Greening Ideas, Tips & Guides

Nothing provides quite the same stunning impact in a floral arrangement as big, beautiful, blooming hydrangeas. Hydrangeas of all colors—blue, purple, white, pink, and red—make their glorious show in Southern gardens in the spring and summer, whether growing lush as a leafy bush, looking charming in a container pot, or of course, dotting the house in vases after being snipped (or picked up from your local flower shop).

Are you passionate about gardening and looking to elevate your green space? Discover how a GardenAdvice.co.uk course can help you transform your garden into a vibrant, low-maintenance haven. In this GardenAdvice is helping an aspiring gardener with a garden in Hemel Hempstead after the gardeners owner attended a GardenAdvice gardening course in the garden.

Collaborative post

Hi GPODers!

Tips for Growing Cast-Iron Plants (Aspidistra) Outdoors

Collaborative post

Walmart

Planting pole beans should be on the to-do list of every vegetable gardener. Not only are they a reliable crop, but the vining plants are serious space savers and produce a far larger harvest than bush beans when given the same square footage. In this article you’ll learn when and how to plant pole beans, the best site for the vines, and how to care for the plants to ensure the best possible harvest of tender snap beans. Why you should be planting pole beans in your garden I grow a wide selection of vegetables like tomatoes, peas, beets, lettuce, a

Cosmos are sun-loving plants with a long flowering season. They fill borders with a profusion of flowers, ranging in colour from white through to pink, red and orange, and they have masses of feathery foliage.

Lavender is a Mediterranean evergreen shrub, grown for its fragrant leaves and bee-friendly flowers. There are hardy, half-hardy and tender species of lavender to choose from.

Mantises are something of an eccentric in the world of insects. The males can fly, but more often they move slowly among shrubs and flowers. They can be fearsome hunters but usually wait for their prey to find them.

It’s often challenging to get some seeds even to sprout, if not quickly. But with our list of plants that grow from softwood cuttings, you’ll have clones packing up your garden in no time!

Most of us consider plants to be docile living creatures capable of no harm, but they must also protect themselves from threats while rooted in one place. This list of the most painful plants to touch will reveal their secret weapons of defense.

Roses are some of the most beautiful and versatile garden plants. They come in a variety of forms, from patio roses to shrub roses, ramblers and climbers. Nearly all of them make an excellent cut flower. Single-flowered roses are great pollinator plants, while some species are used by leafcutter bees to make their nests. Most roses need sun and heavy soils to thrive, but some will grow well in partial shade and poorer soils. There really is a rose, or three, for every garden.

When and How to Harvest Bay Leaves

When the warm weather arrives, it signals the opportunity to turn attention to refreshing or reworking outdoor spaces. Here are a few ideas to effect some big or small changes so outdoor living is even more enjoyable this season.

From slender and succulent to bouncy and vigorous, these plants that look like noodles and other tasty edibles will have your tummies growling with temptation! And they are distinct ornamentals that will quickly uplift your green decor. Let’s dive in!

Collecting and storing water is only one side of the story. Learning how to use this water effectively is just as important to ensure we make the most of every single drop of this most valuable resource. Naturally us gardeners often have much higher levels of water consumption compared to the average person, and as a result we are possibly the group of people who waste the most water. I know I have certainly been guilty of this in the past!

The gardening world has taken on sustainability with gusto. From no-mow May’s to pollinator-friendly displays, there are plenty of ways to create a haven for local wildlife in your garden.

Ruggable

When we think of grass, manicured lawns come to mind. But the grass is so much more than just pricey green decor! Many native flowering varieties are crucial hosts to beneficial pollinators and lend vivid textures to dull landscapes. With this list of grasses that attract butterflies, you can turn your garden into a gorgeous biodiversity hub!

How to Grow and Care for Fothergilla Fothergilla spp.

Anyone who appreciates a cute front door knows what a great first impression a beautiful color makes. That's why selecting the perfect color to don your door can be a big task—but thankfully, we have some expert help.

Pothos plants are popular for their lush growth and low-maintenance nature. This houseplant is quite hardy and can flourish in a range of conditions; these traits make the gardeners careless about pothos, and they ignore signs that indicate the plant is in trouble. This article will focus on the Most Common Pothos Plant Problems and Their Solutions and keep you in check.

Selecting the best exterior paint color for your personal sense of style, neighborhood, natural surroundings, and landscaping setup can feel overwhelming— and picking the color you will be painting your entire house in is a big commitment.

Hellebores are generally very accommodating plants flowering early in spring and living happily in shade. Avoid Helleborus foetidus the stinking hellebore or setterwort.  If you want coloured rose like flowers with shapely green leaves try  growing them in a dedicated green bed.

Tradescantia or wandering jude or dude, whatever you call it, it can become a perfect trailing plant for hanging baskets! Its leaves feature stripes and hues of silver, green, and purple on both sides. And what better way to showcase its dainty, multicolored foliage than to let it cascade in full glory?

Getting a good night’s sleep is key to maintaining your wellbeing. Sleep makes up a third of every person’s life, but some 50 to 70 million people in the U.S. struggle with easily falling asleep. So when videos of people drinking lettuce water to supposedly help induce sleep started making their way around social media, it’s no surprise that many people jumped on the trend. But is lettuce water actually a good DIY sleep aid?

How to Grow Bee Balm Pollinators can’t resist the bold summer flowers of bee balm! Find growing tips and meet a few of our favorite powdery mildew-resistant varieties to try in your garden. Bee balm Monarda spp. and hybrids

When it comes to selecting the perfect watermelon, appearances can be deceiving. That lush green exterior might promise sweet, juicy goodness inside, but there’s a critical detail that often goes unnoticed until it’s too late: cracks. 

By midsummer, the flower borders are a riot of colour. It’s an ideal time to take stock, deciding which areas look good and which need plants moving or adding to create the best summer displays. Flowering plants such as dahlias, sweet peas and roses will benefit from regular feeding at this time of year, while deadheading will help to keep many plants flowering longer. It’s also time to prepare for seasons to come, by sowing biennials and planting autumn-flowering bulbs.

The speckled bush-cricket is a small, bright green cricket that gets its name from its all-over covering of black speckles. It has short wings, long, thin antennae and a dark orange stripe on its back (the male has a thicker stripe than the female). The female has a long, curved ovipositor (egg-laying tube). The speckled bush cricket cannot fly, but gets around by jumping, using its powerful back legs.

A cayenne pepper plant is a productive, easy-to-grow hot pepper perfect for anyone that wants medium-hot fruits. Grow them in garden beds or pots and expect each plant to yield dozens of slender glossy peppers. The 4 to 6 inch long fruits are typically green maturing to red and can be eaten fresh, dried, or used for hot sauce. In this article you’ll learn all about how to plant, grow, and harvest cayenne peppers from your garden. Cayenne pepper plant facts Cayenne pepper plants (Capsicum annuum) are incredibly popular in home gardens thanks to their

If you ever looked around your home and wondered what you can do to improve your design, look no further. The space might not be begging for an extensive renovation or a major furniture overhaul—it can simply come down to styling.

Fruits often take center stage thanks to how quickly they appease our taste buds. But what about food for our eyes? It’s simple: grow these fruits with beautiful foliage, and you’ll get two things: a delicious homegrown harvest and a display of decorative leaves.

As gardeners, we’re very aware of the environment around us. We notice the impact of the changing climate as our plants struggle through drier summers, or are able to over-winter with less protection than in previous years. But we’re also in a uniquely fortunate position. The decisions we make in our own gardens can make a difference to the wider environment. Here, Frances Tophill shares why it’s so important to garden sustainably, and how she does this in her own garden.