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.
Unfortunately my sisters view windy sites in a garden as a problem rather than an opportunity – if only they had studied proper subjects at school such as geography and biology, (instead of in Elaine’s case, Classics, and in Caroline’s, boys) they would know that in other regions of the world there are plants that […]
We’re talking about which plants look great together this week so obviously I’m going first. Laura is only interested the provenance, the botany, the rarity value and the drama of single specimens. Interesting (she yawned) but the horticultural equivalent of self-indulgent navel-gazing as far as I’m concerned, and I have grave suspicion that Caroline’s idea […]
Caroline split up with her boyfriend when she was 20 and petulantly moved from Sussex to the Scottish Highlands. ‘She’ll be back’ we thought but no, over four decades later she’s asking for our advice on what to grow in the glasshouse attached to her new home north of Inverness (our feature pic). Luckily for […]
Has there ever been a time when we have been more grateful for our gardens’ wildlife? It’s been one of the silver linings of lockdown, up there with Joe Wicks and ‘Milk and More’ home deliveries (that would be Wines Direct for Caroline). So let’s say thank you to all our birds, animals and insects […]
Planting up a summer pot is such good fun! There are a few simple rules regarding container, soil/compost, aspect and maintenance, and then the world is your lobster! Naturally, we don’t all agree about what to put in our pots…………… First of all, a few basic rules (What are the chances Caroline is paying attention?) […]
I’ve loved looking back through the archives of Chelsea past haven’t you? Today we’ve each chosen a garden, a plant and a moment from recent shows that made the biggest impression on us. For E and C this is bound to include new roses and bar stools respectively; personally I like to take a more […]
The3Growbags are celebrating! It’s the fourth anniversary of our blog. We began it because all three of us enjoyed gardening and wanted to make the physical distance between us seem less vast. We’re still loving every minute and the horticultural hilarity that comes with it. Since we began we’ve had Brexit, right royal shenanigans, world […]
It really pains me when I have to admit my older sister Elaine is right (thank heavens my younger sister Caroline is always wrong). Elaine insists that cottage gardens are the ultimate feel-good gardening style whilst I’ve always loved experimenting: gravel, tropical, prairie…. But this spring I have a sudden yearning to be surrounded by […]
One of the things that’s keeping us all going is the very British custom of finding and sharing humour when we have our backs to the wall. So we thought this week we would share some of our major garden gaffes with you, with our advice on how to avoid them. Obvs Elaine and I […]
Firstly a big welcome to all of you who’ve signed up to this, our regular Saturday blog, on the back of Elaine’s daily ‘DigYourOwnaForCorona’ posts – there is a link below if you haven’t experienced them. Her message to the nation is that we all can grow our own veg this summer if we just […]
As with most hobbies you can choose the level of challenge you wish to set yourself when it comes to gardening. Take seed sowing for example: you can choose just to sprinkle annual seeds onto the bare ground in March or April and rake them in, or germinate some tomato plants on your kitchen windowsill […]
‘A boutique exhibition exclusively for the garden media’ How could we resist an invitation to attend a new garden products fair last week. So nice of garden industry suppliers; they even let Caroline in. We have each chosen new products from the fair for you to look out for this year. Obviously my main interest […]
We all need boundaries. E and C regularly exceed theirs, so I’m not sure how much you can trust their judgement even with horticultural ones but I’ve come up with some examples of how we have chosen different plants for different purposes on the boundaries of our garden. Our front garden borders a busy road […]
Our gardens are like empty stages at this time of winter, poised, ready to be shaped by your plans for the coming year. Regrettably my two sisters often show a lack of ambition in this respect: Caroline’s prepping for spring will likely stretch as far as flicking through the ‘Crocus’ catalogue and ordering their ‘yellow […]
We’ve all been told that’s it’s in the winter months that you appreciate the structure of your garden, but as I have had to remind E and C on numerous occasions over the years, (generally in the aftermath of boozy parties) taking things to excess is rarely a good idea for those of us in […]
I know that in terms of clothes fashion (trousers from Lands’ End, jumpers from Woolovers: job done), I am a big disappointment to my older and younger sisters who are both secretly wannabe Kardashians, but trust me when it comes to gardening trends I am dynamite compared with either of them. So what are my […]
Let’s celebrate the New Year by planting a tree! Or lots, if you have the space and right environment for them. Human beings have already wiped 40% of the world’s trees off the face of the earth. In summer 2019, research led by experts at ETH Zurich (one of the world’s most prestigious universities in […]
1. Horticultural quotations a) rosebuds b) violets c) apples d) flower e) rosemary (10 marks) 2. Tangled trees a) magnolia b) laburnum c) holm oak d) chestnut e) hornbeam f) sycamore (12 marks) 3. Flying birds a) DOVE, love, live, LIME b) SWAN, swat, seat, teat, TEAK c) SHAG, sham, slam, slum, PLUM (16 marks) […]
