Horticulture Ideas, Tips & Guides

Want to grow perennials that have a long blooming period in your garden? Long-lasting perennials add color, height, and texture to the landscape. And equally important, many perennials provide important food sources for beneficial insects and pollinators, such as bees, butterflies, and birds. Perennials can take some time to get established in the garden and the first year, they're typically focused on growing roots. They grow faster in the second and third year and you can enjoy them each year.

Some planting combinations are designed to be stable and static, with reliable perennials that work well together and stay largely in proportion for years. Other schemes are more dynamic, changing dramatically year by year as plants self-seed and move around, perhaps making use of annuals and biennials to add interest.

Gardening is not just a hobby, it is a way of life that allows us to get closer to nature. In our country, only 50 no deposit free spins in casinos can compete in terms of popularity with gardening, which has a special place in the hearts of millions of people. The history of British gardening goes back centuries, and this activity continues to attract more and more enthusiasts. In this article, we take a look at the best garden centres in the UK that offer a wide range of plants and gardening products, high quality service and many additional services. Whatever your preferences and level of expertise, you are sure to find something useful and interesting for you.

There’s nothing nicer than being outside on a beautiful late spring day, especially if it means you get a whole day away from your desk. Danielle, Carol, and digital editor Christine Alexander recently played hooky from their editorial duties and went on a horticultural adventure at one of New England’s great public gardens. Located in Boylston, Massachusetts, Tower Hill is filled with fun places to explore, including formal gardens, woodland trails lined with native plantings, and two conservatories. After exploring the grounds and chatting about some of the great plants they came across, Danielle and Carol sat down for a chat with Tower Hill’s director of horticulture, Mark Richardson. We hope this episode inspires you to get out and enjoy a field trip to a public garden near you!  

There is a certain day in the calendar year, a date that marks the dividing line between its two halves, whose significance as an important horticultural turning point is not lost on experienced gardeners. Known as the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere it was yesterday, June 21st, the longest day and shortest night of the year, when the North Pole was at its greatest tilt towards the sun.

Life, as I like to remind my sons, isn’t always fair. All things are not equal, no matter how much we’d like them to be and some are in fact far better than others, a truth brought home to all of us eventually. Hence the expression “garden-worthy”, that brilliantly concise description used to sum up a particular cultivar or variety’s outstanding qualities.

In 2020 a rather unusual virtual Chelsea Flower Show took place online instead of at its usual Royal Hospital location due to the coronavirus lockdown. As you can tell from our gallery of archive pictures from Chelsea, the royals are among its most enthusiastic attendees; the Queen almost never missed a visit, the Duchess of Cambridge had her own garden there last year, as has Prince Harry in the past, and various other senior royals are regular visitors. That year, since they were unable to visit, the royal family took part in the #MyChelseaGarden campaign, which encouraged the public to post pictures of their own gardens on social media to celebrate the show.

For the last 19 years I have spent the third week in May at the Chelsea Flower show. It's one of those Great British institutions that just has to be experienced — a chance to see the country's best horticultural performers all in one space, to glean ideas, spot trends and talk to the people who make our gardens grow.

You must be careful when you enter the backyard of garden designer Jeff Epping. No because you’re likely to trip on something but because you might be dive-bombed by a pair of nesting hummingbirds, or a bevy of butterflies, or any number of other pollinators that make this shady Midwestern garden their home. Jeff Epping is the principal designer at Epping Design & Consulting and the former director of horticulture at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin. Given this background, it’s no surprise that his home landscape is something special. He writes about this beautiful space in his article, Design an Engaging, Naturalistic Garden in the Shade.

Do all gardeners secretly think they’ve got it the worst? For instance, because I garden in New England, I feel like the glacial till (aka unbelievably rocky soil) and massively unpredictable spring weather make my gardening more of a challenge than, say, that of gardeners living in Seattle. But is that true? Probably not.

