Renowned for the wonderful scent of its white bell-shaped flowers, the plant blooms in our gardens in May and June. The flowers are then followed by red berries in the autumn.

Convallaria majalis is its Latin name. There is a variegated form called Convallaria majalis ‘Albostriata’ with striped creamy gold leaves.

There’s also a variety which has white flowers flushed with pink called Convallaria majalis var. rosea.

This fully hardy perennial flourishes in partial or complete shade in fertile, moist soil.

And it’s an excellent groundcover plant as it spreads to form a fragrant carpet of flowers and long, dark green leaves.

Be aware that lily of the valley prefers not to be moved once it’s got going. So it’s best to plant it and leave it alone.

Just over two years ago, this delicate bloom took centre stage at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

And due to its popularity as a wedding flower, it’s now generally available all year round at flower markets…although it can be a little pricey out of season.

So, if you’re looking to add a little fragrance to your garden in a shady area, why not consider introducing this beautiful plant?

P.S. Please be aware that lily of the valley is highly poisonous if ingested so  it’s not ideal for planting in your garden if you have small children.

(Images : Flickr/ptrix, Thompson & Morgan, Flickr/peganum,Flickr/Kalexanderson, Flickr/mwri)

Original content source: Garden Flowers: The exquisitely scented lily of the valley…

I wrote last week about the challenges our nurseries are facing with the late arrival of spring and the prolonged cold weather.  This got me thinking that plants for the garden make great gifts.

Trees make wonderful presents. When my Dad turned 60 my sister and I brought him a Walnut Tree (before he was a nurseryman I might add!) and it’s planted in their front garden, actually within the area that is now Forton Nursery.  Over the years it’s grown and matured and although it hasn’t reached its full height yet, it has produced walnuts for the last couple of years.

Unlike a bunch of flowers, a plant will continue to grow and mature over time.  Depending on the species, it will produce flowers and interest year after year.  If you think about it, a plant for the garden is really good value for money.

I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t send cut flowers, I love having flowers in the house and I certainly love receiving them, but if it’s a really special occasion that you want to be constantly reminded of then a plant for the garden has to be a better choice.

So what if you don’t have a garden?  Well I guess it’s a bit more challenging to choose the right thing, but plants in pots can work well – you’ll have a front door even if you live in a flat so perhaps something each side of the entrance will brighten things up a bit.

Formal topiarised trees can look stunning in pots as long as you ensure that the balance is right i.e. the pot needs to be the right size for the plant otherwise it just doesn’t look right.  I wrote a piece in one of my newsletters (scroll down to “Design Tip of the Month”) last year which you may want to take a look at.

Sending flowers is obviously easier if you want them to be delivered further afield.  It’s not so easy with a bulky plant.  I noticed recently that Marks and Spencer have started to offer potted plants in their mail order range.

I think the camellias (top centre and bottom right) offer the best of both worlds really – flowers and something you can plant out in the garden.  All is not lost if you don’t have acidic soil, camellias grow well in pots which means that you can keep the soil acidity up with ericaceous feed.

So next time you’re wondering what to buy someone as a gift, why not consider sending them something for the garden – it will give them pleasure for years!

Images: Lisa Cox, Marks and Spencer

Blog post published in collaboration with Marks & Spencer

As some of you may know, my parents have a nursery in Somerset.  They specialise in growing hardy perennials but they also sell shrubs, trees and some seasonal bedding such as primulas and violas.

My Dad visited their supplier of seasonal bedding yesterday because they’re trying to source some plants for a client who wants something a bit different for the table decorations at their daughter’s wedding.  My parents are also growing pots of tulips for the wedding so we’re all keeping everything crossed that they’re looking spectacular on the day!  But I digress…

Due to the late arrival of spring, they’re literally throwing away thousands of plants that aren’t being sold.  My parents normally sell out of primroses but this year they’ve hardly sold any.  I think what makes it worse is that the weather has been continually bad for the last year so each season has been much the same.  It must be soul destroying!

So we need to support our local garden centres and nurseries as much as we can otherwise they just won’t be there when we do need them.  Now that the spring seems to have made an appearance, you’ll all be starting to think about the garden.  Hardy perennials and shrubs can be brought now and if they’re properly grown and well rooted, they’ll be fine to plant out in the ground.

It’s warmed up significantly over the past week, everything has sprung into life again, so it won’t be long before you can plant up your pots for the summer.  Buy the plants now and keep them protected for a while.  Throwing some horticultural fleece over them at night is often enough to keep them cosy.

