I make no apology for choosing a rose this week, we are in June after all, and this amazing climber is such a winner, I just couldn’t ignore it. Many years ago, we first saw ‘Dortmund’ growing on a wall of ‘The Garden House’ in Devon and as I remember it was the only rose on sale in the nursery at the time. This, in itself, was […]
June here already with the longest day looming! The year is flying on, and there are gardening jobs a’plenty to keep us from dwelling on all the strange difficulties of the past three months. Let’s tackle things like dealing with whitefly, planting out the tender perennials, and removing excess weed from the pond. (If you […]
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 […]
A form of Scots rose that’s tolerate of wild weather – Rosa pimpinellifolia ‘Dunwich Rose’. A smashing hedge rose.
After some really lovely weather through April and early May, much of the garden is shooting up all over the place, and the jobs are piling up! Let’s get on with a bit of border-titivating for the main event, harvesting rhubarb, and choosing some plants for our insect-friends…………… Before we get stuck in, welcome to […]
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 […]
The Judas Tree – pretty and ideal for small gardens
A great many aspects of our normal lives have stalled during these strange and difficult Covid times, but the garden certainly hasn’t! Lots of glorious spring sunshine and now some much-needed rain have brought the plants on with wild abandon and there is much to be done. Let’s get going with trimming some some perennials, […]
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 […]
There are certain beautiful flowers which are severely let down by their foliage, but today’s choice is most definitely not one of those. In fact, I would go so far as to say I’d almost grow it for the silvery blue-green foliage alone. This is a clump forming hardy perennial and the narrow, grass like leaves are the perfect foil for the racemes of bright yellow flowers which are […]
As we battle on through these challenging Covid-times, anyone with an outside patch to tend has been very grateful for the distraction, therapy and pleasure that it offers during national lockdown. And there is SO MUCH to do at this time of year! Let’s get on with a few jobs, including tackling the weeds and […]
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 […]
It’s a bit of a mouthful this name, and for some reason I find ferns’ names amongst the most difficult to remember, and certainly the ferns themselves extraordinarily difficult to identify. However, names are important and having discovered this beauty, (I looked long and hard to find a fern that would be happy in a rather testing location), I now have no difficulty in remembering it! It is […]
Many people have turned to their gardens and gardening to help them through the last year. Calming, absorbing yet exciting – growing plants offers it all! So let’s get on with some jobs – looking after your seedlings, dividing primroses and pruning shrubs are among the items on the agenda today……… Putting a Damper on […]
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 […]
No question, it has to be an edible this week as we all try with varying degrees of success to grow our own fruit and veg. It’s odd, and rather unhelpful, that garlic cress is very difficult to source, and this I just don’t understand as it’s an easy plant to propagate, easy to grow, very decorative in and out of flower, and edible … what […]
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 […]
If ever there was a time to feel glad that we have a mutual interest in gardening, this is it. Not being able to share our hobby physically at the moment, we can still get on with the myriad jobs of spring, like seed-sowing, herb-growing and fern-titivation……… Calm in the Chaos Last year’s angst about […]
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 […]
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 really hope you’ve enjoyed the DigYourOwnaForCorona journey we’ve been on, over the last fortnight! From digging a veg bed to melons and herbs, it feels like we’ve cantered through a great many topics in a short space of time. Today, I want to talk about a few more general topics that can help growing-your-own […]
I was going to write about a dependable, evergreen, scented shrub but decided at the last minute that we might all need a bit of cheer. This fumitory (as they’re commonly known) ‘Beth Evans’ cuts the mustard and is equally dependable and also tough: a couple of years ago it was covered with snow one […]
First up: We’re reviewing a great new gardening book ‘Diary of a Modern Country Gardener’ today – do have a look at the bottom of this post. Even if some of us are still trudging through snow, the lengthening days lure us into the garden in March. There is much to be done – staking […]
A review of Diary of a Modern Country Gardener by Tamsin Westhorpe I so enjoyed reading this! Its lightness of touch and lack of pomposity carried me through it at a much quicker pace than I normally manage with gardening books. Arranged in diary-fashion, it doesn’t become bogged down at any point with long ‘purple’ passages, […]
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 […]
Loddon lily, summer snowflake It’s a bit of a misnomer this common name. Leucojum aestivumusually flowers in March or April, yet informally, it is called the summer snowflake. Furthermore, this year, which is far from normal climatically, it’s out in February. This clump forming, bulbous, hardy perennial is very easy going and tolerant of most situations. […]
The named storms have been coursing through the UK, but spring is on its way regardless and there are jobs to do, like pruning winter-flowering jasmine, choosing some slug-proof plants, and dividing snowdrops…… Jazzing up Jasmine It’s usually a cinch to grow Jasminum nudiflorum, and it’s a bright and pretty thing to see when covered […]
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 […]
It’s not all about snowdrops and winter aconites in February. I just couldn’t let the month go by without giving these little beauties a mention. Classic yes, and I do wish I’d planted more of them last autumn; it takes four months from planting to flower, you can’t ask for more than that. And what good […]
Are your fingers itching, as mine are, to get going in the garden? While we are waiting for the busy-ness of March to begin, how about helping the early insects, beautifying garden trees or preparing the veg beds for the coming season……. Catering for Critters Unexpectedly mild winter weather in the south has been worryingly […]
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 […]
This is an interesting euphorbia at any time of the year, but it really comes into its own in the winter, most especially during a cold snap when some of the lower stem leaves turn a brilliant pillar-box red. It’s not a massive blast of colour; it is one of those small delights that catch […]
With the lengthening days and snowdrops making their entrance, thoughts are definitely turning to the glorious gardening year ahead. So let’s get cracking on some handy tasks to set the scene like top-dressing plants in pots, taking some root-cuttings, and cleaning up the tools ready for the great Spring Push……. TOP-DRESSING FOR TOP SHRUBS Many, many […]
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 […]
Mid-January in the UK and I don’t know about you, but I find it a little less tempting to venture into the garden. But there are lots of tasks like early seed-sowing, scrubbing down patios and paths, and planning for winter scent etc. that will take our minds off the chill and put a gloss […]