There is little you can do to control how much shade or sunlight a garden bed gets. Sure, you can cut down a tree to let in more sun or build a pergola for shade, but you can’t adjust the tilt of the earth. To find plants that will thrive in your garden, you need to get a handle on how much sunlight reaches each bed throughout the day and in all four seasons. Fortunately, with good observation skills and perhaps a new app on your phone, you can gather all the information you need to choose plants that will grow well in your garden’s brightest sun, deepest shade, and all the partially shaded places in between. 

Irvin Etienne is the curator of herbaceous plants and seasonal garden design at Newfields, a 152-acre campus with art galleries, performance spaces, world-class public gardens, and a nature park in Indianapolis. Irvin has been a frequent contributor to Fine Gardening, sharing his horticultural expertise through informative articles like A Bright Idea for Spring Containers, Big and Bold Plants for the Back of the Border, and Bring It In!, a primer on overwintering all kinds of tropical plants. In this episode he delves into the path that brought him to horticulture, the lessons learned from decades of gardening in public, and some of the (many, many) plants that earn their keep in his home garden.

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“Connecting with nature.” “Trying something different.” “An appreciation of history.” Ask a new generation of gardeners just why they want to embark on a course in horticulture at a country house estate and those are the kinds of answers they will give you.

Jay Sifford is an award-winning landscape designer based in North Carolina. Several of his garden designs have been featured in Fine Gardening, including a one-of-a-kind modern meadow garden and a series of beautiful, functional dry creek beds.

In March 1910, readers of The Daily Mail were confronted with an advertisement that read, ‘Ten Thousand Englishwomen could be ranged in a line and shot. No one would be sorry. Everyone would be glad. There isn’t any place for them.’ This was pretty strong stuff, but it was just an extreme example of a widely held belief: that the country was burdened with ‘surplus women’. In 1854, author and social campaigner Harriet Martineau estimated that there were over 500,000 more women than men in Great Britain; by 1891, the number had risen to over 900,000. The chief reason given at the time was the high level of emigration among young men seeking opportunities across the British Empire. Every young man signing up to be a colonist, a member of the armed forces, a civil servant or a trader in the British colonies was one less for the women left at home to woo and catch. There was real anxiety that as a result there were ‘surplus women’ who would not find a husband to take care of them after their fathers died. The ‘surplus’ or ‘redundant’ women that bothered commentators most were middle- and upper-class women. Single working-class women were not viewed as surplus; they could go into paid occupations deemed suitable to their station, such as domestic service or factories. For ‘respectable’ women higher up the social scale, however, conventional society offered very few options.

The Clemson Extension Horticulture Team recently visited the Greenwood City Greenhouse to see a behind the scenes tour of the Festival of Flowers topiaries. Plan a visit to Greenwood, SC to see these amazing topiaries that will displayed  around downtown Greenwood. The Festival of Flowers Celebration is June 6th through the 9th. The topiaries will be on display the entire month of June.

From the lone Irish yew tree, first discovered growing in Co Fermanagh in the 18th century, whose countless offspring now flourish in gardens all over the world, to the great Irish gardeners, garden makers, planthunters and plantspeople who have made valuable contributions to the world of horticulture, we have many reasons to be proud of our unique gardening tradition. Here are some suitably horticultural ways to celebrate Ireland’s “40 shades of green”.

This article has been checked for horticultural accuracy by Oliver Parsons.

Image: West Dean Gardens. Credit: West Dean Gardens May we know them, may we be them, may we raise them. To celebrate International Women’s Day, we’re going to share some of the most influential women within horticulture and their stories.

Must-See Public Gardens to Visit in the U.S. Whether they're around the corner or across the country, public gardens are worth the trip! Don't miss these impressive public gardens!

My flowering cactus was magnificent for Christmas, but now I have to wait for it to flower again. Is it possible to slip it? Or make it bloom again?

