Pelargoniums, commonly known as geraniums, are a large, diverse group of beautiful, ornamental bedding plants. They come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and wonderful colours making them one of the staples of many gardeners. They are used to provide colourful displays in beds and borders, hanging baskets and all manner of containers, plus indoors and in conservatories and greenhouses. From upright, climbing or cascading, to single and double flowering, our complete range is sure to have something that’s perfect for you. All of our Pelargoniums are UK-grown plants that are specially grown in dedicated UK nurseries.
Gardeners love to grow Pelargonium species for their long lasting blooms and beautiful vibrant flowers for . So let’s take a tour of the different varieties of Geraniums and their own unique characteristics.
Trailing Geraniums are perfect for producing a stunning tumbling mass of colour and create a marvelous sight when gently cascading over the side of summer baskets and planters. Also named ivy Geraniums due to the resemblance of this geranium’s leaves with ivy, ivy Geraniums boast glossy leaves rather the fleshy, slightly curled at the edges leaves seen in zonals.
Single Flowering
The biggest feature of these geraniums is that they are of the trailing type and can be found tumbling out of hanging baskets with their cascades of pretty flowers. Their blooms can be either single or semi double for beautiful displays of colour.
The beautiful Trailing Geranium Mixed produces an avalanche of colour often seen in Germany and Alpine Europe. This prolific flowering mixture will produce a colourful and vibrant swathe of blooms that trail 60-70cm. They require little attention and are drought resistant, perfect for hanging baskets and window boxes.
Double Flowering
Like the well-loved traditional single Geranium, this superb double trailing variety is incredibly hardy and flowers continuously throughout the summer, producing distinctive, scalloped foliage and dense clusters of ruffled, double flower heads for twice the amount of beauty.
These double trailing Geraniums have a fantastic cascading habit making them perfect for hanging baskets. The rosebud like flowers are bursting with a vibrant bright red colour that will create an eye catching display whether planted on their own or mixed with other trailing plants.
These upright varieties look great in pots and containers and can be used in your garden borders and rockeries to great effect during spring and summer. Here is a guide to the different species of patio Geraniums.
Zonal and Grandeur
In addition to the name Zonal Geraniums, they are often called garden or common geraniums. Zonal geraniums are a type of Pelargonium that get their name from the “zone” of red, blue, or purple colour striping through the middle of their leaves, so this physical attribute is a helpful way to distinguish a zonal Geranium. Also bushy plants and mainly used for containers and bedding, these Geraniums have been hybridized for size and an abundance and colors of flowers.
Geranium Grandeur Power Rose Splash will produce stunning flowers in summer. Producing strong, vibrant flowers with luxurious bushy foliage at the base, this variety is great for growing on the patio or in containers where they can be fully appreciated. Also, with their fine foliage, they are a great addition to a bed or border.
Climbing Antik
These climbing Antik geraniums are extremely vigorous growers, able to reach around 150cm tall in a single season. These giant Geraniums come in a great range of colours and will create a beautiful display when planted in large containers.
Geranium Antik Pink is a gorgeous pink blush which deep green foliage. Perfect for a large container display as illustrated to enhance your patio space. With supports these vigorous geraniums will climb up to 2m and create a true showstopping piece in the summer time.
Our F1 Geraniums do not disappoint, producing an abundance of rounded, papery flowers in rich scarlet red above palmately lobed foliage. We only use finest quality F1 seeds to produce compact yet robust plug plants with well-established root systems.
Producing an abundance of rounded, papery flowers, our Geranium Century F1 Red will add a touch of elegance to the summer garden with their rich scarlet red blooms and palmately lobed foliage. These Geraniums are the perfect choice for providing masses of colour to your summer flower beds and patio containers.
Flowering from June to September this prolofic flowering and colourful mixture of Geraniums produces an abundance of bright colours to liven up the summer garden. These versatile plants look fantastic when planted on the patio in containers or as a stunning flower bed display. Also worth a try on window boxes.
Planting Guide
Plant out Pelargoniums in May through to June (after the danger of frost has passed).
Pelargoniums can be grown in borders or containers. In borders or beds, plant in fertile, neutral to alkaline soil. Most prefer full sun. Regal cultivars prefer partial shade and zonal cultivars will tolerate some shade.
Dig a good sized hole, big enough to easily accommodate the rootball. Add a layer of organic matter – such as compost or planting compost – to the base of the hole and fork it in.
Place the rootball in the planting hole and adjust the planting depth so that it is planted at the same depth as it was originally growing and the top of the rootball is level with the soil surface.
Mix in more organic matter with the excavated soil and fill in the planting hole.
Water in well, apply a granular general feed over the soil and add a 5-7.5cm (2-3in) deep mulch of well-rotted garden compost or bark chippings around the root area to conserve soil moisture and help keep down weeds.
Wildflowers have been referenced in British literature, poetry and music for centuries, from Shakespeare to D.H. Lawrence. Wildflower meadows and grasslands are our most diverse habitats, rich in wildlife, beauty, history and folklore. So, since the first week of May is #NationalWildflowerWeek, it seems like there’s no better time than now to bring a touch of the wild to your garden.
Here are our top 10 wildflower varieties to plant this spring…
Native to the mountains ravines and woodlands in Asia and North America, these plant’s are quite simply a gardener’s dream. Astilbe are carefree, summer blooming perennials and this variety produces a dense carpet of dark fern-like foliage with feathery white blooms.
Native to Europe and North America, this flowering wild thyme will dazzle in a wildlife garden with their highly fragrant pinky-mauve flowers amongst their dark green foliage. This is the perfect wildflower for attracting bees and butterflies.
Native to Australia where they grow on hot rocky outcrops they are equally good at coping with hostile growing conditions. The lovely fan shaped blooms and shiny glossy green leaves make this a lovely feature plant, great in tubs and containers or planted up fences as illustrated.
Also known as the Starflower, Triplet Lily or Wild Hyacinth, the Triteleia Queen Fabiola is native to California where it grows wild. Bright green, grass-like leaves appear first, followed by clusters of violet purple star shaped blossoms with blue anthers in late spring.
Originating from exotic Turkey and Bulgaria, Rose of Sharon is one of the best varieties for ground covers. Not only that, but it is very popular with bees. The large bright yellow star-shaped flowers with red-tipped anthers make a sunny display from June to September.
Bring the wildness of the woods to your garden with this exciting mix of Digital Purpurea, commonly known as Foxgloves. Flowering from June to August, the foxglove plant bears an instantly recognizable shape consisting of tall, statuesque spikes of tubular, bell-like flowers each with a distinctively speckled throat.
