Plants Ideas, Tips & Guides

Do you remember that garden Bunny Guinness designed at Chelsea Flower Show in 2011? You know, the one with the beautiful hazel-hurdle-raised-beds burgeoning with edibles and ornamentals. Well, if you don’t, it was stunning. I could not stop staring at its honed perfection. But, I thought at the time, ‘this is a Chelsea Garden that can’t be recreated in reality’. So, was I right? Can you combine ornamentals and vegetables without either party being compromised? Can you truly make a space that is at once pretty, productive and practical?

May growing with Rachel

There are many plants that look like mushrooms, but are actually not. We’ve got info on all of these mushroom look-alikes and how you can identify them.

You’ll actually be surprised once you learn about these weeds that look like marigold leaves! Many of them are quite common and might be a nuisance in your garden.

Some veggies are “Best Buddies” and will give you a bountiful harvest if grown together! They complement each other in ways that you would not have thought of. You’ll find out with these vegetable combination ideas for container gardens!

Rooting hormone is a substance used for stimulating root growth in plant cuttings. To find easily available natural substances that serve as alternatives, we’ve compiled a list for you!

Not every home gets its share of sunlight. If you are someone who dreams of having indoor plants in dimly lit rooms – you’re in for a treat!

Brigitta Stewart, the owner of the small mail-order nursery Arrowhead Alpines in Michigan, has a garden full of tiny treasures, many of them very rare—special plants that you don’t see in many gardens.

Putting plants together is the most creative and joyful part of making a garden. With colour, shape and texture, you can conjure up a living work of art, something that not only gives you sensory pleasure but also benefits wildlife and the environment. But with so many options available to us, where do we start? I always think back to the plantswoman Beth Chatto and her mantra ‘right plant, right place’ when conceiving a plan, because there is no point in rushing to place your favourite sun-loving flowers in a shady spot at the back of a north-facing house. ‘Plants, like people, have their preferences and don’t like being thrust into the nearest available hole,’ she observed.

Brazil’s rich floral diversity, with over 55,000 plant species, offers a plethora of options that you can add to your garden and home. Here are some of the most eye-catching Brazilian flowers you can grow!

If you like the warm and spicy scent of cinnamon, then you’d definitely love these plants that carry the same scent either in their foliage (when you crush the leaves) or flowers!

To have the most glorious calathea roseopicta, you need to ensure it gets the proper dose of sunlight, water, and fertilizer. However, the combination of just three won’t cut in and you’ll need a little more than this to make it thrive. What are those? Well, keep reading to find out!

Left: WWD / Getty Images; Right: CARSON DOWNING

After summer's scorching heat, autumn's cooler temps signal it's time to plant spring-blooming bulbs. They may not offer instant gratification, but with minimal effort, fall-planted bulbs will provide vibrant post-winter blooms well worth the wait. 

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How to Create Glorious Garden Color Schemes

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Both Sempervivum and Echeverias are famous as hens and chicks, and when these succulents flower, it can be quite a sight to behold! However, most are not sure what to do when these plants bloom, and this is where this article comes in!

You can add grit and gravel, but at the end of the day, you can’t control the weather, and most of the plants will start rotting if kept in wet soil. Also, a sloppy growing medium or a soil with poor drainage can be a problem for many green specimens, but not for these shrubs that like wet soil!

From online services to big box stores and local nurseries and garden centers, there are tons of different ways you can find and purchase plants to add to your landscape. Often, it’s a matter of finding the balance between convenience and quality. But is one option truly better than all the others? 

Cannabis is a plant made up of over 120 cannabinoids that boast a variety of uses, including a range of potential health benefits and is currently being used across the medical industry in the treatment of patients all over the world.

My name is El, and I have always been surrounded by plants. My original interest in succulents and the fun in propagating them led me to creating my dream indoor garden. Over the years, I began to collect more plant varieties, and I currently have over 250 plants growing year-round indoors. My collection consists of a wide variety of houseplants and succulents. Plants bring me so much joy and excitement, especially when I wake up in the morning and find new growth or a flower beginning to form.

Oenothera (previously known as gaura) are pretty, deciduous perennials that look great in cottage garden-style or informal plantings. Also known as wandflower, oenotheras have a relaxed habit with small, starry flowers in white or pink, appearing from early summer to autumn. They are perfect for filling gaps and can also be grown in containers, in an informal combination with grasses and trailing plants.

People often talk about the ‘May gap’, when spring plants begin to fade and the burgeoning summer growth is yet to appear. Though if, like me, you allow a little room for some wildness, May can be one of the most abundant months, with cow parsley, bluebells, hawthorn blossom, foxgloves and columbine alongside cultivated Solomon’s seal and the first hardy geraniums and delphiniums in your borders. For me, the impact of this is breathtaking: soft, green and zinging.

May is a busy month in the garden, with seeds to sow, young plants to harden off and plant out, and spring shrubs to prune – not to mention leaving enough time to enjoy the warmer, longer days. The risk of frost will be over in most areas by the end of the month, so tender and half-hardy plants such as dahlias, zinnia and cosmos can be planted outside, ready for dazzling summer displays.

How to Water Watermelons

Who doesn’t love a houseplant? They make a house a home in the best way; they bring the outside in and can even improve air quality – not to mention represent the perfect conversation starters for guests who are just starting to sip their tea.

You don’t have to use harmful pesticides to keep wasps away and prevent them from making nests. Just be an intelligent gardener and grow these Wasp Repellent Plants.

Zinnias are easy to care for and bloom fine, but if you want one that’s dense and shines from afar, you’ll need some pro tips and we are here with them all!.

If you’ve ever wondered how to grow peanuts or why the average home gardener would even want to, you’re in the right place—and you’re in for a treat. Peanuts are easy to grow, tasty, and protein-packed. What’s more, they’re not only good for you, but they’re also good for your soil. Much more than a garden novelty, peanuts are practical and prolific. They can be eaten fresh out of the pod, pounded into peanut butter, or otherwise preserved for the long haul. Best of all, individual plants can yield as many as 40 to 50 pods each. In this article you’ll learn all about how to grow peanuts. Meet the peanut Hailing from South America, the peanut (Arachis hypogaea) isn’t technically a nut like pecan

Campanulas are a diverse group of plants, including small, creeping species and towering perennials (meaning they come back each year). All have beautiful, usually blue, flowers, and most are attractive to pollinators.

Wildflowers hold a special allure in the realm of gardening, offering a tapestry of colour and a haven for pollinators. If you're considering adding these enchanting blooms to your outdoor space, understanding the process of sowing wildflowers is key. In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the intricacies of purchasing and sowing wildflowers, ensuring your garden blossoms with nature's beauty.

Derived from the seeds of Azadirachta indica, neem oil can be beneficial in a lot of ways to keep the trees safe from various pests and diseases issues, which can ultimately help it flower and fruit better. 

People are generally not sure what agave is? Most consider it a desert succulent, some take it as a cactus, and others have absolutely no clue about it! Well, let’s take a wrap off this mystery!

Thinning seedlings is the best way to promote better growth and allowing the healthier and fitter ones to survive. Lets learn about this art in detail below!

This week’s Q&A has prompted me to sing the praises of wall shrubs, that group of plants that usefully straddle the common ground between true climbers (plants with lax stems that twist and weave their way upwards, using walls or the branches of other plants as a scaffold) and traditional woody ornamental shrubs.