Year of the Marigold
This year has been declared ‘Year of the Marigold’ with events going on around the world to showcase the variety and beauty of the marigold family. The announcement follows last year’s successful ‘Year of the Zinnia’ which culminated in 20 varieties being awarded the prestigious Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society after a year of trials testing their [...]
Shining Hellebores
Give hellebores the chance to shine by going round now snipping off last year’s old, tatty foliage right down at the base to expose the emerging flower buds. Use sharp secateurs and be really careful as it’s all too easy to snip off the flower buds themselves by mistake! Hellebores are among our most beautiful spring flowers and the earliest too [...]
Gardening in January
It’s a brand new year and there’s loads to do out in the garden! As well as the usual catching up to do after Christmas, there are borders to get ready, new plants to get in the ground and plans to make. Here are a few of the things you can be getting on with in the garden this month: [...]
22nd annual Orchids Festival
Chase away the winter blues and travel to India this month as the 22nd annual Orchids Festival gets under way at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London. Orchids Festival - Kew Gardens The sounds of India surround visitors to the steamy tropical glasshouse from the moment they walk in: a giant Indian flag is being created from 900 chrysanthemums, [...]
February – HTA Plant of the Moment 2017
Few hardy shrubs signal the end of winter better than camellias, highly valued for their stunning floral displays and fresh, glossy, evergreen foliage. With dozens of varieties available you’ll be spoilt for choice, so pick from camellias in shades of pink, red, white and cream. Their ultimate size, habit and rate of growth vary immensely too, so consider how much [...]
Celebrate the beauty of butterflies
Celebrate the beauty of butterflies as the glasshouse at RHS Garden Wisley fills with brilliantly- coloured insects for its annual Butterflies in the Glasshouse event (www.rhs.org.uk/wisley). Butterflies The huge tropical glasshouse at the garden becomes home to more than 6000 exotic butterflies, free-flying around visitors as they walk through palms, cycads, banana plants and philodendrons. There are more than 50 [...]
RHS looking for nation’s best school gardeners
The RHS is on the hunt for the nation’s best school gardeners for its annual competition to celebrate gardening in schools. The charity wants to find inspirational gardeners across three categories, shining a light on green- fingered pupils, passionate school gardening teams and the teachers and parent volunteers who encourage them. The Nation's Best School Gardeners The RHS Young School [...]
Binoculars at the ready: Big Garden Birdwatch
Binoculars at the ready: the annual Big Garden Birdwatch kicks off this weekend, when gardeners and wildlife lovers get outside to paint a nationwide picture of the state of our garden birds. The Big Garden Bird Watch The initiative, run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, is now the world’s biggest wildlife survey. Last year more than [...]