Native to the United States where it grows in the wild, it’s a great ornamental border plant and is an excellent cut flower for an indoor display. This fabulous upright perennial with tall brush like spikes of blue/lilac flowers will bloom from June to September with whorls of lance-shaped, toothed leaves form at the base.
In the wild Geranium Sangiuneum Alba is found in sand dunes and on rocky slopes. This lovely sprawling perennial with small dark green leaves and pure white clusters of perfectly formed flowers in the summer is also known as the ‘bloody crane’s-bill’ for the crane like appearance of the fruit capsules in the spring.
This Wood Anemone originated in the European woodlands and it still retains its natural carefree beauty. Un-surprisingly, given its origin, this little beauty is an excellent naturalising plant and will produce an ever increasing displays each year. Ideal for your patio pots and rockeries.
Also known as the Californian white-flowered quamash these will produce creamy-white blooms, densely set on very long stems. These are great naturalisers and will be happy in full sun or partial shade. A great addition to beds/borders, and will look fabulous planted en-masse in a wild garden.
Are you looking for a beautiful, low-maintenance plant for your summer garden? As one of the most popular garden perennials on the market, hardy Geraniums will sail through the challenges of the seasons. Bursting with flowers, hardy Geraniums also enjoy a lush foliage which adds valuable texture in the garden. Incredibly tough, pest and disease resistant, perennial Geraniums give a lot and require very little.
Benefits 💡📝
Flowering from late summer to early autumn.
Thrive in all soil types.
Suitable for growing in full or partial shade.
Wide range of colours.
To beautify your landscape and since there is a broad array of colours and textures to choose from, here are some of our most delightful varieties.
Geranium Ballerina is a fantastic herbaceous perennial that stuns with their masses of dark green foliage, which contrasts beautifully against their lovely vein patterned pink flowers. These flowers are ideal for ground cover, low borders or patio containers.
This luxury Geranium variety produces wonderful double flowers in a mix of rose pink and violet purple shades. These low-maintenance beauties will tolerate most conditions, making them a great versatile flower for all around the garden. Whether planted as ground cover, around rockeries or in pots, these flowers will brighten up any summer garden.
These great clump-forming perennials showcase large, deeply lobed leaves and deep lavender blue flowers on long stalks. This hardy ground cover plant is perfect for under-planting at the front of the border and will perform well in any well-drained, moderately fertile soil.
This delicate and delightful hardy Geranium produces pale pink veined flowers which have beautiful crimson and green centres. Their compact spreading nature make these plants an ideal candidate for borders, rockeries or patio containers and will flower all through summer into early autumn.
Looking for a lighter option? You can’t go wrong with this lovely RHS Garden Merit award winner. This lovely, sprawling perennial produces small dark green leaves with pure white clusters of perfectly formed flowers and has been awarded for its reliable performance, colour stability and pest resistance.
Geranium Springtime is guaranteed to add some drama to the garden with their dark maroon flowers and unusual, marbled foliage. These fabulous hardy perennials are certain to create a fantastic display when planted either in your garden borders or patio containers.
This superb mound-forming ground cover Geranium produces an abundance of unusual white flowers with vivid pink veining that makes them a true sight to behold in the summer time. Their hardy, compact nature makes them ideal for borders, patio pots or containers.
This stunning dwarf perennial produces a dense carpet of vibrant violet coloured blooms that spring to life during the summer months. These versatile flowers are ideal for planting as ground cover, in borders and rockeries, as well as in patio containers.
Enjoy a low-growing profusion of our most popular varieties of hardy Geraniums. This beautiful collection includes three each of Cinereum Giuseppe (purple), Sanguineum Alba (white) and Johnsons Blue. These varieties are perfect for adding reliable and low maintenance colour and beauty to the front of the border.
This attractive mix of hardy Geraniums blooms with bright and cheerful flowers will bring beauty to the garden all throughout the summer months. This popular British garden favourite is sure to add a vibrant touch to your summer garden borders.
Planting Guide
General rule: Plant in location with early morning and afternoon sun. ☀
Planting time: From Autumn to late Winter (to ensure they establish well).
Instructions
Dig a hole big enough to easily accommodate the rootball.
Add a layer of organic matter such as compost to the base of the hole and fork it in.
Place the rootball in the planting hole and position the top of the rootball so that it is level with the soil surface.
Mix in organic matter with the excavated soil and fill in the planting hole.
Water thoroughly. 💧
TIP ✨ Apply bark chippings around the root area to conserve soil moisture and help keep down weeds.
Aftercare
Most hardy geraniums are easy-going plants that don’t require a ton of extra attention, however here are just a few tips to get the best possible performance out of your Geraniums year-round.
Evergreens add constant interest to the garden and can act often as a central focus point to build a garden around. Evergreen shrubs and plants hold their foliage all year around, which is why they are the perfect choice for low maintenance gardening. Since April is the best time of year to plant evergreens and there are many to choose from, we’ve picked out a selection of varieties so you are guaranteed to find one that suits you.
Benefits
There are many benefits to having evergreens in the garden other than their beauty. Here are some of the overlooked benefits:
Energy Saving 💡
Shrubs planted on the north side of your home can serve as a protective windbreaker during the harsh winter winds.
Wildlife-friendly 🐤🐦
Shrubs provide much-needed shelter for birds and their many pretty blooms are great for attracting butterflies too.
Reliability ⌛
Since they keep their leaves all year-round, they can provide privacy to your garden and work as a natural fence.
So, without further ado, here are our top 10 picks for beautiful evergreen shrubs to plant this spring! 🏡
Nothing is more beautiful than an Azalea shrub in spring bloom. These easy-care shrubs flower in spring each year and are an excellent way of introducing colour to the garden and with a rainbow of shades to choose from, you are certain to find the right Azalea to suit your needs.
This mixture of premium Japanese Diamond Azaleas are ideal for creating a colourful and effective spring display. These dwarf growing varieties make a real impact and are very easy to grow. These versatile plants are perfect for the patio pot, container or border. Supplied as 9cm pot plants.
These beautiful Japanese Azaleas are a real treat in the garden. These shrubs form a large bushy yet compact shape. The attractive evergreen leaves bring all round interest with the added attraction of the flowers which burst into a riot of bright red funnel shaped blooms in spring. Supplied as 2 litre pot plants.
Rhododendron Midnight Mystique is a striking shrub which produces one of the showiest flowers of any Rhododendron. Wavy edged, white flowers boast huge, raspberry red-purple margins, with matching speckles in the throat, accompanied by a flash of gold speckles too. Each truss rests on shiny oval shaped foliage. Supplied in 13cm pot.
