Three, er, maturing sisters, talk about plants and gardening and a bit about how we’ve been sisters for over 60 years. Our gardens are in England, Scotland and Normandy.
It’s all very well to have gorgeously colourful plant catalogues dropping through the letterbox with every delivery but have you seen the prices this year, folks? By the time you’ve picked out some bedding for the tubs, and chosen one new shrub, you’ve blown the dosh you were saving for new shoes or fixing that…
We want to talk about climbers today. They are SUCH an important part of the outdoor scene, don’t you think? Especially in small gardens and balconies, where you’d be mad not to make use of the vertical space. But which to choose? We 3growbags have each come up with a suggestion for the three main flowering seasons.…
What a privilege it was to be invited to the Garden Press Event in London – our chance to learn about horticultural innovations, review new products and have a good old chinwag with other lovely garden bloggers over cups of tea. Elaine and I took our brief to look and learn quite seriously, I wish…
It’s National Nestbox Week and at last – an element of consensus among the 3Growbags! We all three love giving wildlife a home in our gardens, and early spring is THE time to start a campaign to encourage more to move in. So this week we’re proposing practical things you can put in place now…
Between minus double-digits and torrential rain it’s been hard to catch those first scents of our New Year gardens so far in 2023. But on our Zoom call this week we laughed about this post on winter scent from a few years back and wondered if you would too… I can’t believe my sisters sometimes….! When…
Whether you’re snowed in, flooded out or just bored of hearing about Harry’s frozen todger, there is a sure-fire way of raising your spirits in the middle of January: planning what seeds you’ll be sowing this year. This week we’ll be sharing our own ambitions and tips, and rest assured, there will be inspiration for…
Happy New Year, everyone! Let’s hope it’s going to be a fabulous one – at least for our gardening exploits! This week we’ve been thinking about how we can improve our gardens by choosing plants that flower at just the right time for us. For old hands like me and Laura this will involve some minor tweaks…
No gardening chat and banter this week – our Christmas offering is some jolly gardening puzzles, a nice little plant ID exercise, and we finish with terrible festive jokes. Hope you enjoy them! You’ll be pleased to hear there is a link at the bottom to the Answer Sheet, for when you get stuck. We won’t…
Is anyone else feeling ready to move on from baubles and tinsel? They are, of course, re-usable but after hauling them out of the Christmas Box for 30 years or so, it feels as though life has moved on a bit, doesn’t it? It might be the cost of living… it might be climate change,…
Gardeners World, Garden Rescue, The Beechgrove Garden, Gardener’s Question Time? There are so many opportunities for us to go on enjoying gardening from the comfort of our sofas now the weather’s turned bad. But which is your favourite? We each have our own of course! I’m going to get in early and say right here…
One of the many exasperating habits of both my sisters is their lackadaisical approach to the scientific names of the plants they talk about. Elaine likes to wallow in the Latin meanings but loses interest the moment things get technical, and Caroline, well she doesn’t even try. Today we’re looking at the scientific names of…
When we opened an online shop to help with the costs of running our blog, we wanted to stock it with great gardening gifts. But what would these be? Quality garden tools (me, obvs), books, cards and pretty kitchenware, (Elaine), edible birthday cards for dogs (Caroline ?). This week we’re explaining why we thought our…
What are you going to do with the tender perennials in your garden? They have delighted you all through the summer and early autumn, for sure. But the sun is soon going to start tucking his hat into the drawer for the winter, and your frost-prone beauties will start feeling the chill. Living as we do in…
‘I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers’. We might not all be as breathlessly excited as Anne of Green Gables on this one, but she had a point. There are some marvellous plant colours and shapes in our gardens right now. Here are some of our favourites…. I’m rather in…
I must have looked very I incongruous as I boarded the London-bound train from Horsham at 8.30 pm. The other travellers were mainly young people dressed for a Friday night out, and there was I in a thick coat, walking boots, and a wicker shoulder bag full of sandwiches and snacks looking for all the…
We’re doing something different this week. We thought we’d share last week’s trip to Scotland with you. We have always loved giving talks together (as you can see from our feature pic) – though it can be hard to juggle things in order for us all to be in the same place at the same…
September is the month we should be planning and planting new hedges, but what do you want from a hedge? This week we’re going to explore some options for you and as usual we won’t agree – for me it’s got to be a wildlife magnet, Elaine will give you properly sensible ideas for practical…
Has your mind been ever so slightly blown by the weather this summer? And more importantly, what it’s done to your garden! Laura’s front garden, our feature photo, this week, is a point in question. Obviously there is a danger of being a little too ‘knee-jerk’ about drought (or flood). but the signs are there that we…
