Oooh, it’s nearly Christmas! You can practically hear the reindeer tinkling on the roof. We 3Growbags are very busy baking mince pies and stuffing stockings but still wanted to set you a jolly Christmas quiz before we rush off to baste a bird or something. Elaine has some word puzzles for you, Laura has done […]
You definitely need a break from all the present-buying, list-making, baking and strategic planning required in mid-December! So relax for a while and choose some beautiful foliage to make your home a green haven this Christmas, as well as thinking about our precious songbirds over winter, and perhaps a little gentle pruning………. Creating a festive […]
Plants – what better Christmas present is there? They’re a GOOD THING for the planet, sustainable, personal and promise a lifelong connection with the giver. Truly, they’re a great gift idea, but what plant should you choose at this slightly tricky time of the horticultural year? Although this is our 200th post (and our 65th […]
Euphorbia margalidiana is a delightful perennial sub-shrub, very floriferous and with a long flowering period from May until November – even, as you see, into December! This noteworthy euphorbia, received rave reviews at the Euphorbia trials at Wisley and was awarded the AGM from the Royal Horticultural Society after their three years’ scrutiny in 2015. […]
It’s a funny thing but each year the whole Christmas shenanigans seems to begin earlier in direct correspondence to the older you become! Take a break from the list-making, pudding-stirring and sock-buying and get on with a few gardening tasks, such as planting lilies, prepping herbs for winter use, and earthing up the cabbages… Lovely […]
I love the month November, because it’s about the only month in the year when you can actually RELAX in your garden. OK, so Elaine will try and have you out turning the compost or planting bare root hedges, but honestly there’s no need, you CAN just swan around the garden clasping a hot drink […]
Variegated tree ivy – Thanks to its invasive habit and seemingly insignificant flowers, it’s easy to dismiss climbing ivy as an irritant with little or no garden value, but nothing could be further from the truth. I hardly dared tell my co-gardener that I’d chosen an ivy as the star of the show this week […]
Late autumn and the leaves are turning colour and falling fast now. Winter’s on its way, but that’s no reason to hang up your trowel and gardening coat till spring – No, no, no, there’s work to be done! Let’s plant tulips, clean up the paths and mulch the beds for starters… Planting tulips It’s […]
After the glories of summer flowers, we can still revel in these bright jewels of late autumn and winter. This we week we choose our favourite 10 berries but as usual there is disagreement on wild versus cultivated varieties, the speed with which they’re consumed by birds, and even what constitutes a berry in the first […]
pear ‘Black Worcester’ There could be a radio programme called ‘Inheritance Plants’ in which various people would remember the plants they grew up with and explain why they felt they wanted to continue the tradition in their own gardens. Well, thanks to my own dear parents, this lovely pear tree would no doubt be on […]
Whoa! We have all had some VERY rough weather this autumn, haven’t we! I hope your outdoor spaces have survived the onslaught of wind and rain. There are tasks we can do to make our gardens more resilient against wild weather so let’s get on with cutting back roses and other shrubs, as well as sorting out […]
Once upon a time, summer was a hot season and was followed by autumn, which was cooler and then winter, which was properly cold (back when baths were once a week; Christmas lights didn’t appear until December and no one had heard of Net Zero). But now we live in precarious climatic anarchy in which sunny, […]
Vitis strawberry grape One of the massive joys of the autumn is the gathering of fruits as they ripen, and the making of jams, jellies and preserves, and occasionally fruit juices and wine. We grow a few vines in our garden, some just for their decorative value – V. vinifera ‘Purpurea’, V . ‘ ‘Brant’, […]
The first properly cold snap here in the south means that we can no longer deny that winter is on its way – Laura’s hauling her tender plants in, Caroline’s surveying snow on the Highland mountains around her, and the shops have fully-stocked Christmas aisles. Resist the urge to hibernate, plant a cheering winter pot or […]
Have you got certain items that MUST be with you whenever you go into the garden? It might be particular clothing, tools, equipment or maybe even sustenance. We 3Growbags definitely have, and we are expecting some knowing nods of agreement among our readers as we tell you about them… Trousers with knee-pads. Whoever invented these deserves to […]
syn. Epilobium canum Californian fuchsia In a corner of our garden, we have a raised bed which is very sunny and very well drained. From about August onwards it is a riot of late summer and autumn colour composed of very drought tolerant, rather assertive plants which include limonium, crocosmia, perovskia, sedum and low grasses […]
It looks lovely out there today, but we all know that we could face some very rough weather before October is out, don’t we! So let’s make the most of the gentle, bright autumn days to get some excellent garden tasks done, such as tree planting, taking some hardwood cuttings, and moving hardy evergreens…… Time […]
Caroline’s increasing competence as a gardener meant I was reasonably relaxed when she accompanied me to an innovative event at the hallowed horticultural Mecca, Great Dixter, last week, without too much fear of embarrassment. During the presentation an important fact emerged; an ecological audit had revealed the garden areas had a higher biodiversity count than […]