The semi-dwarf Rhododendron gives the benefit of having traditional giant flowers but only growing to a height of 1 meter. Rhododendron Percy Wiseman produces clustered blooms that showcase an array of beautiful pink, red and yellow shades. Supplied in a 13cm pot.
Originally found in China, Clematis armandii is one of the most vigorous evergreen climbers around. It produces plenty of long, lance-shaped waxy leaves which will provide a year round protective screen against stark walls or fences. The real highlight of this plant is the abundance of strong scented, star shaped white flowers in early spring. Supplied as 9cm pot plants.
Clematis armandii Apple Blossom is one of the most popular evergreen climbers. It produces an abundance of baby pink buds with deeper pink flushes, which open out to four or five petalled baby pink flowers in spring. You can enjoy the gorgeous almond scent when planted by a doorway or seating area. Supplied as 9cm pot plants.
This superb RHS Garden Merit Award Winner, Daphne Tangutica is guaranteed to brighten up any garden. A medium-sized evergreen shrub, Daphne Tangutica produces beautifully fragrant white/pink flowers from late spring into early summer. Supplied as a 9cm pot plant.
Daphne transatlantica Eternal Fragrance is a semi-evergreen variety, producing sweet scented, tubular star-shaped flowers in creamy white with pink flushes at the base of each flower. This non-stop flowering shrub offers an astounding three seasons of bloom to delight the senses: spring (April), summer (June-July) and early autumn (late August/September). 10.5cm pot grown plants supplied.
Euonymus ‘Goldy‘ is a fantastic dwarf evergreen shrub that will really brighten up any border or patio display. They have a compact growing habit and produce dense foliage that starts off as green but quickly changes to a bright golden yellow in summer. Supplied as a 9cm pot grown plant.
The evergreen foliage of this Euonymus variety produces leaves in lovely creamy white tones with irregular markings, often on the edges of leaves of dark green. Their pleasing colour is a true showstopper, especially in winter. They also make perfect ground cover for livening up a border, rockery or container. 15cm plant in 9cm pot supplied.
Gardenia jasminoides ‘Kleim’s Hardy’ is the original frost hardy evergreen Gardenia. Their highly fragrant single white flowers are produced throughout the summer. Growing to just 80cm, this compact shrub is ideally suited to a patio pot or a sheltered border. 13cm pot grown plants supplied.
This sensation dwarf shrub has enjoyed immense popularity in recent years and it’s easy to see why. The glossy forest green leaves provide a dramatic backdrop to the fragrant, pearly white star shaped double flowers that bloom in abundance from early summer right through to the autumn. 9cm pot plants supplied.
Lavender Kew Red (French Lavender) is an elegant and exquisite plant with pretty deep crimson pink flowers topped with a delicate pale pink. Along with their highly aromatic foliage, they flower from late spring onwards and are a great way to attract bees and butterflies to the garden. UK-grown 3cm diameter jumbo plug plants supplied.
Also known as French Lavender, this pretty evergreen plant produces dark purple and lilac coloured blooms with highly aromatic, evergreen foliage. These beautiful flower spikes are great for creating a wildlife haven in the garden as they attract butterflies and bees from late spring. UK-grown 3cm diameter jumbo plug plants supplied.
This low-growing, compact, evergreen shrub boasts gorgeous variegated, grey-green foliage with cream margins. The margins transform from magenta pink in winter to a delicate mauve in summer, which then fade to white. This low maintenance shrub with constantly transforming beauty is perfect for borders. 9cm pot grown plants supplied.
Hebe Wild Romance is a bushy, compact evergreen shrub . Dense purple flowers appear in summer that turn in to a deep pink/maroon in winter and lightens in the spring. The vibrant foliage of this Hebe is perfect for adding interest to the garden in borders and patio displays all year-round. 9cm pot grown plants supplied.
This beautiful and unusual Euphorbia is guaranteed to be a unique showstopper in the spring. This dwarf evergreen perennial has striking lime green flowers contrast against the dark maroon foliage, which is ideal for adding colour to the garden border or patio container. 9cm pot grown plants supplied.
This fantastic evergreen shrub produces wonderful evergreen foliage through winter with flowers blooming from spring in to summer. Their hardy bracts are a vivid lime green with a bright red eye and two white ‘tear drop’ shapes in the centre. This stunning shrub is perfect for brightening up the garden. Supplied in 9cm pots
The Skimmia Japonica is a dwarf evergreen shrub. Our ‘Red Dwarf’ flowers from spring into summer and produces an abundance of red buds against a vibrant green foliage. They are hardy shrubs which perform exceptionally well when planted in the border or in a patio container. Supplied in 9.5cm pots.
Skimmia japonica White Dwarf is a fairly compact evergreen shrub that produces a flurry of bright green buds on top of a darker green foliage. Their hardiness allow them to perform well in a variety of places in the garden, from garden borders to patio pots. Supplied in 9.5cm pots.
To make a garden– a beautiful garden! You must choose garden colour schemes smartly. On a deeper level, colours can evoke certain emotions in us. Bright colours can make us feel more energetic and vibrant. Cool colours can make us feel calm, content, tired or melancholy and pastel colours can make us feel relaxed, refreshed and peaceful. In a garden space intended for peace, quiet and relaxation, pastels are the perfect garden colour scheme this summer.
Using pastels in the garden can create a space where we can unwind after a hard day and feel refreshed. A pastel garden can be placed almost anywhere in the yard. Pastel colored flowers look beautiful in bright sunlight, but also stand out in shade gardens and can brighten up especially dark areas.
This award winning Hibiscus Syriacus has cool pale blue flowers, arranged like layers of ruffled chiffon. The centres are subtly marked with flashes of star-like burgundy-purple veins. A fabulous deciduous shrub which holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit, its quality’s guaranteed. A fine stand- alone specimen, or reliable addition to the shrub border, it will also make a great informal hedge or screen. It is a great choice for attracting butterflies to your garden.
This beautiful clump forming Jacob’s ladder that produces clusters of small lavender blue flowers on shorter stems with fern like foliage. This compact perennial is perfect for patio pots or rockeries for creating a burst of cool colour.
This pale, baby pink Asiatic Lily is an excellent choice for bedding with very sturdy stems and upright flowers that will add plenty of elegant, pastel colour to your garden in the summer. For a lovely soft pastel display plant alongside creamy pink roses such as Joie de Vivre or our pink and white Dahlia Mix. These can be cut for a delicate and romantic bouquet.
Gladioli Adrenaline are a stunning blend of pale pink and white, they are sure to add glamour to your summer garden. We recommend planting Gladioli in groups at monthly intervals, starting early spring, to extend the flowering season for a showcase that lasts all summer long.