I hope you had a great weekend…

This month’s Garden Flowers post, which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona, features the snake’s head fritillary. Originally a native wild flower, it’s now been domesticated for garden use as it’s so beautiful.

Snake’s head fritillaries have nodding, bell-shaped blooms which appear on their slender stems in April and May. The delicate petals are either white or a chequerboard pattern in shades of purple.

Fritillaria meleagris is its Latin name. It’s derived from the Latin word ‘fritillus’, meaning dice box, which possibly refers to the checked pattern on the flowers.

If you’d like to grow these hardy perennial bulbs in your garden, you need to plant them four times their own depth (approx. 12cm) from September to November. Be careful when handling the bulbs though as they’re quite fragile.

Snake’s head fritillaries like fertile, well-drained soil and full sun or partial shade.

In particular, they love the shade of woodland conditions and look wonderful planted in drifts naturalised in grass in an orchard or wild flower meadow.

To create natural-looking drifts, simply throw a handful gently over the planting area and then plant them where they land.

Alternatively, you could grow them under shrubs in a border or in pots.

If you live near Wiltshire, you may like to visit North Meadow in Cricklade where there is a meadow which supports Britain’s largest population of snake’s head fritillaries.

(Images : Flickr – ulfbodin/chodhound/jessandinca/ulfbodin)

Original content source: Garden Flowers: The dainty Snake’s Head Fritillary…

So, to brighten up your day I thought I’d share some pictures of the signs of spring in my garden, starting with the cheery Narcissus ‘Febuary gold’ which can’t fail to make you smile…

The Hellebores have been flowering for a few weeks, but they’re still going strong and looking lovely as always…

One of my favourite plants is the Peony and these are one of the most dramatic to show themselves in spring.

The herbaceous peonies burst through the soil and promise good things but the tree peony also shoots from stems that look as though they have no life left in them…

I’ve featured Ribes sanguinium before as part of the Garden Flowers series I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona and in my garden it’s one of the first things to come into flower.  The flower buds are already well formed and it won’t be long until it’s brightening up the border.

Last but by no means least is the Nandina domestica, one of my favourite evergreen shrubs which performs well in my garden all year round.  This year the berries have been spectacular, and they’re still bringing colour and interest now.

In addition some of the perennials are starting to poke through the soil.  I’m hoping this cold snap is a temporary blip and we’ll be set for a warm spring soon.

What’s happening in your garden? I’d love to hear from you…

(Images: Lisa Cox for The Room Outside)

This month’s Garden Flowers post, which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona , features the popular spring bulb, the muscari.

Its common name is grape hyacinth which refers to the plant’s clusters of small, bell-shaped flowers, which look like bunches of upside-down grapes.

There are around thirty different species of muscari, although only four or five are widely available.  The most common is ‘Muscari armeniacum’ which comes in various shades of blue and there is also a white variety called ‘Album’.

Muscari are perennial bulbs which will grow in any reasonably drained soil, as long as it’s not too shady.

Best planted en masse with other bulbs such as dwarf narcissi, muscari have grass-like leaves which remain throughout the summer and may need cutting back in the autumn, as the leaves fade.

As well as brightening up your garden, muscari are also available as a cut flower at this time of year. They look great arranged in small vases and are also readily available planted up in pots, sometimes decorated with birch twigs.

If you would like to grow muscari in your garden, you will need to wait until the autumn to plant the bulbs but if you make a trip to your local garden centre over the next week or so, you should be able to pick up some pot-grown plants in flower that you can transplant into your garden straightaway.

(Images : Flickr - Gimli_36/sabianmaggy/kataaca/yasa_)

Nova-Flore offer four floral meadow seed mix ranges which offers something to fit all garden types, sizes and site conditions.

The Garden’s Friends

This range is all about attracting wildlife so the seed mixes have been put together so that you can attract Bees, Aphids, Birds, Ladybirds or Butterflies.  These come in both annual and annual/perennial mixes.

The Bee mix (above) was shortlisted in 2012 for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Product of the Year award and is their best seller.

The Summer Flowers

The summer flowers range consists of annual mixes so they’re great for a quick flush of flowers.  I think these could work really well if you are phasing a garden project.  You might not be able to afford to fill the planting beds all in one go so using an annual seed mix will give you some colour and interest without too much cost.

 The Specifics

These are seed mixtures developed for specific soil conditions and aspects.  The picture above shows the “every kind of soil” mix which is the best seller in this range.  Others include mixes for dry soil, rockery planting, wild flowers, wet soil and shady areas.

The Dwarves

The Dwarves collection incorporates mixes that are suitable for small spaces and maximum heights range from 20-50cm.  This also includes a special mix to be planted at the foot of trees where often it is challenging to get things to grow.