There have been some extremes of weather in many necks of many woods this summer, have there not! Two of the3Growbags have been dealing with weeks of drought and heat. Caroline has contended with something altogether WETTER in her Highland realm but given the steep topography of her garden we still let her contribute to this…
It really is HIGH SUMMER now, and dozens of the early summer shrubs – philadelphus, weigela, deutzia, rubus , etc. etc. have done their thing already. So this week we 3Growbags are discussing one of the few shrub species that will fill the garden with gorgeous colour and form in July and August. Hydrangeas, of course!…
A flat garden, like having straight hair, would be a blessing according to Caroline. What do you think? If you feel that you too could create a Sissinghurst or Dixter if only your garden wasn’t at a 45 degree angle or plagued by episodes of mounds and dips, you’re about to be inspired. You’ll realise that…
How much colour can you cope with in your summer perennial beds? Do you want dependable blocks of primary colours, something a bit more subtle, or total bling (yes you’ve guessed – Caroline). This week we’re running through some of the plants that give each of us that colour-fix in July with a few tips…
For all of us, a perfect day in the garden will be the sum of many little tasks, revelations and modest triumphs that together make our collective hobby so satisfying. But with such contrasting tastes and locations (and, in Caroline’s case, skill levels …) what really constitutes a perfect day in the garden for us…
Jurassic waterfalls, a garden made of random non-essential walls and the top prize going controversially to a reproduction of a piece of scruffy British countryside – it must be Chelsea Flower Show and we absolutely loved it! The party atmosphere on this final Saturday of Chelsea is an annual ‘must’ for us. All other priorities….husbands,…
What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘poppy’? Is it the beautiful swathes of red field poppies (Papaver rhoeas) that germinated in the churned-up battlegrounds of Flanders and became such a symbol of remembrance and hope? Or perhaps it’s the powder-puff flowers of opium poppies (Papaver somniferum) with their wonderful seedheads so beloved of…
We are into full garden-visiting time now – hurray! And it’s our mission this week to encourage everyone to get out there and explore some spring gardens, big or small – Covid restrictions have been lifted, the tulips and peonies are smiling, and there is cake to be munched! How do you go about it? Step…
‘Gardening for Wildlife’ is a wonderful concept and one we should all be embracing, but where to start? Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and our advice is to focus on some simple steps to encourage particular groups to start with. So this week we 3Growbags are going to take it in turns to…
There is simply nothing as dependable as a hardy geranium! We’re talking here of the rugged, low-growing, outdoor types rather than their glamorous cousins, the pot plant pelargoniums. Now is the perfect time to plant them. Or better still, put a quick spade through your neighbour’s and get a division for your own garden! You…
This week we are all about prepping our gardens for the razzmatazz of spring and summer ahead! Come on, no more shilly-shallying – we need to get OUT THERE. These are the jobs we are determined to tackle right now, and we think you should too……… It’s me, the proper gardener, up first this week. I…
Wow, how exciting is this – we actually had a proper day out last week, meeting real people at the annual Garden Press Event in London! The event’s aim is to give us a chance to review new gardening products and mix with the movers and shakers of the horticulture stratosphere (don’t think Caroline got…
We’ve all learnt that gardening can be a panacea in troubled times so let’s take a little break from the world outside and focus on what brings us joy. This week we’ve each chosen a selection of our best spring plants to lift spirits and for a moment, concentrate on the good things in life.…
How good is your garden admin? Do you make a note of all the new plants you’ve bought and where you’ve planted them (Elaine) Do you keep the labels? Do you file the delivery slips of your on-line purchases? Do you actually know even the approximate common name of the chunk of plant you have…
Doesn’t it lift your spirits when the first of the early spring bulbs start to emerge? Quietly at first with the gentle green and white of the snowdrops, then other colours start to flow in as the aconites and crocus get going. But as usual we three Growbags disagree on which are the best varieties,…
Is there a style of garden that you’ve always admired, such as a gravel garden, or formal 18th Century, prairie, colour-themed, jungle or cottage, but never really followed it through? Most of us end up with something of a hotch-potch of plants we liked in the Garden Centre, were given by friends, will grow in our…
When the Royal Horticultural Society publishes its predictions for the year ahead, you’ve got to be curious. In fact the ‘voice’ of gardening produced 53 suggestions at the New Year – from the rising popularity of ice baths (nope nor us), to a boom in multi-stem trees and the return of crazy-paving. Not read the…
It’s Christmas! It’s time to put the secateurs down, pour a glass of something you fancy and tackle The3Growbags’ Prize Garden Crossword. We asked Elaine to make it easy but there were still 10 clues that Caroline couldn’t answer (no great surprise there). We’re offering a prize of six fabulous Liberte houseplant pots to one lucky winner so…