A twist on the traditional lilac evergreen Lavender varieties, Rosea produces beautiful pale pink flower heads as well as the instantly recognizable Lavender fragrance. They are ideal for planting in rows as illustrated or in pots around the patio and garden.
Hollyhocks, otherwise known as Alcea, are a stable of many gardeners and synonymous with cottage garden displays. This beautiful Double Yellow variety produces stunning flowers in a sunny yellow shade. The flowers are perfect for attracting bees, butterflies and other nectar loving insects into your garden.
Unique pale yellow blooms that look amazing in the summer border. These Pompom Dahlias produce fabulous double spherical blooms which are sure to add a new dimension of shape and texture to any garden. Each flower head is made up of layers of silky, inwardly curved petals creating a perfectly formed sphere. Tall sturdy stems not only provide excellent support; but also provide the Dahlia with its iconic bobbing habit in the breeze – an uplifting and calming sight, especially in a hot sunny garden.
In 1976, Rose Peace was voted the first ever ‘world’s favourite rose’ by the Rose Hall of Fame, and it isn’t difficult to see why. This exquisite variety of Hybrid Tea Rose produces elaborate, slightly frilled double blooms of creamy yellow, flushed at the edges with delicate pale pink. The Peace Tea Rose also emits a mild but delightfully sweet fragrance, as with other Hybrid Tea varieties.
An upright deciduous shrub which produces dense clusters of sweetly fragrant, light pink and white panicles over attractive heart shaped foliage from late spring into early summer. When in bloom, the gorgeous flowers will bring butterflies to your garden.
A stunning new bi-colour addition to the Agapanthus range, with purple buds that open to reveal white flowers with a lilac purple stripe through each petal. Known as the African lily, these are drought tolerant and like well-drained soil and plenty of sunlight. They flower throughout August and September, boast masses of strappy foliage and tall 1m stems making these the ideal addition to the back of the border.
Tumbelina Petunia produce large unique double blooms in abundance during the summer months. The numerous flowers and its long trailing habit (up to 60-80cm) make it perfect for hanging baskets. Flowering from June through to October the fragrant flowers can create a wonderful display whether planted on their own or with other trailing varieties or colours. Priscilla is a lilac- purple variety with heavily veined petals.
No matter how small your garden, there’s always room for hanging baskets. There’s nothing quite as captivating in a garden as seeing a full, cascading hanging basket, overflowing with colour as the flowers catch the sun. With the weather warming up and your spring bulbs peeping through, April is the perfect time to prepare some beautiful hanging basket displays to bring colour and cheer to your garden.
With the ever-growing range of varieties available, it can be a difficult decision choosing which plants are best for your garden. So if you’re looking for a little floral guidance, here are our top ten basket plants for you to choose from this season.
Top 10…
A native to South and Central America, Africa and South Asia, Begonias are a flowering plant with around 1500 species. Since cultivation of these plants doesn’t require too much effort, they have become increasingly popular amongst gardeners. Their flowers are often showy with either vibrant coloured single or double blooms, which make for fantastic hanging basket additions for a display filled with frills and colour.
One of our newest additions to our range, Begonia Northern Lights Pink. This free-flowering double begonia blooms with hot pink petals and ruffled centres with shades of pink and yellow. These stunning flowers create a real eye-catching effect in summer hanging baskets.
Looking for an elegant twist for your basket displays? As a part of the popular Illumination series, this stunning variety produces delicate, double white blooms. This versatile variety can be planted in both sun and semi-shade for beautiful flowers all throughout the summer.
Million Bells are a dazzling little plant that features hundreds of small, bell-like flowers that resemble mini Petunias and are a must-have in the garden. Their versatile, trailing-like habit make them perfect for hanging baskets or even containers and ground cover.
This exceptionally long flowering variety is the perfect drought resistant plant for bringing character and interest all summer. Producing a mass of miniature, blue bell-shaped flowers, Million Bells Blue has a trailing like habit that makes an excellent addition to hanging baskets.
Brighten up your hanging baskets with the vibrant, miniature yellow bell-shaped blooms of Million Bells Yellow. With an exceptional long-flowering period and a strong drought resistance, these cheery flowers will create an avalanche of summer colour in the garden.
This summertime bloomer is an easy-to-grow, carefree plant. Lobelia is an attractive annual which produces a variety of long flowering blooms in a range of vibrant, beautiful colours from pinks, reds to cool blues, which make spectacular additions to hanging baskets.
Our Lobelia California Dark Blue Eye has a beautifully vigorous spreading habit and produces an abundance of large bright blue flowers all through summer. These plants make excellent hanging basket displays for a garden bursting with life.
This variety of Lobelia is a part of a sensational range bred by the famous breeder ‘Breier’ and showcases a beautiful abundance of large bright purple blooms. These flowers are ideal for hanging baskets as they naturally form a perfect mound with their even and neat flowering habit.
If you’re searching for long lasting blooms that perform even through the hottest days of summer, than look no further than the Verbena flower. This brilliant, drought resistant plant produces exquisite showy flower heads that appear in tight clusters of brightly coloured flowers along with vivid green foliage.
Winner of the RHS award of Garden Merit; Verbena Samira Peachproduces beautiful peach-pink flower heads that cluster to form a sphere that are perfect for planting in hanging baskets to bring a wave of warm coloured hues to the summer garden.
This series of fast-growing Verbena is a fantastic vigorous trailing plant and produces giant cardinal red and pure white flowers all throughout the summer months. These flowers are the ideal partners for hanging baskets for a fun summer display of patterned blooms.
Bright, bold and bursting with life, these excellent plants are a top choice for hanging baskets. Native to South America, the Petunia is an ornamental plant with showy trumpet-shaped flowers that is available in a variety of colours and shapes, double and single flowers, you are guaranteed to find the perfect fit for your garden displays.
Add a touch of drama to your hanging baskets this summer with our stunning Petunia Tumbelina Inga. These unique blooms burst with an abundance of deep red flowers with light pink edges. These fragrant flowers are superb when planted alone or along with a mix of different trailing varieties.
This new addition to our range is a prolific flowering variety and will bring warmth to the garden with their smooth golden caramel blooms that have soft shades of burnt orange with a brown center. Flowering all summer long, these beautiful blooms will provide months of enjoyment.
If you want an impressive big basket display, Trailing Begonias are the way forward. Trailing begonias are a vigorous plant which produce a profuse amount of delicate flowers with large outer petals and a tufted truffle centre. Their beautiful vibrant flowers are perfect for creating a flowing carpet of colour in your hanging baskets.