If we could step back in time to flick through the pages of popular garden magazines from bygone eras, it’s safe to say that we’d find few if any features on rewilding, sustainability, environmentally conscious garden design or the rich biodiversity of brownfield sites. Instead, those popular publications typically dispensed traditional gardening advice on how to cultivate a range of choice plants and protect them from common pests and diseases. Some of it, unsurprisingly, hasn’t aged all that well.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens Stroll through the Sarah P. Duke Gardens to discover colorful seasonal plantings, a prairie garden and fruits and vegetables that grow well in the South. Sarah P. Duke Gardens Durham, North Carolina

Idaho Botanical Garden If gardening in a dry climate is your challenge, the Idaho Botanical Garden has lots of solutions! Idaho Botanical Garden Boise, Idaho

Many gardens have shady areas, where sun-loving plants won’t thrive. The good news is that there’s plenty of plants that can tolerate or even do better in a shaded position.

Whether you’re starting seeds off in the cold, winter months, encouraging cuttings to root or raising tender plants originally from warmer climates, a constant heat source will help create the best conditions to nurture them. Heated propagators are an ideal accessory which, depending on the type you choose, either offers a consistent, ambient temperature or can be set at a particular temperature to suit your needs. Because of our cooler temperatures, warmer climate plants like tomatoes, aubergines, chilli and bell peppers and squashes need a long growing season to give them time to grow, flower, produce fruit and for the fruit to ripen. Germinating them indoors in a heated propagator early in the year, when outside it would be much too cold for them to grow, ensures they get the long growing season they need. But even hardier and native plants benefit from being germinated at a constant temperature.

Here are the best Ways to Decorate with Indoor Plants to Energize Your Room! Get inspired and experience a soothing and positive home atmosphere.

Since confession is good for the soul, I feel compelled to say that I always order too many seeds.And since making excuses is one of the hallmarks of the human condition, I will also say that my seed surplus is not entirely my fault.Seed companies and garden magazines and charities send me all kinds of small seed packets in an effort to get me to buy or subscribe or donate.Since to err is human and to forgive divine, I will strive for divinity by forgiving my own horticultural gluttony.

Anyone who knew Angela Jupe, the late landscape architect and garden maker, will remember her particular love of snowdrops, or Galanthus, as this genus of dainty bulbous perennials is properly known.

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Without doubt the biggest change to gardening over the past decade or so has been the rise in interest and love for plants that can be grown and nurtured indoors.

When you go to the Philadelphia Flower Show, it helps to take along the right attitude. If seeing gorgeous, high concept gardens full of the most fashionable flowers makes you feel insecure, then take yourself elsewhere. If you need a massive dose of color, fragrance, humidity, and horticultural inspiration, then the Philadelphia Flower Show will be perfect for you. On my calendar, it officially marks the end of winter. It also reminds me of everything that a garden can be—provided you have a forklift, a crew of ten, at least $20,000 and the ability to make crocuses, roses and hydrangeas all bloom simultaneously.

Since 2015 she’s run the NT’s Heritage Horticultural Program, delivering practical workshops to hundreds of garden staff members. Here, she explains how to handle your hellebores so that you can enjoy a quality display of flowers for years to come.

In the ever-evolving tapestry of horticulture, 2024 brings forth a new chapter as gardens undergo a transformative journey guided by the latest trends. From the integration of nature into outdoor spaces to the tech-savvy approaches that are revolutionizing horticulture, this year's garden landscape is a canvas of innovation and sustainability. Join us as we delve into the heart of these trends and explore how they are changing the way we imagine, cultivate and experience our gardens. Step into a world where sustainability meets aesthetic expression, where technology blends with the natural, and where each garden becomes a unique testament to the creativity and conscientiousness of its caretaker. Welcome to the garden trends of 2024 – a celebration of greenery, diversity and the limitless possibilities that bloom in the outdoors.

When I moved into my house in mid-February a year and a half ago, one of the first things I did was to walk around the yard, and try to figure out what the previous owner had planted. The winter had been exceptionally mild, and she had done little garden clean up, so it was easy to identify the remnants of marigolds, the desiccated hosta leaves and the naked canes of miniature rose bushes. When I came to the front strip, between the sidewalk and the street, I noticed that there was a bare patch of earth, approximately 18” long and perhaps 8” wide.“Grubs”, I thought, or maybe just drought or dog-related grass mortality.I made a mental note to throw some grass seed on the spot come spring.