by Jane Scorer | Oct 31, 2016 | Autumn gardening, Bare roots, Exterior design, Flowers, Gardening Posts, inspiration for the garden, Perennials, Roses, Winter gardening, Your Stories
The changing colour of leaves from the garden
Autumn can be the cruellest of seasons, lulling us into thinking it is still summer, with rays of mellow sunshine followed by a blast of the East wind, to remind us that winter is not far away! When the sun is shining it is tempting to leave the garden undisturbed and enjoy every moment, but plans need to be in place for the frosts which will certainly be coming at some point.
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I am the willing servant of my garden and also admit to a severe plant addiction. I love them all, but especially sub tropicals, roses, salvias, dahlias and auriculas. I enjoy propagation (because it makes even more plants!) and I hate weeding. My garden was a field when we first met, all those years ago, and its development has been a long, slow, labour of love. It is still evolving and changing all the time. I have opened for the NGS in the recent past, and I have an RHS Qualification, but, the experience I value has mainly been gained with my hands deep in the soil.
As a freelance garden writer, Jane has also written articles for ‘ThinkinGardens’ and ‘Garden Drum’
by Wendie Alexander | Oct 24, 2016 | Autumn gardening, Expert Update, Exterior design, Flowers, Gardening News, Gardening Posts, inspiration for the garden, Summer gardening
Cosmos has been Fleuroselect’s very successful plant of the year for 2016. With the year drawing to a close a favourite cosmos needed to be crowned.
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I have worked for Thompson & Morgan for nearly four years. In that time I have learnt lots about gardening, but consider myself very much a novice. I have started growing veg on a colleague’s allotment and also growing windowsill seeds such as Salad Leaves and Rocket. I love gaining more knowledge about horticulture and am lucky enough to work here.
by Thompson & Morgan | Sep 26, 2016 | Expert Update, Gardening News, Gardening Posts
Thompson & Morgan, which offers one of the UK’s widest ranges of garden seeds, plants, gardening equipment and outdoor living furniture, was recently selected to join the Google Certified Shops program. To help shoppers identify online merchants that offer a great shopping experience, the Google Certified Shops badge is awarded to ecommerce sites that demonstrate a track record of on time shipping and excellent customer service.
When visiting the Thompson & Morgan website (www.thompson-morgan.com), shoppers will see a Google Certified Shops badge and can click on it for more information.
Taking your order & checking your plants
Marketing Services Manager, Clare Dixey said ‘independent reviews from our customers are extremely important both to us and to reassure our online customers. We are delighted to have won this accolade from Google which measures for the very best in customer services, online experience, reliable delivery and product quality’.
As an added benefit, when a shopper makes a purchase at Google Certified Shops, they have the option to select free purchase protection from Google. Then in the unlikely event of an issue with their purchase, they can request Google’s help, and Google will work with Thompson & Morgan and the customer to address the issue. As part of this, Google offers up to £1,000 lifetime purchase protection for eligible purchases.
Google Certified Shops is entirely free, both for shoppers and for online stores. The program helps online stores like Thompson & Morgan attract new customers, increase sales and differentiate themselves by showing off their excellent service via the badge on their websites.
Supplying gardeners since 1855, Thompson & Morgan has a longstanding reputation for its extensive range and seeds and young plants. Following two years of growth and product expansion, the mail order specialist now has everything a gardener could possibly need to get their outdoor space exactly as they want it, all with the convenience of delivery direct to the door. Alongside its award-winning range of flower and vegetable seeds, young plants, fruit trees, bushes and bulbs, customers can now add everything from plant labels, propagators, fertilisers and composts to hand tools, power tools, mowers, sheds and greenhouses, along with a comprehensive range of over 1,200 mature perennials, trees and shrubs.