This vigorous Begonia produces an abundance of delicate soft pink blooms all through the summer months. They are highly tolerant to drought and heavy rain and fast growing, making a perfect addition to hanging baskets for a cascading mass of colour.
Bursting with a blaze of glorious colour, Begonia FirewingsOrange is the most vigorous and top performing of all the trailing Begonias. Their vivid orange flowers are guaranteed to bring the sunshine to the garden this summer with their avalanche of fiery, pendulous blooms.
The cascading varieties of Fuchsia have become immensely popular as they showcase beautiful, pendant-shaped flowers that are a delight to any garden. They are easy to maintain and are known for their high performance, so create a bold and beautiful avalanche of colour in your hanging baskets this summer.
These giant flowers create an impressive display with their beautiful double blooms. With their outer milky-white sepals and deep purple ruffled petals, Fuchsia Giant Deep Purple is the perfect plant for trailing along the edges of summer baskets for a colourful display.
Originating from Peru and Bolivia, this spreading Fuchsia variety produces vibrant, variegated green and pink foliage along with bright pink-red flowers. As an added bonus, their foliage gradually gets darker as the summer season progresses for added interest.
Beautiful Geraniums gently cascading over the side of summer baskets and planters are a marvelous sight. With their bright green foliage, vibrant colours and tumbling habit, they are an essential addition for creating the perfect hanging basket.
Often seen in Germany and Alpine Europe, this beautiful single flowering variety of Geranium produces a delicate avalanche of colour. This prolific flowering variety blooms with soft shades of light pink and are a superb addition to summer hanging baskets.
The pretty blooms of this Geranium variety are very tolerable of heat and wet conditions, that make the perfect partners for summer basket displays. Geranium Single Trailing Whiteblooms with a beautiful brilliant white shade with hot pink detailing on the inner petals.
A range filled with beautiful cascading dainty flowers; Bacopa, also known as Waterhyssop, is an ideal hanging basket addition for the summer due to their heat and drought resistant habit. Their beautiful soft pastel shades on their clustered blooms are the perfect free flowering staple for any basket display.
This trailing plant is a firm garden favourite due to their mass of single white flowers along with a rich golden leafed foliage. Our Bacopa Scopia Single Golden Leaf White will brighten up any summer garden for a reliable and heat tolerant cascading display of golden colour.
The stunning, pink star-shaped flowers of our Bacopa Scopia Double Pink are complimented beautifully by their yellow centers for an eye-catching pop of colour in any hanging basket. Their cascading habit performs beautifully in full sun for an elegant display of pastel colour.
Native to mexico, this herbaceous perennial bares an abundance of flowers and are a superb addition to hanging baskets to create a display of rich, lavish colour, which are certain to dazzle in the sunshine this summer.
This stunning Bidens Firelight produces daisy-like pink and white flowers on a bed of luscious ferns. Bejeweling the garden with their amazing bi-colour blooms, this easy to care for and abundant flowering plant is a true showstopper and an absolute-must for planting in hanging baskets.
These single daisy-like blooms showcase luminous white petals with bright yellow centers that are destined to bring the sunshine this summer. They have a compact, heavy flowering habit which makes them ideal for hanging basket displays, and they will bloom all throughout the summer months, from June through to October.
Unusual Ideas
You can always choose the most popular plants for hanging baskets, but why not add stray in to the weird and wonderful by trying some more unusual plants to put in your garden this year?
This variety has sparked the interest of amateur gardeners as they are easy for beginners. Our Tumbling Tom Collection produces large, cherry sized, red and yellow fruit. Their superb trailing habit makes them perfect for hanging baskets.
If you’re looking to add a touch of drama to your hanging baskets, why not try our bold Petunia Back to Black? This stunning Petunia is as close to black as anything currently available. Create a stark contrast to the bright sunshine this summer with a basket full of these dark velvety petals.
Looking for something a little more wild this summer, why not fill a hanging basket full of foliage? Our collection of Evergreen Foliage Plants is the perfect choice for adding a pop of colour all-year-round in hanging baskets displays.
A favourite of gardeners for their low maintenance and highly rewarding growth. Strawberry Cambridge Favourite is a resilient mid-season variety. They are perfect to grow in limited space and produce a heavy crop of delicious sweet fruit.
Question: How do i plant up a hanging basket?
Here is a set of easy steps to get you started on creating your hanging baskets in time for summer.
STEP 1: Line your basket to help maintain moisture and stop the compost from falling out (plastic coating, sphagnum moss, coco fibre, felt etc..)
STEP 2: Add a water-saving gel and slow-release plant food to help keep the plants moist and nourished throughout the season.
STEP 3:Around the sides of the basket, gently push the roots of trailing plants through the basket liner and firm them in to the compost. Repeat this all the way around the basket and add a little more compost.
STEP 4: Arrange the remaining plants in the top of the basket (one in the middle and the rest around the edge).
STEP 5: Water plants thoroughly.
STEP 6: Hang the basket to a bracket using the chains.
AFTERCARE: Water daily. Water twice daily during the height of summer.
How-to Planting Tutorials
Planting up a hanging basket is not as daunting as you may think. Here are a handy selection of our video guides to help you create your very own stunning hanging basket displays for your garden!
There is a garden philosophy: If you like it, it’s a flower; if you don’t, it’s a weed. It’s hard to have compassion for weeds, but they’re just plants growing in places where they’re not wanted. One approach is to pull the weeds out by hand but why not try a completely different approach? A thick mass planting of ground cover plants can control weeds by keeping the direct sunlight off the soil, which can cause weeds to germinate and can compete with the weeds for water and nutrients.
Weed Types
Here’s a guide to identifying the garden enemies in your garden.
Annuals
Some are annuals and have a one-year life cycle that ends with them setting seeds for the next generation.
Chick Weed
Annual Nettle
Shepherds purse
Groundsel
Perennials
Others are perennials, like dandelions (having a lifecycle longer than one year). You may need to eradicate the main root of these to remove them.
Ground elder
Dandelion
Ground Cover for Full Sun
In full sun, the following ground cover plants are fantastic choices for beautiful and efficient sunny borders.
This beautiful hardy and versatile plant forms spreading clumps of colour through late-spring and are perfect for ground cover planting. They love full sun and is tough enough to suppress weeds and thrive even in the poorest of soils.
The large and vivid blue bell-shaped flowers of this plant are certain to make a lasting impact as ground cover. With its reliability, stability of colour and long spreading foliage, this plant is the perfect partner for suppressing weeds in your garden whilst providing lasting beauty throughout summer.
