Posts Tagged ‘Herbaceous Perennials’

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.

This month’s Garden Flowers post, which I write with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona, features penstemon. Read more

July has been another busy month for me – I think the week of summer we had (at last!) has put everyone in a spin about their gardens.  The persistent rain in the UK this year has meant that whilst our gardens are growing like mad, the best we can do is look and wonder how we’ll ever get the chance to get out there and keep everything in check. Read more

You may or may not be aware that I coordinate my local “Cluster Group” for the Society of Garden Designers (SGD).  It’s a peer network group for members of the SGD and each month we either invite a speaker, choose a topic to discuss or make a visit somewhere. Read more

It’s been almost 2 months since I last visited Loseley Park so the changes to the garden were really quite dramatic when I popped in there yesterday.  Many of the perennials were just coming to the end of flowering but amazingly, just a day before the garden is closing to the public, there was still something to take photographs of.  Read more

I made my August visit to Loseley Park Garden last week and, as usual, it didn’t disappoint.  Just 4 weeks since my July visit, I was surprised once again to see how much it has changed. Read more

The weather has been a challenge for most gardeners this year, a very hot dry spring followed by a wet cool spell and now it can’t quite work out what it’s doing!  One thing that is certain is the early arrival of the late flowering perennials and my garden is a bloom with plants that don’t normally come into their own until September. Read more