Search - Articles

coloured flowers, usually with a brilliant boss of yellow stamens at the centre. While many bedding plants remain dwarf and compact cosmos grows taller, swaying above them on the breeze. Seeds are cheap, and these tender summer bedding plants are always

different. Having seen drifts of oleander flowering relentlessly on visits to the Mediterranean in the past, I was tempted by a really large specimen I discovered in a garden centre last spring. Costing about £12, this made the perfect subject for a large

buy them. All you need do is add water to set them off, which start with emerging green shoots of leaves and flower stalks, with pure white roots anchoring the bulbs down into the gravel. These are hardy bulbs, so they don’t need a warm room to get

I'm always looking to make my garden more appealing to wildlife, so I've been delighted by the number of peacock butterflies around this summer. My buddleja has put on a superb flower display that's lasted for weeks. If any shrub is going to provide

ordered from one mail order supplier in October still haven't arrived. It was actually Kate Bradbury, one of my fellow bloggers on this site, who led me to make another bulb order.In her blog Growing daffodils, Kate mentioned an early flowering narcissus

anthers, but it'll keep flowering right through summer. Each flower measures about 7cm across. Although not as large as the flowers of many summer-flowering hybrids, the succession of blooms makes C. 'Arabella' really worthwhile. Clearly the RHS thinks so

of nerine in full, glorious flower in my garden.One nerine been doing its thing in the same pot for more years than I care to remember is Nerine undulata. I think it was called N. crispa when I first bought it, but as with so many plants its name has changed

more (that's a topic for another day).So, what are the alternatives? There are quite a few annual climbers to choose from actually. Morning glory (ipomoea) is popular, but their flowers are all too short-lived. The purple bell vine (rhodochiton) is nice

, and carry several leaves, pinch out the tip. This encourage two or three side shoots to develop lower down the stems, and each of these can be trained up to carry flowers.However, if it's really large stems of sweet peas for cut flowers that you're after

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