This plant is a heat-tolerant, drought-tolerant ground cover option. This Thyme variety adds an attractive mat of leaves with highly fragrant pink/mauve flowers in the summer. They are great for planting in crevices as they are great for choking out weeds.
For erosion control, few ground covers work better than this creeping perennial. They’re drought-resistant, not picky about soil quality and love full sun. Carpet your garden in the rich colour of Phlox Candy Stripe to attract butterflies and keep the weeds at bay.
Our superb mixture of summer flowering Heather will provide a carpet of vibrant colour in a ground cover display. Not only do they brighten up otherwise dull areas, they can be planted in partial shade areas and also work to suppress weeds
Ground Cover for Partial Shade
For a slightly shady area of the garden, try these:
This excellent ground cover plant offers a mound of silvery-green foliage beneath an abundance of dainty pink flowers. This sprawling perennial is a great summer flowering plant to suppress pesky weeds, and can also be planted in rockeries and dry stone walls.
Also known as ‘Dragon’s Blood’ Sedum, this variety may be the hardiest and most versatile of all weed-suppressing ground covers. Their trailing stems root easily and do well in places where little else will grow. This year round beauty provides bright green fleshy leaves with star-shaped pink flowers in summer.
With this plant’s reliability, stability of colour and resistance to pests and diseases, it has earned the RHS Award of Garden Merit. Their masses of star-shaped blue and violet flowers will bloom into late August and are very useful in the ground where the spreading foliage will produce a blanket of weed suppressing ground cover.
Looking for a variation of colour and shapes in your ground cover? Our colourful collection are ideal for adding impact in the summer garden as well as keeping the weeds out of sight.
Ground Cover for Shade
It can be difficult to find the perfect plants for completely shaded areas of the garden, but never fear, as we have found the perfect weed suppressing plants for the darkest areas of the garden.
Ajuga keeps weeds out by creeping over the surface of the soil, putting down roots as it goes, and all the leaves knit together to leave not a millimeter of soil into which a weed can wheedle. Also, their vibrant green and purple foliage with white edging are perfect for colourful ground cover.
Originating from Turkey and Bulgaria, Rose of Sharon is one of the best ground cover options. Not only are their yellow star-shaped flowering popular with bees, their shrubby low-growing habit is extremely valuable for smothering those unwanted pesky garden weeds.
This magnificent evergreen shrub produces vivid red foliage on long slender leaves that have a unique metallic glimmer. They form in to a dense dome of foliage making them excellent ground cover to suppress weeds. Also, they look fantastic planted in pots/containers.
This amazing Hosta sprouts large pure white leaves in late spring/early summer that develop green streaks as the season progresses. Perfectly happy in shade, when paired with other Hostas, these plants knit together seamlessly to create a blanket of efficient weed suppression.
Video tutorials
After you’ve picked your ground cover plants, it’s time to get in the garden!
To help you plant your ground cover this spring, here is our handy step-by-step tutorial, so that you can get the best performance and results from your garden this summer.
PLANTING TIPS
Which plants work the best for weed control?
Dense evergreen varieties are the best option if your main aim is to suppress weeds.
What do i need to do to prepare for planting?
Be sure to fully eradicate all existing weeds before you plant, especially perennials such as dandelions, as they will become near impossible to remove once your ground cover is planted.
Will the ground cover kill my other plants?
Place decorative rocks or stepping stones between ground cover and perennials to maintain a barrier for spreading stolons, or above ground perennials.
When planting more than one ground cover variety, spread mulch between the plants to conserve soil moisture and reduce unwanted plant growth.
What aftercare is required for ground cover?
Spread netting or old sheets over ground covers during autumn leaf drop. It can be difficult to rake leaves out of thick ground covers, and allowing the leaves to sit can create unhealthy conditions.
Mother’s day is this weekend and giving flowers has long been a tradition on this holiday. Giving flowers is a universal gesture for all cultures, societies and ages. They enrich our lives with their variety of colours, shapes and scents.
Origin
Your seemingly simple gesture of sending mum floral wishes on the second Sunday in May has a rich history behind it!
In 17th century England, the fourth Sunday of Lent was celebrated as Mothering Sunday, where people attended a prayer service in honour of the Virgin Mary, followed by giving their own mothers gifts and flowers. The idea caught global attention in American in 1908, when Anna Marie Jarvis, held a church memorial for her peace-activist mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, and distributed white carnations, her mother’s favourite flowers. Over the next few years, Anna campaigned for a day to celebrate mothers. Her efforts bore fruit in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
On Mother’s Day, flowers are the perfect gift to show your Mum just how much she means to you, but instead of the usual cut flowers, why not give her flowers that she can treasure in the garden for years to come. Here’s a look at some of the symbolism behind certain flowers to help you find the one best suited to gift to the wonderful woman that brought you in to this world.
Roses have been historically linked to mythological and religious related maternal figures across both ancient and modern times. During the time of the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, roses were attributed and considered sacred to the goddess Isis, the mother of Horus the tutelary deity of the Egyptian pantheon. Choosing this flower is never the wrong choice, especially when you find the perfect colour.
Within our dwarfRose Miniature Collectionare the varieties Coralin (pink), Pour Toi (white), Lavender Dream, Yellow Doll (yellow) and aptly named Mothers Day (red). This mix of varieties creates the perfect balance between adoring symbolic meaning and visual beauty. Loose rooted plants supplied.
In Australia, the traditional Mother’s day flower gifted is the Chrysanthemum, not only because the flower has the word “mum” in it but also because they are also associated with friendship and support from one’s family. Their different coloured bloom symbolise different meanings. Pink Chrysanthemums stand for honest love, red Chrysanthemums mean motherly love and gratitude and white Chrysanthemums stand for loyalty and honesty.
This collection of Chrysanthemums (or Garden Mums), produce masses of beautiful colour in pots or in the border. As an added bonus, they also make excellent cut flowers as they are long-lasting and have glorious rich colour. UK-grown 3cm jumbo plug plants supplied.
Lilies have gathered a multitude of meanings over time, which differ depending on their colour, shape and variety. Amiability, purity, femininity, unity and transience; it represents all of them. So with these cheerful and loving meanings in mind, here is our top pick for adding cheer to your mother’s garden this summer.
Bring joy this summer to pots with Lily Happy Memories. These bright and beautiful, yellow star-shaped blooms with blushed red edges are a stunning option for adding some extra sunshine to your summer gardens. This dwarf Asiatic variety is perfect for versatile planting, whether it is patio pots, beds or borders. 12/14cm bulbs supplied.
What flower could be more perfect for your mothers summer garden than Lily Perfect Joy? This stunning dwarf growing Asiatic Lily produces vibrant pink blooms with white centers that would be ideal for brightening up patio containers, pots or for the front of the border. 14/16 cm bulbs supplied.
