If Chelsea truly taps into the zeitgeist of the horticultural world then there are some definite trends emerging. It is now mandatory to have a scruffy garden in which at least half the plants (formerly referred to as weeds) must be edible. Alongside you will need a state of the art outdoor kitchen and a […]
If, like me, you have been led to believe that Chiswick House’s glasshouse collection of heritage camellias was its chief horticultural asset, then this needs redressing. For, lovely as they are, it transpires that the camellias are actually just minor walk-on characters in this West London garden with much greater stories to tell. About half […]
‘Dainty’, ‘delightful’, ‘quietly attractive’, ‘trendy’, ‘slow spreading’, ‘neat clumps’, ‘likes damp shade’. All these descriptions are to be found when you google this gorgeous looking woodland grass, and doesn’t it sound just the job? As it’s often used in Chelsea show gardens, I bet a lot of people have rushed out to buy it. And, […]
All of a sudden the days just aren’t long enough for all the intense gardening jobs pressing for our attention! I keep making lists, losing the lists, making new lists, going outside to do something on the list, and getting distracted by at least five other jobs on the way.. But I won’t miss out […]
Woo-hoo! We’re in Chelsea Flower Show month! The show simply couldn’t be better-timed to see irises at their best, so this week we’re reprising a post devoted to these marvellous plants. We hope you enjoy it! With so many different ones to choose from, which iris would be best for your garden? Well it depends […]
‘People think I’m disciplined. It is not discipline. It is devotion.’ The words of the Luciano Pavarotti and how well they describe the approach of the Christie family to their gardens at Glyndebourne – the iconic opera house in East Sussex. Everything about these truly unique gardens is designed to support the drama of Glyndebourne’s […]
sweet cicely I’ve grown sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata) for as long as I can remember. I have no recollection of when or where I first bought it, it’s just always been a part of my gardening (and cooking) life. Not dissimilar to cow parsley, sweet cicely is also a British native but I’ve never seen […]
HURRAY, IT’S MAY! We 3Growbags are in celebratory mood – not only for the Coronation of King Charles III (it just HAD to be crown imperials for our feature pic this week, didn’t it), but also because we started our blog together seven years ago this weekend! If you haven’t already, do sign up to our […]
King Charles is a fantastic ambassador for progressive wildlife-friendly gardening with features such as wildflower meadows, stumperies and thyme walks in his own garden at Highgrove. So why not create a legacy of his coronation with a project that reflects some of our new King’s enthusiasm for gardening for wildlife and create your own ‘Palace […]
Have you got a favourite spring shrub? We bet you have. Is there one that makes you feel like bursting into song when the early May sunshine suddenly spotlights it? We’ve got ten ideas for you on the subject (though of course we are hoping that Laura will not be tempted to burst into song any time […]
perennial honesty What colour is mauve? Now there’s an interesting question – it’s the colour of my chosen plant today. I’ve been reading a little about its origins and history and I’ve found some quite funny anecdotes including that apparently the artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler once called mauve “just pink trying to be purple”! I always […]
Everything in the garden has grown about a foot in the last week! The great spring push is definitely on now, even in the far North of Scotland where I spent a lovely few days with the youngest Growbag 🐣 in her new Highland home and garden. The Natural World is surging forward, and so must […]
We’re just on the cusp of peak Tulip Time. The world would be a dull place if we all agreed on everything, but these spring bulbs seem to have brought out extremes of opinions with us 3 Growbags. Caroline goes for short and garish, Elaine for flamboyant extroverts whilst I (Laura – the sane sister) […]
Iris pallida ‘Argentea Variegata’ – Dalmatian iris ‘Argentea Variegata’ Even in springtime, when all around are the mounds of soft, fresh green foliage that makes this season so captivating, the accent of a good spiky plant cannot be underestimated; and especially one that is sufficiently hardy to have come through such a harsh winter unscathed and […]
Happy Easter everyone! Time to welcome in one of the most joyful times for anyone interested in horticulture or indeed the whole natural world. Let’s quietly give thanks for all the emerging beauty of spring while we go about our many gardening tasks, such as dealing with the daffodils, hardening off seedlings or sowing cucumbers……………….. Hardening them […]