The day length is shortening significantly as we near the end of September and in a bid to reduce that slight twinge of autumnal melancholy, I have for many years now tried to ensure that there are plenty of late season flowers to distract us for as long as possible. And so it was that […]
Great Dixter, a garden that once seen, can’t be forgotten but could you as easily, recall its sounds? Last week The3Growbags were invited to this iconic garden, created in East Sussex by the late Christopher Lloyd, to learn about its biodiversity ethos – as it’s heard. Stopping briefly to offer sympathetic noises for Elaine who […]
Most of us have experienced some fierce storms this week and guess what?! Most of us got (very) wet AGAIN, as well as windswept. Oh well, it’s still far too early in the year to curl up in front of the fire with a copy of Gardeners World magazine and a glass of red, so let’s […]
I know I should be used to it by now but Caroline’s poor grasp of botany can still be quite alarming. ‘Grasses? oh good, I can include my persicaria and veronicastrums then – they’re along the same lines aren’t they?’ What WAS she doing in her O Level biology classes when the rest of us […]
For many years, I have been calling in at Growbag Laura’s garden almost every week, and am therefore ideally placed to watch and wonder at, and assess the growth, setbacks and progress of many new (and established) plants. It’s a great chance to notice what struggles, what merely jogs along, and then there are those […]
How unjust is that! Most of our poor schoolchildren (and their teachers) have had to tolerate wet weather all through their summer hols, and then we get a heatwave when they’re all back in their classrooms. But before the rest of us get too happy with our BBQs and sun hats, remember there are jobs […]
Having perfect pots in September can be tricky; summer bedding starts to look tatty, but it’s too soon to swap to a winter selection. Laura’s answer is to deploy some (slightly obscure) potted autumn bulbs, Elaine has some tips on container plants that hit their stride right now, and Caroline has surprised us all with […]
If I choose a clematis as my pick of the week, I can never resist taking a quick look at my clematis bible to see what Christopher Lloyd says about my choice. To my alarm, this time he was not so complimentary. He took issue with the colour, describing the flower as ‘mildly agreeable but of a too dirty […]
Here we are at the August Bank Holiday and no one can deny that the glorious explosion of summer garden colour is behind us. But early autumn has its real joys too! Don’t forget to savour them as we get on with tasks like sowing some parsley, nurturing self-sown seedlings and picking up bargains……. Cut-price […]
It’s quite a responsibility being the only person in the family with good taste. Today’s blog will serve to demonstrate this fact admirably. As in life I always strive to create cameos of understated charm and harmony in the garden; Elaine’s patch generally looks like she’s employed Prue Leith as a colour consultant and TBH […]
Plants in containers really come into their own as the summer progresses. Pelargoniums, salvias, plectranthus, dahlias and all the others are getting well into their flowering stride and none does it better than my subject today – Pelargonium acetosum or sorrel-leaved pelargonium. This very floriferous species pelargonium has glaucous green, almost fleshy leaves, they are more like […]
The middle of August? No way! The year is slipping by too quickly as usual, and there is still so much to be done! Let’s at least keep the summer alive as long as possible with lots of dead-heading, chive-division and judicious propagation of tender plants……. A short discourse on dead-heading The harsh fact is […]
So just as we installed a new range of completely drought-tolerant plants and started feeling smug during a sweltering June, it’s all come crashing down in July and August, with endless soggy weather. But let’s take a glass-half-full approach and see what we could be doing with those extra hours we have each day that […]
This is another hollyhock relative! Some call it the Russian Hibiscus which could be confusing as it most definitely is not one, but they are both members of the Malvaceae family which includes many favourites of mine – abutilon, anisodontea, althaea, modiolastrum to name but a few. Kitaibelia vitifolia is a very sturdy, very hardy, tall […]
Many of our gardens have certainly appreciated the very changeable weather so far this summer. Even if it has meant that accurate planning for social events has been largely thrown out of the window! With water-butts full, and lush green growth even in August, we can get on with other summer jobs like pruning some […]
Have you ever gone off into the garden with a wheelbarrow – and your gloves, your secateurs, your trowel, your twine etc. etc. and all of them have become muddled up with the dead-heads, weeds and stalks as you chuck them in on top of your tools? I certainly have, and what I needed was […]
Oh crikey, everyone’s getting a bit hot under the collar about re-wilding aren’t they! Even the great and the good of the gardening world, Monty Don and Alan Titchmarsh have waded in ….. So this week we’d thought we’d add our two-pennies’-worth to the debate; Laura is deeply troubled by the whole concept, Elaine has […]
I see that I’ve never chosen a phlox as my special plant before now; but as so often happens when I’m wandering about our garden in the early evening, this one called out to be included! Although not yet in full flower, the leaves, strongly margined with creamy white, make a fine statement. I’m not […]