As one of the most widely bred flowering shrubs, there are now over 10,000 unique and recognized varieties of Azalea. The Azalea is renowned as being a Chinese symbol for womanhood, and the Azalea flower is also celebrated annually by cultures all over the world for its beauty and association with love. Yellow Azaleas are primarily focused on friendship and more so family relationships, making them a perfect gift for a mother who has a patio or a terrace she’d like to brighten up with a bold bloom.
This highly fragrant Azalea blooming with large, lemon yellow flowers is truly a sight to behold on a sunny spring day, where the yellow flowers seem to glow in the sunlight. A perfect present to cheer up a gloomy spot in your mothers garden or on a patio in a container. Supplied in 13cm pots.
Similar to Azaleas, Day Lilies are an Asian emblem for mothers. The Day Lily is famous for its beautiful appearance and symbolic association with motherhood and Mother’s Day. Because they come in a variety of bright colours, including vivid oranges and yellows, you can find the perfect Day Lily best suited for your own mother.
A fantastic gift to make the perfect addition to any rockery of border in the summer garden. The flowers of Hemerocallis produce spectacular vibrant colour with their trumpet-like blooms. These hardy perennials are the perfect long-lasting present for your mother this holiday. First grade loose roots supplied.
The soft blue colour of these beautiful spring flowers have come to represent everlasting love , gratitude and constancy; so why not show your mother some gratitude this holiday by gifting her some beautiful spring flowers for the garden.
The original and much loved English Bluebell is perfect for naturalising underneath trees; a spot where other plants struggle. These stunning spring flowers are seen in gardens, parks and natural woodland during April/May so why not treat your mother with these lovely little flowers this holiday and give the gift of a lovely, country feel to her spring garden.
If your mother prefers plants over fresh-cut bouquets, the long lasting Camellia plant is a wonderful option. Camellia plants are native to China, and come in a variety of rich and vivid colours and give off a beautiful, light and delicate fragrance. Camellias are believed to represent longevity and gratitude; making them a perfect way to say thank you to your mum this Mother’s Day.
This marvelous evergreen shrub presents beautiful soft pinky-white double blooms with dark red markings. A great low maintenance shrub for the border, hedging or even for large patio containers to bring that well-needed pop of colour in the spring garden. Supplied as 20cm grown bush plant in 9cm pots.
Do you have a shaded area in your garden where it seems like nothing will grow there? Full shade areas can look dreary but don’t worry, there are plants to suit every garden, and all you need is a little creativity. There are so many varieties on offer in a mix of shapes, sizes and colours suitable for brightening any shaded spot. Below, we have compiled a list of our most suitable picks, from ground cover to perennial flowers and grasses, to add to any shaded spot in the garden.
Suitability
To grow healthy plants in shady areas, it is important to match the degree of shade that a plant needs or will tolerate with available light. Do you know which type of shade applies to your garden?
Partial Shade: A situation in half sun and half shade where there is some direct sun but possibly for less than half the hours of daylight.
Full Shade: Under tree cover, shrubberies, and buildings. If a site gets less than 2 hours of direct sun a day, it is considered heavy shade.
A common misconception is that there are a group of plants that love shade, but the truth is that some plants can tolerate shady areas better than others. Here’s an easy checklist to decide whether the plants you are considering for a shady area are really a suitable candidate. They will need to be either:
Suitable for neutral to acid soils
Variegated foliage
Evergreen
Prefer moist or wet soil
Perennials
Some may think they have no choice but to add foliage to shaded areas of the garden. However, shade flowering perennials thrive in areas that receive little to no direct sunlight and can help to bring a little colour to a dark corner. Here are some of our suggestions for shade tolerant blooms:
Looking for a beautiful perennial to brighten up a shaded spot? Our Acanthus mollis Whitewater produces tall spikes of white flowers against their backdrop of dark green variegated foliage; a perfect addition to borders or large patio containers.
Tip – These pretty flowers can be cut for vase displays or dried floral arrangements.
This fascinating clump-forming perennial produces striking mint scented flowers of a deep purple shade against bronze tinged foliage. Monarda Blaustrumpfwould make the perfect addition for flower beds and borders and thrive in semi or full shade where other perennials may struggle.
This useful and hardy plant does well in all types of shade. GeraniumVersicolor is ideal for planting in borders or patio pots for adding striking and unusual blooms to your garden with their vivid pink veined white flowers. This variety makes for great ground-cover in full or partial shade.
Ground Cover
It can be difficult to find hardy shade ground cover for those difficult areas of the garden that can lie blank and shady, but once you put your imagination cap on you can discover several different varieties that make the perfect ground cover for those shaded areas.
Not all Euphorbias do well in shade but Euphorbia amygdaloides ‘Purpurea’ is an exception. This rapid growing ground cover plant produces amazing dark purple foliage with contrasting lime-green flowers from Spring in to early summer, making this variety an ideal candidate for borders, patio pots or containers.
This reliable evergreen shrub is perfect for bringing some colour to shady areas. Also known as the variegated leaf Periwinkle, Vinca major Variegata produces pretty violet-blue flowers from late spring in to summer; a perfect plant for growing anywhere in the garden, even underneath trees.
These charming evergreen clumps of roundish leaves with lobed or scalloped edges come in every colour under the sun. Here we’ve picked out Heuchera Lime Marmalade, Heuchera Creme Brulee and Heuchera Berry Smoothie as our top recommendations for their vibrant hues. Especially when combined with other shade-loving perennials, Heuchera are amazing for ground cover, borders or in front of shrubs.
Bored of plain foliage? This stunning silver touched deep green foliage that becomes dotted with spikes of pretty white blossoms in spring and early summer. This evergreen shrub is perfect for adding interest to your border displays and in any shaded spot in the garden.
Ferns
Happy to grow in inhospitable spots, many ferns are evergreen, and since they come in a range of shapes and sizes, you are certain to find the perfect fern fit for any shady spot.
Also known as the Harts Tongue Fern, Asplenium scolopendrium is an evergreen fern with luscious upright green foliage. This hardy evergreen needs little attention in the garden, provides colour all year round and can even be grown in woodland/under trees or shady borders.
This small and easy-to-grow fern is the perfect plant for the border or rock garden in full or partial shade. With a mass of golden yellow leaves and striking red stems, this exotic Athyrium Vidalii is guaranteed to provide a dash of unique colouring to even the shadiest parts of the garden.