Yes at last it’s quiz time! Elaine’s been persuaded to set aside her dreary winter tasks (does anyone else actually wash their greenhouse?) and Laura’s obsessive bulb-planting has briefly subsided leaving a tiny window for FUN! We’ve put together a gardening quiz for you to dip into over the Christmas hols. You can click on […]
QUIZ ANSWERS ID Test 1. Answer: The spindle tree, Euonymus europaeus, whose pretty pink fruits have now split open to reveal the orange arils, the pulp-covered seeds. The pulp is a rich nutritious food source for blackbirds, and particularly, robins, although the seed itself is toxic and thus passes through birds gut intact. The spindle […]
What could you give a gardener for Christmas that would truly revolutionise their gardening experience? – a razor hoe, that’s what. Honestly, I can divide my life into two distinct phases, pre-razor hoe and post-razor hoe, it’s that good. And no, I am not getting a backhander from Burgon and Ball, apparently their razor hoe […]
Let’s help the planet by giving plants as Christmas presents this year. If you choose wisely you can give something that not only looks lovely on the day but is a great investment for years to come (so this rules out those factory-produced poinsettias Caroline buys en route at a garage forecourt) As the most […]
Got some beetroot and apples from the garden looking for a delicious recipe? With huge thanks to our very good friend and master gardener Bill Tait, here’s a fabulous recipe for a hearty soup. Laura confirms it’s totally delicious! Ingredients: One large onion – chopped Two or three potatoes – chopped Two large cooking apples […]
Plant nomenclature is a huge topic and you can delve as deep as you like – there’s always more to learn! Common names versus scientific names Plants have two different sorts of names, a common one, such as sweet rocket, and a scientific one, in this case Hesperis matronalis. The benefit of having a scientific […]
When Caroline said that in a fit of madness, she had booked the 3growbags to give a talk at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, my first thought was a calm and thoughtful ‘WHAT!!?!’ I was overwhelmed with questions – ‘What will we talk about? Who will come? Would we master Powerpoint? Would Caroline behave […]
Help! Our gardens have descended into a soggy mess and I can’t be the only one wandering around dismal piles of rain-sodden vegetation wondering where it all went wrong. It’s now that evergreens in your garden can come to the rescue. Like the bowls of cheese-‘n-onion crisps that you don’t notice at a buffet till all the […]
It is often said of plants: ‘should be more widely used’, or ‘not often seen in gardens’, and I am pretty sure I know why you could say that of my choice today. It is at its peak in October, and often into November, so it’s not going to make many sales in nurseries and even […]
Whoa, it’s properly autumn now, isn’t it! Even in the south we have had some seriously wet and windy weather recently, but there are still jobs we can do indoors, such as drying chillies and planting amaryllis, so let’s get on with them……. STRING ‘EM UP! We became very excited about our chilli crop […]
So the weather is unseasonably balmy, but The Sun is as usual predicting the coldest winter for 30 years (Elaine won’t have seen this headline, she pretends to only look at the Times ….) and there’s a restless feeling afoot that one should be doing something to prepare. It’s probably a hangover from our Neolithic […]
That glorious phrase ‘hope springs eternal’ lies at the heart of every gardener’s planning. A tricky sentiment with the current political shenanigans, but when the bulb catalogues come thudding on to the doormat ….oh boy! Your mind can go soaring again imagining sheets of glistening crocuses, pools of dancing daffodils, acres of bright tulips…… I have […]
Like the pantomime sisters, Elaine and Laura hurried off this week to join erudite company (the Garden Media Guild), leaving me to start this week’s post on September. Although who actually plans for their September garden? Obviously prepping for spring bulbs is VITAL because we’re desperate for something to happen in the New Year. But […]
Now is a good time to be sharpening up your hedge-lines but to be honest I’ve always considered hedgetrimming to be the garden equivalent of hoovering – just much more dangerous. It usually involves yards of heavy cable and a dodgy gadget known as a circuit breaker which is apparently there to save you getting electrocuted, […]
August can be a tricky month in the garden – a real injection is usually needed between the prettiness of June and July flowers, and the mellow quality of September asters and fawn grasses. What we need is HOT COLOUR and spadefuls of it to cheer us up as another summer starts to slip away. […]
Which plants have the most evocative scents of summer? At the risk of being called an introverted snob again (Caroline thinks I don’t read what she puts out about me on Twitter) gardening is so much more interesting when you explore the biology behind it. Flowers produce scent to lure pollinators to their nectar. So […]
It’s that time of the year when you need to rely on a core backbone of plants to burst onto the scene and provide volume and colour through the hottest months. Here in the south east where each summer seems to be warmer and drier than the last (sorry Caroline but it was your choice to […]
Whether it’s our warming planet or the welcome introduction of new cultures to our society, interest in creating a ‘tropical’ or hot weather garden is definitely ‘in’. As you would expect I’m way ahead of my sisters here, having spent 10 years on a project in Madeira, so let me share some tips…. First, create the right microclimate. […]