For more information about Thompson & Morgan, reader offers or image requests please contact Julie Rush on 01473 695227 or email jrush@thompson-morgan.com
The Thompson & Morgan horticultural team produces a wealth of content around gardening and food production. Since the first seed catalogue was published in 1855, Thompson & Morgan has grown to become one of the UK’s largest Mail Order Seed and Plant companies. Through the publication of our catalogues and the operation of our award-winning website, Thompson & Morgan is able to provide home gardeners with the very best quality products money can buy.
by Amanda Davies | Sep 22, 2016 | Customer Trial Panel, Flowers, Fruit, Gardening Posts, inspiration for the garden, Pests & Diseases, Summer gardening, Your Stories
Hello Gardeners,
I hope you have had a wonderful summer and are enjoying the fruits of your harvest. I have had the most successful year ever thanks to the reliable and strong seeds from Thompson & Morgan. I wish I had thought to count how many Tomato ‘Magic Mountain’ seeds we had. We had such a glut we were giving them to friends, neighbours, family and hospital staff. My mum has made me pasta sauce and tomato soup on a regular basis and my brother took some to make me a chutney although I have yet to see it!
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My name is Amanda and I live in Pembrokeshire with my fiancé and our garden is approximately 116 meters square. I want to share with you my love for gardening and the reasons behind it, from the good to the bad and ugly. I want to do this for my own personal pleasure. If you would like to take the journey with me then please read my blogs and share with me your gardening stories.
by Wendie Alexander | Sep 7, 2016 | Flowers, Fruit, Gardening Posts, inspiration for the garden, Roses, Summer gardening, Wildlife
This time of year is my favourite in the garden. With the long summer days behind us the light from the sun is not nearly as harsh as it was in June and July. The flowers in the garden are still blooming but with the longer shadows of early evening, it gives them more depth. I wish I could keep this month in the garden all year round! But as that is not possible I try to keep the rich colours of the garden for as long as possible. How to do this you wonder?
I dead-head many of my flowers, to keep them going. By dead-heading you are tricking the plants into believing they are still young. When you allow your plants to seed, they receive a chemical message informing them they no longer need to produce blooms and now is the time to stop. By dead-heading them they continue to enjoy youthfulness and produce their gorgeous blooms for a while longer. Of course this does not continue indefinitely, but it does provide you with colours until the end of the month.
Penstemon ‘Strawberries and Cream, Phlox ‘David’ and Poppy ‘Bridal White’
Which plants can be dead-headed and which are best left to seed? I have always found my Penstemon ‘Strawberries and Cream’ will continue to produce its flowers in September. With a gentle dead-heading I continue to enjoy the pink and white flushes of colour. Other plants include Phlox paniculata ‘David’ and Pennisetum alopecoroides.
To dead-head softer stemmed plants, all you need to do is nip the flowers between thumb and forefinger once the flowers are finished. This will work for geraniums, petunias, cosmos and chrysanthemums.
However, some plants need a little more encouragement and to dead-head you will need to get the secateurs and cut back to the stem to the next shoot down. This applies to roses and dahlias; my Rose ‘Racquel’ has responded well to this and is still happily flowering.
There are plenty of my plants that I have not dead-headed, because they do not respond too well to it. Poppy ‘Bridal White’ is having its last flush of flowers and then it will be going to seed. The seed heads create an unusual backdrop for the remaining flowers in my garden. I am also leaving my Nigella ‘Delft Blue’, the seed heads are a show stopper all of their own. The few grasses I have such as the Verbena bonariensis are also going to seed. The insects really like living here and I don’t want to disturb them while they are happy!
Speaking of happy, don’t forget to let your Fuchsia FUCHSIABERRY go to seed, they will go on to provide you with an abundance of berries for jams and puddings. They are delicious…
So there you are, a bit more work and you have a lot more flowers.
I have worked for Thompson & Morgan for nearly four years. In that time I have learnt lots about gardening, but consider myself very much a novice. I have started growing veg on a colleague’s allotment and also growing windowsill seeds such as Salad Leaves and Rocket. I love gaining more knowledge about horticulture and am lucky enough to work here.
