Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
Beautiful, scented, dwarf butterfly bushes perfect for small gardens
Last summer’s disastrous impact on our butterfly population has been widely reported in recent weeks. So what can we do about dwindling butterfly numbers in ‘Save Our Butterflies’ Week?
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
Stinging nettles – grow some in your garden!
‘Nice’ isn’t the first word that comes to mind when thinking of stinging nettles, but these native plants really do deserve more affection. This week is ‘Be nice to nettles’ week and aims to spread the word of how important nettles are to the UK’s wildlife.
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
Read recent gardening news snippets here…
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
Chelsea Flower Show entries – another Plant of the Year award for Thompson & Morgan?
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
The most beautiful flowers have a humble start, like these petunia plugs.
Image: Ian Grainger / Shutterstock
Fill your garden with colour the convenient and easy way with plug plants. Although seeds are cheaper to buy, there’s often a lot of work involved, from germination to pricking out tiny seedlings. Cuttings also pose the same problem, requiring nurturing undercover for some time and with varying degrees of success. When you buy plug plants, you bypass this difficult stage of growth and receive strong, healthy young plants, raring to grow once potted up or planted into their final positions.
There are plenty of plug plants to choose from but if you need some inspiration take a look at our pick of top ten plug plants for a quick, easy and reliable display. See our How we grow and send your plants page for more information about our plug plant sizes.
Begonia
Begonias are slow and tricky to raise from seed and Begonia tubers can be expensive if you have lots of space to fill. Begonia plug plants are an easy and economical way of growing Begonias and will quickly fill your containers and baskets with colour! Smaller plug plants are best potted up and grown on but jumbo plugs or garden-ready plug plants can be planted straight into their final containers after all risk of frost has passed. Begonia plants are a fantastic addition to beds, borders, baskets, Flower Pouches® and just about any patio container you can think of! Producing a long-lasting display of bright and showy flowers, Begonia plants keep going until the first frosts.
Petunia
Petunias can be fiddly to raise from seed but Petunia plug plants are easy to grow on, giving a rewarding display in beds, containers, hanging baskets and Flower Pouches®. Trailing Petunia plants such as the Surfinia varieties are our most popular, but there are plenty of other unusual and eye-catching varieties available! These half-hardy annuals look spectacular spilling from hanging baskets and containers, or massed in flower beds where they will keep going all summer long until the first frosts.
Fuchsia
Fuchsias are an essential addition to summer hanging baskets and containers, and some varieties are hardy so can be enjoyed year after year. Fuchsia plants can be raised from cuttings but require over-wintering, taking time and space to look after. For quick results, Fuchsia plug plants are a much easier alternative and trailing Fuchsias can be planted straight into hanging baskets and containers without the need for potting up first. With trailing, climbing and upright varieties available in a mixture of colours, Fuchsias are a fantastic and easy-to-grow addition to beds, borders, hanging baskets, containers and Flower Pouches®.
Dianthus
Dianthus plants, also known as carnations, pinks and sweet Williams, can take a year to flower from seed so for quick and instant results try Dianthus plug plants. Once potted up, Dianthus plugs will quickly start to flower and will come back year after year! These hardy perennials and biennials are cottage garden essentials and perfect for the front of sunny borders where they add a profusion of colour and sweet fragrance. Dianthus flowers are also superb for cutting, lasting many weeks in a vase.
Geranium
Geranium plants are slow to grow from seed, requiring an early start and many months of nurturing to reach flowering size. As with Fuchsias, Geranium cuttings require over-wintering which takes up lots of space and time. Geranium plug plants are a much easier alternative – their strong growth will quickly fill out beds, hanging baskets and patio containers with clear, vibrant colour. With a range to choose from, including trailing, climbing, upright and unique rosebud varieties you’re sure to find a Pelargonium plant to suit your garden!
Pansies
Pansy plants and violas, their smaller relatives, give months of pleasure in beds, borders and containers. Winter-flowering pansies inject a welcome splash of colour when most other plants are dormant, making an invaluable addition to autumn, winter and spring container displays. Save yourself the hassle of growing pansies from seed and try growing pansy plug plants for a quick and easy display!
Wallflowers
Wallflower plants are a popular cottage garden favourite, valued for their fragrance and range of vibrant colours in the spring. Most often treated as biennials, wallflower seeds need sowing the year before you wish to have flowers, and the seedlings requiring nurturing and potting on through the hottest months of the year. Wallflower plug plants are an easy way to quickly fill your beds, borders and patio containers with low-maintenance colour, taking the hassle away from growing wallflowers from seed. Happy in even the poorest of soils, wallflowers are a versatile and undemanding addition to your garden!
Primrose
Primrose and Polyanthus plants are popular for their bright spring flowers – they’re so easy to grow and provide a reliable display from late winter through to late spring. Primrose plants take a year to flower from seed and the young plants require nurturing and potting on through the hottest months of the year. Primrose and polyanthus plug plants bypass this stage of growth and are a convenient way to fill your beds, borders and patio pots with an array of sparkling colours, often accompanied by a delicate sweet fragrance.
Lobelia
Lobelia plants are tiny when young and take a long time to reach flowering size. Buying Lobelia plug plants saves you the hassle of growing Lobelia from seed. These dainty flowers create a wonderful dense waterfall of colour, softening the edges of container displays and making great fillers in hanging baskets. Flowering all summer long they’re certainly worth adding to your patio displays or bedding schemes.
Tomatoes
Tomato plants are one of the most popular vegetable plants to grow, with crops being produced non-stop from mid-summer through until autumn, and with a taste far superior to supermarket tomatoes. We send our tomato plug plants at just the right stage of growth, ready for hardening off and planting out once all risk of frost has passed. With a range of bush and cordon varieties available you can grow tomatoes in greenhouses, vegetable beds, patio containers or even hanging baskets! Take a look at our How to grow tomatoes article for more growing information.
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.