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In the current climate of price rises and frozen salaries we're all looking for ways to save money. Fortunately, many garden plants help us to cut costs by producing new seed for free. All we have to do is spot the opportunities, then collect

as the season progresses. They also provide great cut flowers, or just simply take a single flower and float it in a glass bowl of water as a simple table decoration.Another favourite is Tulbaghia, and in particular a variety called ‘Silver Lace’ with silvery

, but the reward is instant - a neat, tidy display revealing the full beauty of the blooms without the distraction of dead flowers.Now I'm contemplating propagation, so need to delve down to try and find some healthy non-flowering shoots to use as cuttings

When did you last lift and divide congested clumps of perennial flowers in your garden? You're not alone if you're struggling to remember, as this is a job I often overlook too.Hardy perennials just do their thing year after year, and I don't give

naturally before it can be cut. It does look untidy I admit, and my wife just doesn't like the look of flowers growing in the lawn. She loves their cheery spring colour in pots and borders, but not in the lawn.But this year I'm hoping to prove her wrong

first harvest. And by picking them just before you're about to eat you know they're can't be any fresher or full of goodness.Many are cut-and-come-again varieties, so by just picking the baby outer leaves as they develop the centre will be left

to be kept watered to avoid drying out. OK, its flowers don't last long. Like its relative the hippeastrum, flowers last for about three weeks from first colour to fall, but these are weeks of pure enjoyment. Once they fall I'll cut down the old flower spike

Flowers are not the only attraction in winter gardens. Biennial honesty (Lunaria annua) is a good example of a plant that keeps delivering after its flowers have passed. Once the petals have fallen, enchanting disc-shaped seed-pods are formed

at this time of year, literally covering itself with bloom.Simply mentioning their name can provoke a rather snooty look of disdain. Chrysanths are very popular,  but often considered brash and 'common'. They remain one of the most popular cut flowers, coming a

upright. It's not ideal, but better than nothing.I don't want the canes to stand out and look unsightly, so I cut the tops off so they sit just below the base of the flower spike. I'm hoping foliage will fill out and hide the canes completely. After all, I