I have actually just specified the use of a couple of annual/perennial seed mixes for one of my projects where part of the garden is an old apple orchard.  This area of the garden lends itself to informal planting.

It’s a large area too so the cost of planting the beds with perennials would be significantly more than using a seed mix.  This part of the garden can’t be seen from the house so it doesn’t really matter that the beds will be empty in winter.

For more information about each of the seed mixes do have a look at the Meadow in My Garden website.

(Images: Meadow in My Garden)

If you don’t want to take the risk, then you could go for something like an Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’ or Prunus incisa.  Both of these will be perfectly happy planted in a container.

Trees in small spaces need to work hard to earn their space there.   They really need to be providing interest all year round, but at the very least for 3 seasons.  Here are a few ideas…

One of my favourite small trees is Acer pseudoplatanus ‘Brilliantissimum’.  It’s a deciduous tree but it has the most wonderful soft pinky-orange leaves in spring which later turn to cream and dark green.  It prefers a sheltered position on reasonably well-drained soil but isn’t fussy about whether the soil is acid or alkaline.

Amelanchier lamarckii (the snowy mespilus) is a great tree for acid soil and is often grown as a multi-stemmed specimen.  It works hard for its space in the garden, with starry white flowers and coppery leaves in spring and then fabulous autumn colour.

Many of the Malus varieties are suitable for small gardens, but I think Malus ‘Royalty’ is one of my favourites.  It has wonderful deep purple foliage and the same colour flowers in spring.  It will grow in any aspect, exposed or sheltered, and in any soil as long as it’s reasonably well-drained.

The last tree I’m going to feature today is Prunus subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’ which has pinkish white blossom in winter and spring then the leaves turn a wonderful warm yellow in autumn.

I have featured just a couple of trees here, but there are many more than will work in a small space.  If you’re worried about too much shade then perhaps think of a more upright tree.  Something like Prunus sargentii ‘Rancho’ could work in this situation.

Images: Lisa Cox, Sirpale79, pcgn7

This month’s Garden Flowers post, which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona, features the  winter jasmine, which is also known as Jasminum nudiflorum

It’s a hardy deciduous shrub with long arching branches that bear bright yellow flowers on bare stems in the winter, and often through to spring.

It was named ‘nudiflorum’ meaning ‘naked flower’ as its flowers bloom before its leaves, which appear in the summer.

If you would like early flowers, then it’s best to plant your winter jasmine in a sunny spot because, although it’s tolerant of light shade, the flowers don’t appear in shady places until much later.

The shrub prefers well-drained soil and is best planted in a sheltered position, against a wall or fence.

It looks great trained up a house wall using wires or a trellis and can also be clipped into a low hedge.

Pruning is really easy, just take a pair of hedging shears and trim back any growth after it has flowered.

The twiggy branches can also be used in flower arrangements and their cheerful yellow flowers look wonderful mixed with winter iris, Iris unguicularis.

So, if you’re looking for a shrub to add colour to your garden over the winter months, why not consider a Jasminum nudiflorum?

Images: Marylise-doctrinal, PikersLaneFarm, Leispeia,  AndrewWelford1

If you read my blog post on Friday you’ll know that I love the snow when it first arrives and transforms the garden into a landscape that is akin to Narnia.  But, pretty as it may be, the snow can cause damage to your trees and shrubs.

Snow actually helps to insulate the soil so it’s not the cold that you need to worry about.  It’s the physical weight of the snow that will do the damage.

A heavy layer of snow can cause leaves and branches to break so it’s a really good idea to shake off any excess snow from the branches of your large trees, shrubs and hedges in order to prevent them from becoming disfigured by the weight of the snow.

You should pay particular attention to conifers as prolonged periods with the weight of the snow on larger branches will create big gaps in the foliage that might not spring back when the snow has melted.

In my garden it’s the bamboo that needs the attention as the stems almost bend to the ground when the weight of the snow takes hold.  If we didn’t shake off the snow, they’d be likely to remain bent over and have to be removed.

If you have a greenhouse or cold frame, it’s also a good idea to remove any heavy falls of snow off the roof.  This will let in light and also prevent any damage from the weight of the snow.

My last note of advice relates to your lawn and really this depends upon whether or not you have children.  Ideally you want to avoid walking on the lawn if at all possible because it can leave unsightly marks when the snow has gone.

But if snowmen must be built and snow ball fights have to take place, then the lawn should recover eventually, even if it looks a bit battered for a while.

Images: Lisa Cox for The Room Outside