physical exertion, mood enhanced well-being and satisfaction, I’ve also begun to see the world differently.

Cottage garden border

©Shutterstock – Jekyll’s cottage garden style borders still influence our gardens today.

Jekyll’s dedication to observation and working with plants is evidenced in her extensive writings on horticulture and in the hundreds of gardens she designed.

The study of plants in their habitat is the beginning of a journey that can take you in a seemingly infinite variety of directions, with some surprising destinations.

 

An early start…

I suppose I’ve always been a garden designer, to a degree. According to my mother my first word was ‘flower’ – this possibly explains the bullying I would later receive as a young man with a sensitive soul.

From the age of six my parents encouraged my sister and I to design our own garden spaces within our suburban ‘back yard’, as they are referred to in Canada where I grew up.

Canna, Peony and Salvia

©Newey Plants (Canna), ©Shutterstock (Peony and Salvia). From a young age I could appreciate a dramatic mix of colour and foliage!

I chose Cannas, Salvia’s, and Peony’s for mine – pastel pink, hot orange and red. Even then, as I do now, I loved the contrast of their foliage, the drama and generosity of their blooms. 

Looking back, if I could say anything to my younger self on these early forays into garden design, I would say ‘Don’t worry, one day you’ll be taught colour theory, and discover the colour wheel.  ‘A’ for effort though.’ 

 

Viewing plants in a different way…

That old adage, the more you learn, the more there is to learn, is true when you begin a study of horticulture.  I look to try and increase my knowledge day by day with the names of new plants, varieties, and study of their habits, health and conditions.

Much of my day is spent doing research and making observations of the plants in my own garden – approximately 900 and counting, and in the gardens and landscapes that I visit.

garden borders with greenhouse

©Phillipa Lambert – Visiting other gardens offers research opportunities.

 

Observation and identification…

The increased time observing my environment in more detail, has meant that I have begun to see the world in a different way. 

During my walk to the local shops to buy a pint of milk – or bottle of wine for dinner, the more likely scenario – I’m reflecting upon the weeds in the pavement, and the shrubs and trees and gardening efforts of my neighbours. 

 

Smart Plant identification app

©Smart Plant – Apps such as Smart Plant can help with identification.

The plant app on my phone helps me identify the things I don’t already know (it’s not a weed, it’s a wildflower!).  If that fails, desk research, accompanied by the pictures I’ve taken (I’ve had a few strange looks from neighbours, crouched down to take a close-up photo of the Helminthotheca echioides – Bristly oxtongue – protruding from the edge of their drive), enables me to feed this hunger for naming my surroundings. 

 

A constant search for new knowledge…

My goal with each of these trips is to identify something that I don’t know, learn about it and remember it the next time I’m passing.  ‘No, it’s not a dandelion, it’s called Bristly oxtongue – but you’re right, it is like a dandelion.

Helminthotheca echioides

©Shutterstock – Helminthotheca echioides is often identified incorrectly as a Dandelion.

Traditionally it was used to treat internal parasites, (bemused, or slightly horrified look on neighbour’s face, tells me it’s time to beat a hasty retreat). Enjoy your tea!’  I offer and quickly move on.

 

What’s in a name?..

I love being able to name all the trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials and wildflowers in my neighbourhood throughout the seasons – and this obsession follows me now on all my travels. 

More than once I’ve been shouted at to keep my eyes on the road, as I spot a tree with foliage I don’t recognise.  I don’t want my eulogy to read, ‘Cause of death, he drove headlong into a Sorbus aria ‘Lutescens’. The silvery sheen of its spring leaves drawing him towards it like a siren song’.

Whitebeam leaves

©Shutterstock – The silvery sheen of Whitebeam leaves can be mesmerising!

A Whitebeam in spring is a glorious thing to behold, but I do make a concerted effort now when I’m driving not to be too easily distracted by everything that catches my eye.

Indeed, the seeds of any horticultural quest for knowledge can be be found scattered amongst the cracks in the pavement around us. Thanks Gertrude Jekyll; off to the shops now!

 

Tips for growing flowers in your garden

Floral garden border with different varieties of flowers, colours & shapes

The successful combination of shape, colour, texture and height makes this border sing
Image: 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 of time? You can also create an instant flower border in just a few hours using garden-ready plug plants. 

