Gardenig in Britain. Tips & Guides

If you plan on setting up an entertainment system in your garden, there are many ways you can go about it, and there are many things to consider to ensure you get the most out of your space. 

Native to the Mediterranean, lavender is a hardy medicinal herb from the mint family, comprising over 30 species. This evergreen shrub is all the rage in gardening because its utility extends beyond good looks and amazing fragrance.

Welcome to an exploration of flowers that start with the letter “C”. This list covers a fabulous range of blooms, from the classic Carnation to the striking Calla Lily.

Header image: Slug Advancing by Maxime THIBAULT from Pixabay

Hi GPODers!

As you prepare your garden for autumn and winter, you may come across some tree seedlings, especially sycamore, ash, and oak, sprouting in your borders. Rather than letting these young trees end up in the compost heap, consider giving them a new lease on life by participating in the GardenAdvice Young Gardeners Tree Project as a tree donor..

Why’s everyone so obsessed with growing lavender? It’s a super plant—that’s why! It barely needs frequent watering, thrives in all types of soil, is edible, and is full of healing goodness. And it has so many varieties with such distinct scents and blooms that it would be a crime not to grow it. Let’s help you pick the most fragrant lavender varieties for your home!

This fragrant herb softens all the wilderness in any garden with its delicate blooms and leaves and offers many practical benefits. We suggest you grow this wildflower as a garden border for several reasons! Let’s find out.

Garden furniture can be a big investment – with sofas, tables, umbrellas and the like often taking up a large chunk of your overall garden budget.

You can grow wildflowers in a border, a pot and a window box as well as in a meadow.

Liverworts are tiny plants with flattened leaves that mostly grow in shady places, damp spots, and where soil is compacted and slow to drain. Liverworts can occur in many places, including paths, paving, other hard surfaces, lawns, border soil, in greenhouses, and the surface of compost in pots. There are around 300 different species of liverwort in the UK. It’s often welcomed for the natural look it brings to gardens along with biodiversity benefits, and in many cases, there’s no need to get rid of liverwort. However, in certain situations, such as on the surface of pots of young plants or on paths which have become slippery, liverwort growth may cause problems and will need to be removed.

I heard a rustling behind me and turned to see a huge tortoise disappearing under a shrub! That was 25 years ago in South Africa. I was thrilled to see the creature but my fellow gardeners quickly loaded it onto a wheelbarrow bound for the veld (the open grassland) beyond the garden.

What is giant hogweed?

Flanking our waterways in great mops of silver green, the willow is the most poetic and mysterious of trees. In many cultures – including ancient Egypt and ancient Greece – it was associated with immortality, death, and the underworld; old English folklore states that if you sit beside a willow and shed tears, the tree will cry with you. In China, where the weeping willow hails from, it represents strength and resilience, reflecting the instruction in the Tao Te Ching to have a flexible attitude: 'A tree that won't bend, breaks easily in storms.' Being pliant and strong, willow is used for weaving, and its light weight and hardness make it the best wood for cricket bats.

Join us this summer as we explore some of the UK’s best 2-for-1 Gardens to visit in August, for fun days out with all the family. Whether it’s an adventure playground or woodland trail for the kids, or a rose garden or restored Elizabethan garden for the horticulturalists, there is plenty to enjoy at these gardens. Visit using your 2-for-1 Gardens card to save money on your trips to all these wonderful gardens.

“Impossibly unaffordable” are two words that Californians are probably less than thrilled to hear. In a recent report from Chapman University in Orange, California, and the Frontier Centre of Public Policy (FCPP) in Canada, that’s exactly how four California metros are described. The 2024 edition of Demographia International Housing Affordability shows San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego listed among the top 10 least affordable housing markets—not just in the United States, but worldwide. 

There are three main types of potato to grow, named according to when you plant and harvest them: first earlies, second earlies and maincrop. First early or ‘new’ potatoes are so-called because they are the earliest to crop, in June and July. Second earlies (also called ‘new’ potatoes) are hot on their heels, taking a few more weeks to mature. They are ready from July.

Growing up in the Lowcountry, Drew English, High Hampton’s head gardener, was a hobbyist gardener well-versed in the plants that thrive in South Carolina's long and humid summers. But, as many hot weather residents do, English began to spend more time escaping to the cooler temperatures of the mountains.