If you’re looking for a fern full of vibrant colour, the coppery red fronds of this Dryopteris erythrosora is the perfect option for your garden. This gorgeous plant can be planted in the border, patio pots or containers and are very tolerant of most conditions making them the perfect shade partner.
Grasses
Ornamental grasses provide many attractive functions in the garden. They are extremely adaptable, low maintenance, and have become increasingly popular in recent years as a way of creating a relaxing and calming effect in the garden. With their increasing popularity, more options have become available, and numerous lovely grasses are suitable for shade planting.
This stunning evergreen perennial grass is the perfect addition for containers or a shady border as these plants thrive whether planted in sun, partial shade or full shade. With Carex testacea ‘Prairie Fire’s’ extraordinarily eye-catching green leaves with bright orange tips, this variety also changes in to a dark orange colour with brown flowers in the summer time.
This highly versatile grass variety is ideal for planting in containers, near water features in gravel, in the border or alongside other grasses. With stunning needle-like leaves, Festuca Golden Toupee produces grey-green leaves that turn a bright yellow shade in the spring and thrive in pretty deep shade for bringing stunning vibrant hues of colour to a shaded garden.
Bulbs
It can be difficult to find blooms to rectify an unloved shaded area, however here are a few suggestions for bulbs to brighten up your garden.
This hardy perennial excels in partial or full shade. With pointed green leaves and slender, soft yellow bells that drop from its branched stems, Uvularia grandiflora makes a great addition to pots, containers and this variety even makes excellent cut flowers.
A smooth cocktail of colours, purple buds opening to apricot, with rose shadings. Geum Mai Tai have fuzzy, dark green pinnate leaves and erect purple stems holding the semi double flowers. These hardy perennial plants will flower all summer from June right through to September and are suitable for partial shaded borders in the garden.
With giant showy milk-white lace cap type flowers blooming over vigorous glossy green foliage. This fantastic, self-clinging Hydrangea petiolaris is the best climber for a shaded north wall. Very low maintenance needing only an occasional trim, left undisturbed it can grow up to a height and spread of 5m+ but will withstand gentle pruning to any manageable height to suit your garden.
If you are a home gardener and want to grow something which will adorn your garden and at the same time will be useful to you (rather than being just showy), consider currants! They are a beautiful fruit (and its flowers too) to look at, as well as being an excellent source of home grown produce for using in your own recipes. In this blog, we’ll be covering all the areas of planting currants, from varieties, planting instructions and aftercare to make your gardening jobs easier.
Celebrated for their high vitamin C content, currant berries make an excellent addition to your fruit garden and to a healthy diet. There are many reasons to grow them; firstly, they are extremely easy and hassle-free to grow, so you require not much knowledge of gardening; secondly, they give you a large yield of a highly nutritious food item that will enhance your garden’s looks with delightful colours. With their main varieties being black, red and white, these are sweet and sour flavourful fruits that come in the following varieties (typically classified by their colours).
Blackcurrants are self-fertile plants, so we recommend planting blackcurrant plants close to each other, like our Blackcurrant Wellington XXX. This popular choice was established around sixty years ago and is a perfect addition to any gardens big or small, all you need is some space on the patio for a pot. A traditional variety, our Blackcurrant XXX produces heavy crops of fruit annually to give you an abundance of produce year after year.
The humble Red Currant Berry have really proven to be an enduringly popular choice among fruit gardeners. Red currants are typically used for making jellies, juices, purees and more. They are usually self-pollinating plants but, in some conditions, benefit from cross-pollinating with another variety, like another red or white variety.
Our Currants Red Lake are a vigorous species due to their prolonged periods of blooming and ripening. This is a simple to grow variety producing heavy crops of red berries year after year. An ideal choice for both experienced and amateur gardeners; our ‘Red Lake’ is perfect for harvesting your own produce for that summer vitamin boost.
White currants are a variety of sweet, succulent berries with a grape-like flavour, perfect for serving fresh for a summer treat. Just like red currants, white currants are too usually self-pollinating but can cross-pollinate with other varieties. Perfect soft fruit additions to the garden for a bountiful and sweet April/May harvest.
Currant White Versaillesis an easy fruit to grow, making them a perfect choice for both experienced and amateur gardeners. Producing a heavy crop of white berries on trailing trusses year after year, this particularly sweet variety is a perfect choice for the cool conditions of the north of England, as they thrive best in cooler climates.
Planting
Here is our easy to follow guide for planting a garden full of currants for summer fruit.
Plant between Autumn through till Spring.
Use well-drained, weed-free soil enriched with well-rotted manure.
Plant in a sunny or at most a dappled shade position.
Plant with tip of stem at soil level and approx. 150cm apart and 150cm between rows.
Water well after planting and daily afterwards in dry weather.
Same planting process applies for potted plants.
Tutorial
In this tutorial, our resident gardening expert Jeff demonstrates how to plant Blackcurrant plants for delicious and healthy summer produce.
Tips
Train as an open centred, goblet-shaped bush – this allows light and air to flow freely around the branches and makes picking easier.
Add additional mulch every year to bring plants up to the proper depth.
Keep the soil moist by watering from the time they begin growing in spring until after harvest.
Add some fertiliser once a year in the early spring.
Aftercare
Remove fallen leaves and other plant debris before snowfall.
Prune anytime between October and March; this will improve sun exposure to the plant and help to maintain good air circulation.
Beginning in the fourth year, prune out the oldest wood annually.
Remove any weak new growth.
Planting Companions
Companion planting is an integral part of gardening for maximizing the use of your garden space, providing nutrients, shade or support, increasing crop productivity, attracting beneficial insects and there are many more perks. Since currants do well planted in shade, pairing them with other plants that prefer shade is the best choice for pairings.
For current companions, here are some of our top flower pairing choices:
Marigolds are a great pairing for currants as they help to keep pests away from their produce, like pesky hoverflies. One of our favourite varieties is our Marigold Marvel Vanilla; this double flowering variety blooms creamy white flowers that would pair beautifully alongside currant bushes in beds and borders.
In a shady, unused spot, you can try planting your currant bushes under an apple tree, like our beautiful Apple Blenheim Orange. This excellent red flushed variety is a perfect addition for creating a fantastic edible garden. Our Blenheim Orange produces a heavy crop and makes an amazing accompaniment to traditional pie recipes and other delicious desserts.
Veronicastrum Cupid
Anemone Nemorosa
Evergreens add constant interest to the garden and can act often as a central focus point to build a garden around. Evergreen shrubs and plants hold their foliage all year around, which is why they are the perfect choice for low maintenance gardening. Since April is the best time of year to plant evergreens and there are many to choose from, we’ve picked out a selection of varieties so you are guaranteed to find one that suits you.