We asked some of our favourite gardening bloggers to share their simple secrets for growing spectacular flower gardens. Here’s what they told us…

Know your soil

PH soil indicator

Find out if your soil is acid, neutral or alkaline
Image: Sergey Kamshylin

It’s easy to snuggle up on the sofa with some gardening books or search the internet to find images of flowers that you’d love to grow. But the old adage, “right plant, right place” is never more true than when it comes to growing flowers. Before you get carried away choosing specific blooms, Alison Levey, of the Blackberry Garden advises:

It’s always good to know what the soil is like in your garden. There are tests you can buy to see how acidic/alkaline it is, and you can also check if it’s clay by seeing if you can squeeze some into a ball.”

Figuring out your soil type is one part of the equation, but you also need to bear in mind how much sun your flowers will get and how much water they’ll need. Over at Carrots and Calendula, Ciar Byrne blogs about sustainable gardening. She says:

I think it’s important to work out what plants will grow well in your garden without too much assistance…plants shouldn’t need too much extra watering, even in dry patches. This year I’ll be trying some more Mediterranean plants including Lavandula angustifolia and Santolina chamaecyparissus.

The easiest way to find out what will thrive in your garden, suggests Alison Levey, is to see what’s growing in neighbours’ gardens around you. It’s not a foolproof test, but it will give you a good guide.

Choose a colour scheme

Purple and orange floral colour combination

Purple flowers with orange California Poppy is a striking colour combination
Image: Passenger Window

Planting your garden is a bit like decorating your house,” says Carol from The Sunday Gardener, “you plant to your preferred style and colours – what you like to look at.” You can opt for maximum drama or peaceful unity, but in either case, here are some tips:

  • Choose a style:There are so many styles to choose from ranging from the cottage garden, to stylish prairie planting to architectural plants,” says Carol. Figure out what style you’re most drawn to and keep everything consistent.
  • Choose something to repeat: Carol says, “a good rule to bear in mind, whatever your style, is to have a theme and repeat it. This can be one plant, or a small number or recurring colours – but repeat planting and use of colour gives the design structure and avoids it looking bitty.

Select the right flowers

Dahlia ‘Tropical Breeze’ from Thompson & Morgan

This half-hardy perennial will fill beds and borders with colour from May to October
Image: New for 2020, Dahlia ‘Tropical Breeze’ from Thompson & Morgan

Once you’ve identified your soil type and situation, decided on an overall style, and chosen your colours, it’s time to think about specific flowers. A combination of annuals and perennials usually provides the most successful display, starting with the tallest at the back and the smallest at the front. Holly Taylor, T&M’s online manager adds that the best way to use a website for planning is to refine your flower search by soil type, hardiness, amount of sun and colour. That way, you’ll quickly zone in on the flowers that are most likely to flourish in your garden.

For height at the back of your border, don’t overlook the value of climbing plants on a fence, trellis panel or obelisk, says The Sunday Gardener, Carol:

There are so many different types of climber plants to choose from providing a long flowering period. The Clematis group alone has a wide range of flower shapes and flowering times. Another favourite is the highly-scented annual sweet pea, but there are also some less common climbing plants like the annual Cobaea scandens (the aptly named cup and saucer plant). For cooler northern gardens, Tropaeolum speciosum (the Scottish flame thrower) makes a real splash of colour.

Planting shrubs and perennials in your flower border helps to provide year-round structure and can reduce the amount of watering, feeding and dead-heading required throughout the growing season. Gill of Off the Edge Gardening suggests creating your dream border over time and keeping the costs down with clever use of annual seeds:

Whilst waiting for your shrubs and herbaceous perennials to become established in a newly planted border, you may well have a few gaps. The perfect solution is to fill them with annuals! Many are easy to grow from seed and will quickly, and cheaply, provide you with a summer-long carpet of colour. My favourites are cosmos, French marigolds, cornflowers and love-in-the-mist, but there are so many to choose from you can have fun experimenting. Vibrant or subtle, tall or short, simple or outrageous, there’s something out there just perfect for your garden.

Do you prefer annuals so that you can design a completely new display every year? Mike of Flighty’s Plot knows how to get the longest lasting show for your money. It’s simple: “Sow annual seeds in several lots to extend the flowering season.”

Keep your flowers blooming

Deadheading a flower to encourage more blooms

Deadheading faded flowers will encourage more blooms to appear
Image: photowind

Perennial flowers are generally easy to grow and require little attention once they have established. Annual flowers require a little more care – for the best displays you’ll need to feed and water them regularly, as well as remove faded blooms.

