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…
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Plant list for a native hedge
Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna (and the very similar Midland hawthorn Crataegus laevigata). This species should form the backbone of your hedge. Smothered in blossom in May (another colloquial name for it) and berries in the autumn that last well into the winter. It’s grown from seed so has a delightful variation in leaf shape, berry colour…
Shrubs Buddleia – their flowering period may be a bit truncated but they seem happy to give it a go Callistemon, bottle brush, a bit of a marmite shrub due to its spiky foliage, but definitely a heat lover. Caryopteris – welcome pale blue flowers at the end of the summer Cistus – should be…
Get your patio ready for a sizzling summer. The3Growbags are giving away this fabulous Thompson & Morgan patio pack to one lucky winner. Worth over £35 you’ll be getting a fresh collection of Clematis ‘Little Lemons’; Fuchsia ‘Tom West’ and the adorable Sunflowers Sunbelievable ‘Brown Eyed Girl’. Imagine relaxing on a warm evening surrounded by…
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Terms & Conditions
This competition is open to UK mainland residents aged 18 or over. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE DOES NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. The promoter is Thompson & Morgan – A division of Branded Garden Products Limited.The Competition opens at 4.30pm on the 25th March 2022, and closes at 11.59pm…
I recommend that you keep each bulb type in a separate pot, rather than mixing them up together. Each bulb has a different growth habit, and one could easily swamp out the other two, especially in subsequent years Eucomis bicolor, the pineapple lily A wonderfully exotic looking plant, easy in a pot that can be…
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My top 10 conservatory plants
Having experimented with many different plants in my glasshouse over the years I’d like to share with you the 10 that have given the most pleasure for the least fuss. Here goes.. 1. Jasminium polyanthum. Yes that’s the very common one you can buy almost anywhere but especially as a gift at Christmas. Move it…
If you spot an apple tree still bearing fruit at this time of the year, chances are it will be a Sturmer Pippin. This is a very late cropping variety that was highly regarded in the Victorian period because it keeps so well on (and off) the tree; it will remain hanging on into January…
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Laura’s ID Quiz answers
ANSWERS TO THE 3G CRYPTIC CROSSWORD 2021 Across: 4. Sunflower Seeds 6. Dogwood 7. Chestnuts 11. Laura 13. Mistletoe 16. Parsnips 17. Elaine 18. Holly Down: 1. Cyclamen 2. Tangerine 3. Noel 5. Frost 7. Caroline 8. Blue Spruce 9. Poinsettia 10. Evergreen 14. Sprouts 15. Winter Box
ANSWERS TO THE 3GROWBAGS PRIZE CHRISTMAS CROSSWORD ACROSS: 2. Jute 4. Pond 5. Birch 7. Sage 8. Sloe 9. Moss 11. Gala 14. Daphne 15. Carrot 16. Heather 17. Sedge 18. Rhubarb 19. Pineapple 23. Gladioli 25. Cane 26. Chitting 27. Primula 28. Raspberry DOWN: 1. Dixter 3. Trowel 6. Clematis 7. Sycamore 9. Mulch 10. Spade 12. Cranesbills 13. Heuchera 20. Iris 21. Physalis 22. No Dig 24. Lime
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Quiz answers
Question 1. It’s called the gin and tonic plant! If you brush against its foliage it emits the fragrance of a delicious G & T. Chin chin! 2. Plant identification A. Helleborus foetidus. Grows best in thin chalky soils and I snapped this striking specimen last December, obviously loving life in car park of the…
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Not getting our posts?
Hi folks, so sorry for a second email this week, we promise we won’t make a habit of it but we recently moved to Mailchimp to issue our weekly blog and, YIKES! some people say they’re not getting it because it’s going straight into their spam folder. We’re so sorry if this is the case…
As regular readers of our blog will have come to realise, of the three of us I am the one with the most inquiring mind, the fact finder, the researcher. So my holiday reading on our recent break to the Hebrides was a copy of the recently published ‘A History of Gardening in 50 Objects’…
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On the hunt for magnolias
Every area of RHS Wisley garden in Surrey has ‘its moment’ some time in the year so it was with great intent that I set off last Sunday to take my annual tour around Battleston Hill, principally to look at magnolias. Unsurprisingly for this spring, it was wet, but en route to Battleston Hill there were…
If you’re already a member of the Royal Horticultural Society you’ll know that besides its internationally renowned Chelsea Flower Show each May, a more permanent jewel in its crown is the RHS garden at Wisley, just off the M25 in balmy south-east England – and luckily a manageable drive from my house. I’ve been visiting…
A few years ago when my sisters said that they were going to come over to France for a couple of days, I jumped at the chance to show them what I had been up to in my rather rampageous Normandy garden. In the event, they found out why this part of Europe is so…