News - Page 141
The first snowfall is just around the corner if it hasn't arrived already, so prepare your plants now so they get through even the heaviest blanketing without a hitch.
It's not the cold you need to worry about: in fact snow does less harm than frost. It forms a thick insulating blanket over plants and soil, holding them in a cocoon where temperatures are fairly stable and winter gales can't reach. Mostl...
Happy Christmas to all our customers! It's a wonderful time to celebrate all that's good about gardening, so just for fun here's a Christmas challenge to try while you're recovering from all that turkey.
Your mission is simple: think of as many plants as you can with a Christmassy theme in the name. Here are a few to start you off:
Christmas cactus: reliable and undemanding houseplant with a profusion of li...
Plant bare-root fruit this month so they establish a good, healthy root system in your garden before bursting into growth next spring. You'll notice lots of bare-root plants appearing on our shelves from around now: we think they offer great value for money, as well as a really good choice of varieties.
Among the bare-root bonanza you'll find raspberries sold in bundles of canes: choose an autumn-fruiti...
Take care of your terracotta pots this winter and they'll last you for many, many years. We sell handsome clay planters to suit a range of styles in the garden in our garden centre, from beautifully ornate traditional vases and urns to pared-down models with clean lines and understated chic. All are frost-proof and will get through the winter without shattering in the cold – but to extend their life as much as possible, follow our five-point care pl...
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Look after your Christmas roses to keep them at their best right through the festive season. The large pure white flowers of Helleborus niger are a real tonic in the chilliest months of the year. Despite the name, they usually flower in late December to early January and make a wonderfully charming companion to the earliest bulbs such as grape hyacinths, palest blue Chionodoxa, winter aconites and of course snowdrops.
G...
Prune your blackcurrants to keep them healthy, vigorous and productive and guarantee heavy crops of those mouthwateringly plump jet-black berries next summer.
If you don't have blackcurrants already in your garden, you'll find plenty of varieties to choose from on sale in our garden centre right now, from compact, reliable 'Ben Connan' to the upright, heavy-yielding 'Ben Lomond'. This month is just the...
December's plants of the month are the winterstems: those wonderful shrubs and trees which brighten our borders even after every last leaf has fallen and the frost is hard on the ground.
Stems are often an afterthought in choosing a plant, well behind flowers, foliage and fruit. But at this time of year they are revealed as the fine bone structure of the garden, and you begin to really appreciate their...
What to do in the garden in December:
Clear, frosty days make you glad to be alive, and the garden has a lovely, pared-down beauty at this time of year. Get outside and discover a winter paradise with our jobs to do this month.
General tasks:
Rejuvenate overgrown deciduous hedges cutting back about 30cm lowe...
Give your grasses some TLC as they go over into winter and you'll save yourself a job in the spring, as well as keeping your winter garden neat and tidy.
Not all grasses need attention in winter: some, in fact, come into their own at this time of year. Leave the tall, stately flowerheads of Calamagrostis x
Plant new hedges from this month, as the plants are dormant and will hardly know they've been moved. When they wake up in spring they'll race away to grow into a sturdy, elegant backdrop providing invaluable shelter for your garden.
In our garden centre you'll find a wide range of hedging plants available in all sizes. Smaller plants are an economical solution for long runs of hedging, while larger spec...