Alison of The Blackberry Garden explains:

Deadheading is a key part of my routine in the growing season, it helps encourage more blooms and also helps most plants get more bushy. I don’t use pesticides in the garden so I try to encourage insect-eating wildlife like birds and ladybirds into the garden. I also like to give some of the more hungry plants a regular feed with liquid seaweed as that seems to keep them healthy and happy.

Planting your flowers close together will help reduce weeds and encourage longer stems. And if you’re growing flowers for cutting, add shrubs with interesting foliage to the centre of the beds to provide structure to your flower arrangements as well as the border.

We’d like to thank all of the gardening bloggers who contributed tips to this article. We hope it has given you food for thought and helps you incorporate more flowers into your garden in the coming season. For more expert advice, head on over to our summer flowers hub page.

 

Garden design tricks that make a big statement

Garden at night with lighting to illuminate

Garden lighting can transform an ordinary garden into something extraordinary
Image: welcomia

If you’re dreaming up big plans for your garden in the New Year and you’re looking for clever ways to create dramatic impact, we can help.

We asked our favourite British garden designers for their top tips on how to make a big statement in your outside space. Here’s what they said…

Choose strong architectural plants

Acanthus mollis from Thompson & Morgan

Acanthus mollis brings dramatic impact to a garden
Image: Acanthus mollis from Thompson & Morgan

Let’s start with planting. Whether you prefer cottage garden style or something more contemporary, professional gardeners understand the power of repetition. Russell Page, a hugely successful twentieth-century landscape designer said: “the most striking and satisfying visual pleasure comes from the repetition or the massing of one simple element.”

Jason of Hornby Garden Designs agrees, and likes to use these architecturally dramatic plants in his schemes:

  • Acanthus mollis with jagged leaves and majestic white flowers that bloom from May to August. 
  • Phormium ‘Maori Queen’ (or New Zealand Flax) with strappy pink and green leaves throughout the year.
  • Anemanthele lessoniana (or Pheasant’s Tail Grass) lending green yellow and orange hues to the garden together with sensory movement.
  • Fatsia japonica (or Japanese aralia) with its large glossy palmate leaves makes a perfect specimen feature plant.

Geoff Stonebanks has some wonderful plants in his award-winning Driftwood Garden, but his favourite is also the acanthus: “Centre stage is taken by a large and imposing acanthus, which has incredible towering flower heads throughout the open garden season. Some years it can produce over 20 heads from the one plant.”

“If you’re looking for architectural impact, it has to be all about the foliage,” says Sarah Wilson of Roots and All:

Large-leaved plants such as cannas, begonias, phormiums, ferns, bergenias and palms all look dramatic. Light them to bring out their best features such as attractive leaf undersides, leaf texture or for the shadows the leaves cast on a background surface.

Add height

Topiary in a garden

Topiary brings vertical interest to your garden
Image: Rachel Benn

Clever garden designers create a sense of privacy, refuge or sanctuary within a larger outdoor space through the use of vertical planting and height. This doesn’t necessarily mean fencing the garden in, but applying 3-D design rules to make use of an entire space rather than just planting patches of ground.

Sarah Wilson recommends trying to create a variety of different ‘levels’ of interest in your garden: “Use a trailing plant on top of a wall to add interest where a planting scheme would otherwise be all on one level. A climbing plant can be used to create a green screen or wall. Evergreen climbers are the best – you can clothe an entire wall or trellis panel with a climber such as ivy, to give you a dramatic backdrop year-round.”

Alexandra of The Middle Sized Garden likes to use topiary to add height and architectural impact to her own garden:

It can be expensive, but you can also grow your own and learn how to topiarise. We have two holm oaks that we bought as £50 young ‘whips’. It took about five years before they were bulky enough to make a good topiary shape but they are now really distinctive.

Plant containers for instant drama

Geof Stonebanks terracotta pots in Driftwood Garden

Geoff Stonebanks has hundreds of terracotta planters in his Driftwood Garden
Image: Geoff Stonebanks

Long term design schemes can take time to fully mature. While you’re waiting why not fill gaps and add instant colour with container plants, advises Sarah Wilson:

If your garden’s going through a tatty spell or you need to create instant drama for an outdoor party, draft in some help from containers. Placing a couple of well-thought out and freshly-planted containers in key places around the garden, such as either side of doorways or in front of borders, will draw the eye and they’ll become the flashy focal points.

