Performer Ideas, Tips & Guides

There are no sleuths investigating a dastardly crime here, it’s just that all but one of my contributions for Jim’s meme at Garden Ruminations this week are inside and undercover! Snowdrops, both common and specials are all but over here, but Galanthus ‘Peardrop’ (above), my star performer, is still strutting her stuff, flaunting her HUGE blooms, a full 2″ (about 5 cms) from the top of her green ovary to the tip of the outer perianth segments – she’s gorgeous!

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The star performers at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and other flower shows are herbaceous perennials.

Even if your vacuum cleaner has served you well for many years, all appliances have an expiration date and aren't meant to last forever. So how do you know for sure that yours is on its last leg?

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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Snake plants are the most versatile in the botanical kingdom, offering advantages like ease of growth and handsome looks, the reason why they are the most sold ones in the garden centres!

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Burrow

Irrigation systems can now be turned on to perform annual audits before spring officially arrives.

Spring is right around the corner, and along with freshly bloomed flowers and warmer temperatures comes an inherent desire to refresh your entire home. We’re talking deep soaks of your tub, finally cleaning your dishwasher drain, and investing in tools that’ll make these mundane tasks much easier.

Gardening is, or at least should be, an ongoing learning process. It can include trial and error (and sometimes failure), but for me, the most exciting part is discovering new plants. When I find an unfamiliar plant, it’s pretty exciting, since I’ve grown nearly everything over the years and not much surprises me.

Different botanical specimens perform best in different propagating scenarios – some grow best from cuttings, while some develop better from seeds. However, there are also houseplants that grow the best from division! Let’s learn about them in detail!

2023 has been a top year for Dahlias The garden was disrupted by an impending downsizing house move but the quantity of flowers was excellent even after some neglect. A second plus was the plants I gave away to friends who seemed to appreciate the performance in pots or direct in the ground.

Do you know about a miracle agent that works better than most of the fertilizers in the market and is also quite cheap? Well, that’s Epsom Salt, and it can significantly improve your houseplant’s health!

Provided is a list of tasks you need to perform in your garden during January. Please understand your gardening zone which is identified in the menu above. Look for Hardiness Zones.

Witch hazels (Hamamelis) are one of winter’s most distinctive shrubs, their quirky, spidery blooms making them instantly recognisable even before you’ve breathed in their scent. At their peak, these are shrubs that make a lasting impression.

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When you’re working on DIY projects it can sometimes be useful to have a tool that can do more than one job. Cutting, sanding, polishing, and scraping, the best multi-tool can perform all these tasks, so to find the outstanding tools in this field we reviewed two different types of multi-tools. Oscillating multi-tools that move a blade or sanding head back and forth, and rotary multi-tools that spin cutting discs or polishing mops around at high speeds.

As the calendar turns to January, garden enthusiasts eagerly embrace the fresh start that the new year brings to their outdoor spaces. The garden calendar for January sets the tone for the months ahead, encouraging both novice and seasoned gardeners to embark on a journey of renewal and growth. In the midst of winter, the garden becomes a canvas for planning, preparing, and envisioning the lush beauty that will unfold in the coming seasons.

While a light hand is apropos for many pruning jobs, sometimes a judicious but heavy hand is needed. Rejuvenation pruning is a heavy-handed but efficient method to bring overlooked, overgrown, and mismanaged shrubs back to their full potential. It is performed by removing every branch at or a few inches above ground level with a sturdy hand saw, loppers, or even a small chainsaw. For many shrubs in Mid-Atlantic gardens, winter is the perfect time to perform rejuvenation pruning. This is because in our zonal range, most woody plants are dormant and therefore exposed cuts are less likely to become pathways for pests and diseases (which are also dormant). And, when spring weather finally arrives, the shrubs will be perfectly poised  to push new, healthy growth.   

Enter our day 7 prize draw for your chance to win ‘his and hers’ Buckingham wellington boots worth £109.98 from Harbour Lifestyle.

Learning How to Grow a Big Venus Fly Trap Plant is an art – from selecting the right soil mix to understanding its unique feeding requirements, we’ll tell you everything to make this carnivorous plant a living giant!

There are lots of ways you can flex your DIY muscles around your home. But while painting furniture, building a kitchen backsplash, or grouting tile can be tackled on your own, there are some home projects that are better left to the professionals due to their complexity—and because of safety concerns.

Did you know that your garden can be too tidy? It’s hard work to keep everything neatly trimmed and clear of natural debris – and it can also do more harm than good.

When we talk about Succulents That Don’t Need Sunlight, it doesn’t mean that these plants can survive in complete darkness. It implies that these do well in less light than other succulents that need constant bright sun to thrive. This attribute makes them a star addition indoors to places with indirect light all day.

With 2023 drawing to a close, interior designers and design enthusiasts alike are already looking ahead to the New Year and the trends that are expected to be big. From trending colors to lighting trends, living room trends, bathroom trends, and more, design experts are excitedly preparing for what 2024 will bring.

As 2023 draws to a close, you might already have resolved to refresh the look of your home. If that means a new furniture purchase is on the horizon, you might be wondering what trends are waiting—or will be continuing—in 2024.

Kristin Chenoweth is no stranger to spreading joy. The multi-hyphenate singer, actress, and Tony-award-winning Broadway performer has been entertaining crowds for decades, traveling around the country and around the world to do so, often during the holiday season.

It’s no secret that getting outside is good for you. A little sunshine, fresh air, and outdoor exercise can banish stress and encourage an elevated mood. Even if you’re not interested in taking long hikes or playing touch football, gardening is an excellent way to harvest the benefits of the outdoors.

Moving Day is stressful on everyone, including your houseplants! And if you’re like us, you’re probably emotionally attached to many of them. Maybe you received them for a special occasion, or your Gram gave it to you years ago. Or perhaps you nurtured a plant from a single cutting, and now it’s a huge, lush specimen. But in order to survive a move successfully, your plants are going to need a little TLC. “Obviously, in nature, plants aren’t moving around, so any change is stressful,” says Justin Hancock, horticulturalist with Costa Farms. “But you can take a few steps to help prepare them for the trip.”

There's a new plant feed range on the block, and it's scientifically designed to help your plants perform better than ever before! Empathy Mycorrhizal Fungi Rootgrow is a new selection of organic plant feed that uses science to help your plants thrive. But what is Mycorrhizal Fungi? And what can it do for your plants that your average feed can't? Let's find out.

Have you ever wondered what it means when a deer crosses your path? It’s not just a random encounter with a cute animal in the woods. In fact, many people believe that seeing a deer is a sign of something. But what does it signify? Is there a hidden meaning behind this meeting? Scroll down to uncover the truth!

A good pair of garden shears can make garden tasks quick and easy to tackle. They’re essential for the proper care of hedges, shrubs, and lawns, helping to keep them in tip-top condition. Unlike secateurs, which are designed for pruning single branches, garden shears can tackle several branches or blades of grass at once. There are a couple of different types –

Indoor air quality plays a vital role in human health and productivity. For good health, you can grow the Most Effective CO2 Absorbing Houseplants Proven by Science to reduce indoor air pollution.

Watering can be an everyday task in summer, but to ensure you use only the water you need, and that it goes just where you want it, a spray gun attached to the end of your hose is an essential piece of kit. With as many as nine different spray patterns, including a shower setting for watering borders, a mist for fragile plants and a jet spray for cleaning or filling buckets, they’re equally at home lightly misting seedlings as they are washing down a path. A hose spray gun can make light work of the most common gardening watering tasks and turn the garden hose into one of the most important tools in your garden.