Search - Articles

, coriander, mint, thyme and rosemary.Then there are nasturtiums - vibrant, colourful blooms produced in profusion by these easy-to-grow hardy annuals. They have a warming, peppery flavour, not unlike watercress. Which is hardly surprising when you realise

, at the edges of ponds and rivers. These include bleeding heart (left), monarda, astilbe, actaea, Solomon's seal, toad lily, Himalayan blue poppy and heuchera.Damp shadeThere are even plants suitable for growing in the darkest corner, such as butcher's broom

This is prime iris season: a few weeks when these hugely flamboyant flowers come into their own. I grow two different sorts of iris in my garden: the Siberian iris and the bearded iris. Siberian irises are smaller flowered, have thinner leaves

being far hardier.Another trick when growing them in the garden is to plant deeply – perhaps 20cm or more down – so that they’ll get through winter without being frozen. You can often do the same with dahlias and gladioli, perhaps with just a mulch over

. The first is relatively straightforward: the mullein moth caterpillar. These are stripy chaps that start quite skinny, but rapidly become as fat as witchity grubs by eating verbascum leaves at a terrifying rate. I grow the gorgeous Verbascum bombyciferum

will actually be doing some gardening while rubbing shoulders with the public. Carol Klein, Joe Swift and Alys Fowler will all be around at various points.With a surging interest in everything edible, the Grow Your Own stage will also prove a popular destination

a good purple dahlia, 'Orfeo' is another cactus type which goes well with 'Karma Lagoon', a water lily variety with striking violet petals. I like mixing different shapes of the same colour so I don't have to worry if they all go together.This year

the offending plants and what to do if you have them growing in your pond (remove and compost them, basically).Great. But what should we plant in our ponds to replace the offenders? My blog on dead frogs highlighted the need for oxygenating plants to maintain

to read the signs you'll know whether you plant is thirsty once you’ve mastered watering, don’t be surprised when your house plants grow and bloom more vigorously.Plants rely on their cells being full of water to provide support. When water is in short