Have you got a VAST list of tasks to do in the garden? Arghhhh – there are SO many! We 3Growbags are here with 10 ideas to help you concentrate your energies. As usual though, we each have different priorities and unfortunately there’s a bit of an ongoing spat over auriculas.… Involve the children. Make this […]
oso berry- Indian plum Unable (and a bit frustrated) as we are to grow such elegant spring flowering shrubs as corylopsis pauciflora and stachyurus praecox (because we are on heavy neutral clay and they like acid soil), I am delighted to say that my chosen plant today is happy and easy to grow in almost any soil. This hardy […]
The clocks go forward this weekend and we’ll have lots more time to be in the garden – WONDERFUL! A million jobs are now clamouring for our attention out there. It’s just a question of which one is the most urgent. Some shrubs need cutting back. The grasses need some TLC. And we mustn’t forget those money-saving […]
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 […]
Armand clematis This is a beautiful clematis with a heavenly scent – vanilla by common consent or, as one of my gardening friends says, like the soap shelf at M&S! So why haven’t I chosen it before today? Because it’s usually flowering several metres up and sometimes I don’t even remember it’s there! Ours is growing […]
What are the best plants to grow in a pot? Over the years, we 3Growbags and our fantastic columnist Louise Sims have written about our favourite plants for pots. I thought it would a good idea to collect our thoughts together into a list which may help folk to get ideas for their own container-growing. […]
Whoa! It’s been a chilly week! We got back to pulling on the woolly long-johns even here in the balmy south, and Caroline has been sending us daily videos of snow and ice in the Scottish Highlands. Still, spring WILL arrive for all of us soon, and meantime there is much to be done – […]
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. […]
Giraldi’s forsythia Whilst our lawn and indeed the bare earth beneath shrubs and trees in the garden are becoming increasingly bedecked with snowdrops, crocuses, hellebores and other spring treasures, I am looking for something a little showy and springlike at head height and this forsythia seems to fill that need. We planted it along time […]
Plenty of welcome signs of approaching spring all around now – about time too! But with those tiny new shoots come a wealth of gardening jobs like sowing veg, cutting down autumn raspberry canes, and prepping your pot collection… Veg shortages? Whoa! Have you seen the headlines about salad and veg shortages for the next […]
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 […]
barrenwort ‘Fröhnleiten’ If, like ours, your garden has been subject to yet more frosts this week, then you might have been enjoying such delights as my subject today. I do realise that I might be over enthusiastic about walking round the garden in winter but this is precisely why I love it. This barrenwort is […]
Yes, yes, yes! A walk round the garden in early February may not give you the flamboyance of full-on spring, but oh boy! It’s so heartening to see the rosy noses of peony buds breaking through and bright aconites studding the ground…. You feel that familiar frisson of anticipation for the coming garden season. Coming into […]
I won’t deny that taking my early morning walk around the garden these days, is becoming more of a ‘stock taking’ exercise. Let’s face it, few of us have experienced a year like the last for decades, and I find myself re-evaluating the meaning of ‘hardy’. After record breaking temperatures last summer, a very mild […]
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 […]
Arggghhh, January can seem such a long month, can’t it! It feels particularly so when the weather has been as unpredictable and damaging as it has been recently. Spring still seems quite far away. But it WILL come, and in the meantime let’s cheer ourselves up with some jolly little tasks to prepare for its arrival, like […]
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 […]
Yunnan liquorice I love a coincidence and here we have one. Once again most of us are waking up to a very hard frost, or even snow, and I am impelled to go outside into the garden and observe all the amazing shapes and patterns that only reveal themselves under such conditions. And while I […]
January is not generally famed for beauty in the garden, but do have a look at our 3Growbags list of Brilliant Winter Plants (link is below). There are some real crackers amongst them! For me, this month is mostly about anticipation. Can you feel the thrill of a new gardening year? What will we grow? […]
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 […]