Even though pineapples are considered a fruit (and a fruit generally comes from trees—unless it’s a berry), pineapples actually grow on a plant close to the ground. Each pineapple plant bears exactly one pineapple. So where did pineapple come from in the first place?

Over the past few years, Pamela Anderson has had more time to contemplate life. That is, until things kicked into high gear again—but more on that later. At the start of the pandemic in 2020, she moved from France, sold her house in Malibu, and headed north to the small town on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where she was born and raised. She hunkered down with her two grown sons, Brandon and Dylan. She bought her grandmother’s old motel, renovated it, and set up her parents there. A lifelong cook, she perfected her baking skills. She reclaimed and expanded her grandfather’s garden on the same land where she had run barefoot as a self-described wild child. It’s the site of both her greatest childhood joys and harrowing traumas, which she describes candidly in her 2023 autobiography, Love, Pamela, and Netflix documentary, Pamela, A Love Story. Almost poetically, for Pamela has journaled and written poetry her whole life, she has reclaimed her true self and her youthful creativity on the exact spot where they were born. When I had the chance to sit with her and talk over Zoom recently, our conversation quickly moved beyond her new cookbook, I Love You (due out in October), to all aspects of life—and her ability to find the deepest of meanings in even the tiniest of seeds.

Penstemon eatonii 

You’ve measured your outdoor space, you’ve agreed on a style — contemporary, traditional, rustic or more — you’ve determined a budget, now it’s time to look for the perfect garden furniture set.

There’s nothing more discomforting than scratching or pricking yourself in dry weather with scraggly thorn-filled rose bushes. But they are so pretty—if only they were as manageable! They can be, with our tricks to growing less prickly and thorn-free roses in your garden. Read on to find out!

Tips for Growing ‘Dwarf Grey’ Snow Peas Pisum sativum ‘Dwarf Grey’

5 Tips You Need to Navigate Seed Catalogs

How to Grow and Care for Candle Anemones Anemone cylindrica

How to Grow Eggplant in Containers

How to Plant Kohlrabi Seeds

How do you begin the process of designing or refining your own gardens, especially when there are so many things that you need to take into consideration? In this class, award-winning UK garden designer Annie Guilfoyle will guide you through the elements that make for a successful design and show you how to develop a garden that really suits your taste and lifestyle. This webinar will focus on how to use sketching and observation as tools to develop your technique. The process of designing your space should be fun, according to Annie, so she’ll share insights for how to develop your style using the influences of things you really like, such as textiles, art, and architecture. There will be plenty of suggestions on how to start your design process and gather inspiration—and, of course, we will touch on those oh-so-important plants.  

Happy Friday GPODers!

You can grow wildflowers in a border, a pot and a window box as well as in a meadow.

More greenery means more oxygen! But did you know some plants even filter out contaminants and allergens? They create a space that is easy on the eyes, lungs, and mind. We share the best outdoor plants that improve the quality of the air you breathe!

Lavender is a beautiful and aromatic perennial plant. It’s pleasant scent easily attracts butterflies, bees, and other beneficial pollinators. This greatly boosts wildlife if you decide to grow it in your garden. Moreover, you can even grow it in a container or pot indoors if you live in a flat or don’t have enough yard space. That’s a great way to guarantee your home smells wonderful!

Brodiaea are bulbous perennials with attractive funnel-shaped flowers in June and July. These can be blue, lilac or white, held at the top of slender stems on an umbel flowerhead, like a small version of an agapanthus. Like agapanthus, this plant does best in a sunny spot, sheltered from frost. Not only are brodiaea an attractive addition to an early summer border and patio pots, but they make excellent cut flowers.

The flowers of spider lilies emerge on bare stems between August and September. Named spider lily because of its long arched stamens, which resemble spiders legs, these flowers are exotic and bold, perfect for a late summer border.

There are several species of wild dead-nettle in the UK, as well as many cultivated varieties that are grown in gardens as groundcover plants. Dead-nettles are members of the Lamiaceae or mint family. They have nettle-like leaves which are often covered in hairs. Hooded flowers grow in whorls around the stem and come in a variety of colours depending on the species. Although dead-nettles resemble nettles, they’re in a different family of plants and they don’t sting.