Flowers are the fruits of many gardeners’ labours

You can’t beat time spent gardening, but even the most enthusiastic of growers need a little downtime. Here are nine of our favourite flower garden blogs – reading to enjoy over a well-earned cuppa and a biscuit.

The Amateur Plantsman

Glorious chrysanthemums in the sunshine
Image: Amateur plantsman

There’s nothing like chrysanthemums for coverage and colour, but if you’re worried they can’t withstand the vagaries of the British climate, the Amateur Plantsman says: “While the large decoratives, pompoms, incurves, spiders, quills and other…forms might not stand up to the cold, there are others, with smaller, simpler flowers, that are tough enough to withstand winter.”

Early retirement saw this Berkshire based gardener freed to indulge his passion for plants. Join him as he shares his hopes and disappointments, successes and failures – anyone for a winter-flowering fuchsia?

Helen Gazeley

Begonias provided a lightbulb moment for Helen

“Do I like hanging baskets? Oh, come on! Who doesn’t?” says gardener and blogger Helen. She was blown away by the stunning display of begonias her first attempt at hanging baskets produced – it’s just a pity she’d hung them at her father-in-laws. She won’t make that mistake again!

A wealth of information, gardening tips and advice awaits you here. Helen’s blog features product and book reviews, show news, garden visits, plant information, and more. Always up for gardening related chat, she says: “I’ll be really interested to hear what you think,” she says, “whether you agree with something I’ve said or not.”

Rachel the gardener

This Salix Kilmarnock needs potting and pruning
Image: Rachel the gardener

A weeping willow is a spectacular tree, but as blogger Rachel says, there aren’t many gardeners who’ve got the space for a 60ft tree. But you can always buy a dwarf willow which is created by grafting weeping branches onto an upright trunk. This little tree makes a wonderful flower garden feature, she says, but only if you plant and prune it correctly.

Rachel the gardener is a horticulturalist well worth a read – do check out her botany guides, “for use in the field by UK Botanists, both Improvers and complete beginners, to help swiftly narrow down the identification of a plant.”

Hurtled to 60 and now beyond

Peach delight – one of several zinnias “on trial” at Parham gardens
Image: Hurtled to 60

If you haven’t visited the National Memorial Arboretum yet, why not let this avid gardener, photographer and blogger give you a taste of what’s in store? The 150 acre site is home to over 30,000 trees, almost all of which are dedicated to the memory of service and sacrifice.

The prairie-style garden plantings are impressive too, says  Hurtled to 60 – if only she knew who the designer was. Here you’ll find a host of musings from the flowerbeds, as well as garden visit reports to inspire. Short of planting ideas for next season? Check out her report on the Parham plant trials –  the zinnias are to die for.

Flowers from the farm

British flowers at their best
Image: Flowers from the farm

Do you like your flowers with no air miles and few road miles? Flowers from the farm is a network of “farmers, smallholders and gardeners, who…grow and present a different range of flowers from those available in the supermarkets and the wholesale markets.”

If you thought British flowers were a summer only luxury, think again. Narcissi flourish in Cornwall and the Scillies during the winter, as do tulips from Lincolnshire, which are available from Christmas. Flowers from the Farm boasts over 500 members – want to be a flower farmer but don’t know how to start? You’ve come to the right place.

Catharine Howard

Catharine’s mini potager is a bit like a giant window box
Image: Catharine Howard

How many self-sown edibles can you grow in a small space and still manage to create an alluring garden feature? That was the challenge garden designer and coach, Catherine Howard set herself when she planted a mini potager in her own Suffolk garden.

We think you’ll agree the tulips looked great – check out the post to find out what came next.

Catherine’s gives you the lowdown on garden design and offers her professional services as a gardening coach, plus there are plenty of garden visits to inspire inform.

Susan Rushton

Blooms to die for – literally
Image: Susan Rushton

Fancy some killer plantings for autumn? Colchicum autumnale are deadly – and they look awesome too. The foliage of these delightful blooms is known to have been confused for wild garlic and consumed, with unfortunate consequences. We think you’ll agree, they’re gorgeous, but perhaps best left to “RIP” in someone else’s garden…

Blogger Susan says: “I’ve seen far too many trendy, almost flowerless gardens, but for me, a garden just isn’t the same without them.” A woman of her word, you’ll find a wealth of rose, prose and photos here. Looking for some floral punch to bring your garden to life? Check out these orange lilies.

London Cottage Garden

Can you spot David Hockney’s influence here?
Image: London cottage garden

From where do you draw inspiration for your garden design? The London cottage gardener shares his gardening muses – the Hockney vibe really stands out, but you’ll also find influence from 1960s textile and interior designers, Susan Collier and Sarah Campbell, plus Kaffe Fassett and more.

The London Cottage Garden is, as the name suggests, all about one gardener’s transformation of a patch of the big smoke into “a chaotic abundance of colour, scent and movement”. We think he’s done it – you’ll love the before and after pics.

Jeremy Bartlett

Piggybacking toadstools
Image: Jeremy Bartlett

Stepping back from flowers for a moment – how about a piggy back in a fairy ring? We’re talking about Piggyback Rosegill, Volvariella surrecta, a parasitic fungus that grows on the caps of decaying Clouded Funnel toadstools. Blogger jeremy Bartlett is as mad about fungi as he is about flowers, which makes for an interesting read.

Interested in plants since he transformed his sandpit into a garden when he was five, Jeremy studied Botany at university, before graduating with a genetics degree. He subsequently gained a PHD in plant genetics. Want to learn more about wild fungi and flowers? He’s well worth a read.

Have you come across any excellent flower gardening blogs we’ve forgotten to mention? Do let us know – just pop over to our Facebook page and leave us a message.