Sarah recommends packing your containers full of plants and focussing on colour harmonies and foliage contrasts. And be bold with your pot sizes. Try using a few large containers rather than lots of small ones to create impact.

Geoff Stonebanks also recommends the use of container plants for dramatic effect, although he continually moves his around throughout the season:

“My garden contains over 300 different terracotta planters, filled with anything from bulbs, small shrubs, annuals, palms and grasses. The trick to using them is to ensure they contain plants and shrubs that ‘peak’ at different times of the year. That wow factor can easily be achieved by moving a fabulous-looking pot from its regular home to pride-of-place in the garden, just as it starts to look its best!” 

Plan for winter

Winter garden scene from Cheryl Cummings

Ornamental grasses lend an air of Narnia to your winter garden
Image: Cheryl Cummings

One of the things that separates professional from amateur garden design is the ability to plan for year-round interest. Even when the leaves have fallen and plants have died back, a garden with ‘great bones’ will have enough structural interest to carry it through the coldest months in style.

Cheryl Cummings uses ornamental grasses to create wonderful winter structure in her gardens:

In the depths of winter the best and longest lasting ornamental grasses are elevated from supporting artists into stars. In a hard frost their fine lines and elegant shapes are emphasised by a dusting of ice crystals. Left standing with the uncut remains of herbaceous foliage until the very end of the season, they provide essential shelter and sustenance for wildlife. And on sparkling cold days they reward us for our restraint with the stunning appearance of Narnia.

Here are four of her favourite grasses to recreate the magic in your own garden:

Add a focal point

Sculpture in Driftwood Garden from Geoff Stonebanks

Use pieces of sculpture to create focal points in your garden
Image: Geoff Stonebanks

Finally, successful garden design is about more than just plants. It’s about using the space to maximum effect and giving your scheme a bit of personality. Here are three tips from our garden designers that will help deliver a professional punch to any garden:

  • Get creative with coloured paint: 

“A pot of paint adds instant wow factor. Give your garden a signature colour and use it on outdoor furniture, fencing, sheds, trellis and pots. It pulls mismatched styles together and can be easily changed when you want something different… Chalk paints can be used on any surface – plastic, metal and wood.” – Alexandra of The Middle Sized Garden

  • Invest in a garden sculpture:

“Instant wow factor can be achieved by carefully placing a stunning piece of sculpture in the garden. I have many, in both wood and metal, and the eye is immediately drawn to them.” – Geoff Stonebanks

“Personal pieces of sculpture hold relevance and give pleasure no matter the price tag. They add focus, meaning and charm whatever the weather.” – Cheryl Cummings

  • Add feature lighting:

“Cross lighting is one of my favourite lighting methods. Place two lamps at different angles to the front of a feature tree or plant to create a natural and three-dimensional effect.” – Jon Gower

We’d like to thank all of these fantastic garden designers for sharing their top tips with us. We hope you’ve found some ideas to inspire your own garden plans for the coming year. Want more expert gardening advice on how to incorporate ornamental grasses into your planting scheme? Then visit our helpful grasses hub page for growing and care advice.

 

How To Landscape Your Garden and Backyard Like A Professional

How To Landscape Your Garden and Backyard Like A Professional

Outside, the temperatures are dropping. In New York, it has started snowing on a regular basis and residents are getting used to bundling up and trekking through snow and slush. But while the winds outside are gusting and homeowners are cuddling up on their sofas and sipping some hot cocoa, a lot of people are already thinking about the upcoming spring. Dreaming of warmer weather, fresh vegetables at the market, and a lush and blooming backyard, many of these people start to make some plans on the landscaping front. Are you thinking about how to landscape your garden and backyard like a professional? Then good news is on the way. Below are some tips and pointers for making your outdoor areas look their best without paying a pricey professional to do it.

LANDSCAPING TIP #1 – START BY PLANNING
Like with any major undertaking that will take serious time and some financial investment, it is important to think ahead about what you are going to do. In the long run, taking a little bit of time to plan your landscape will save you a lot of wasted and lost time down the line. Think about what you want to do. Do you want a vegetable garden? A Koi pond? A flower garden? There are almost limitless things you can do with your backyard, so take the time to research them and pick what works best for you. Don’t start buying things until you know what your big picture plan is.

