How to Prune Anise Hyssop Plants

Antiques—not to be confused with vintage items—are a beautiful way to decorate your home with historical charm, but finding real pieces can be a challenge in today's market if you don't know what to look for.

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.

We love the jade plant for its succulent waxy leaves, longevity, and easy-to-grow nature. But the similar-looking dwarf or baby jade gives it stiff competition! Let’s explore this jade plant lookalike that is just as easy to grow and see which one is perfect for you!

Kaleidoscope Ginnel Garden by Petrus, RHS Tatton Flower Show 2024

How to Grow and Care for Fothergilla Fothergilla spp.

Pruning fruit trees encourages a good size and shape, keeps the tree productive and helps remove dead and damaged wood. Many fruit trees, such as apples and pears, are pruned in winter, but plum trees can be susceptible to silver leaf disease if pruned at this time. Plum trees are therefore best pruned in spring or summer.

19 of the Best Companion Plants to Grow with Lavender

In January I visited the world’s largest horticultural show in Essen, Germany, and came away with some great take-aways, but I was especially impressed with the significant trend of pruning, training and grafting certain plants into new and unusual forms.

Image: Hampton Court Flower Festival. Credit: RHS

This year Chelsea Flower Show was full of interesting trees and shrubs with lots of dreamy woodland-edge planting in dappled light underneath leafy canopies. Native trees such as hawthorns, hazels and silver birch were the favoured choices in many of the show gardens, with a mixture of native and non-native ornamental plants selected for resilience and sustainability. In Ula Maria’s Forest Bathing Garden, white foxgloves, cow parsley and other umbellifers like Baltic parsley (Cenolophium denudatum) and valerian (Valeriana officinalis) were mixed with the simple shade-loving grass Melica altissima ‘Alba’ while Tom Stuart-Smith showcased intricate tapestries of interesting foliage in different shapes and textures. In other gardens, orange was a popular colour in many shades, from deep rusty orange irises to pale orange geums, especially in Ann Marie-Powell’s exuberant Octavia Hill Garden. As always, the Grand Pavilion is the ideal place to discover new and interesting plants showcased by some of the country’s leading nurseries.

A rose garden used to mean a garden planted only with roses.

Heads up: It’s probably time to revisit your junk drawer. Not to grab your go-to tube of lip balm or a piece of gum, but to finally organize it.