How To Landscape Your Garden and Backyard Like A Professional

Careful planning is essential

LANDSCAPING TIP #2 – GET READY TO SWEAT
If you want to save the money on hiring professionals, that leaves only one person to do the (literally) dirty work: you. So put on some old clothes, roll up your sleeves, and get ready to shovel. Ever notice how dirty professional gardeners are? That’s going to be you now, so be prepared.

How To Landscape Your Garden and Backyard Like A Professional

Hard work = great results

LANDSCAPING TIP #3 – GO SIMPLE
If you do not have a lot of experience in landscaping and gardening, then you are in luck because you can still do a very good, professional looking job without needing a high skill level. (Sorry, no Koi pond for you.) Make your garden look like it was professionally designed by keeping it simple. Try sticking to different shades and textures of greens, with just one or two pops of color. This will keep it from looking busy and confused, while still maintaining an interesting diversity of plant life.

How To Landscape Your Garden and Backyard Like A Professional

Keep it simple

LANDSCAPING TIP #4 – PUT A VARIETY OF TREES IN THE FRONT YARD
During the winter, if you live in a cold climate like the Northeastern states, you are not going to have any flowers in your lawn. But if you plant trees when it warms up, they will grow and stay in your landscape during the winter. Mix up the different kinds of trees. Include evergreens like pine, and some deciduous trees too. Feel free to put vines on your home, too, which looks especially good on brick homes.

LANDSCAPING TIP #5 – KNOW WHEN TO SPEND AND WHEN TO SAVE
When it comes to plants, there are plenty of low budget options that still look great in your lawn and/or backyard. (There are also a lot of ways to even get free seeds!) But there are also times when it is worth spending a little bit more money. Invest in quality gardening tools that won’t break and need to replaced, and if you love a fountain you see, if it’s special, indulge yourself.

Find out more at Architectural Gardens here

Father and son win prestigious Bicester in Bloom 2012 awards

Bicester in Bloom 2011 - Best Kept Back Garden

Bicester in Bloom 2011 – Best Kept Back Garden

When Thompson & Morgan customer Eugene Baston and his son Reuben first entered their back garden into the Bicester in Bloom 2011 awards, they had no idea that they might win a prize… but, to their surprise, they won the Gold Award for Best Kept Back Garden!

And not only that, but the garden at the nursery that Reuben attended at the time also won gold and the ‘Best of the best’ award.

Mr Baston had been thinking of a career change and this just helped to fuel his plans. His mother, with whom he used to garden as a child, was very enthusiatic about his plans to become a professional gardener. In November 2011 Ground Level was created, but not a man to do anything by halves, Eugene set himself a challenge – to completely redesign his back garden and to use it to showcase his new business. And to enter the Bicester in Bloom competition again.

Bicester in Bloom 2012 - Best Back Garden - Gold Award Winner

Bicester in Bloom 2012 – Best Back Garden – Gold Award Winner

He moved the decking, built a path and a water feature, installed sleepers to create raised beds and lights. The project was made even more difficult by the sudden death of his mum, who had been a great inspiration. However, in dedication to her, Eugene carried on and by mid April had relaid the turf and got planting. The garden features a mixture of annuals and perennials, including dahlias (Eugene’s absolute favourite), rudbeckias, gazanias to name but a few.

Reuben exploring the secret path that Daddy built

Reuben exploring the secret path that Daddy built

In spite of this year’s dreadful weather, Eugene, with Reuben’s invaluable help, achieved what he set out to do and entered into the Best Back Garden category of Bicester in Bloom.

To their complete astonishment, they won the Gold Award for Best Kept Back Garden for the 2nd year running! And that wasn’t it – they also won the Best of the Best award!

Eugene and Reuben had also managed to find time to work on Reuben’s school garden, revamping the vegetable patch, borders and containers. The school came away from the competition with two awards.

Reuben, who started school this year and is now 5, loves gardening. He knows all the names of the plants and tells his dad when the potatoes are ready to be harvested!

Well done to you both, what a fantastic achievement!

Bicester in Bloom 2012 - Best Back Garden - Eugene & Reuben Baston

Bicester in Bloom 2012 – Best Back Garden Award

Bicester in Bloom 2012 - Best of the Best - Eugene and Reuben Baston

Bicester in Bloom 2012 – Best of the Best Award

 

 

 

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