Spring Gardening

I always remember standing in my own garden one May morning a few years back, coffee in hand, looking at a potting bench absolutely groaning with tomato plants, sweet peas, dahlia tubers and courgette seedlings, all waiting to go out. The garden felt like it was holding its breath. By the end of that weekend, […]

If there is one piece of advice I give almost every client who comes to me for a garden design consultation, it is this: fill your borders properly. Not half-heartedly with a few lonely shrubs surrounded by a sea of bare earth, but densely, intelligently, and with plants that work brilliantly together. Ground cover plants […]

Quick Answer The fastest growing plants for UK gardens include flowering shrubs such as Buddleja, Lavatera, Forsythia, and Photinia ‘Red Robin’, which can add 60cm to 1.5m per year. For ground cover, Vinca, Ajuga, and Geranium macrorrhizum spread rapidly with minimal effort. Fast-growing small trees including Amelanchier lamarckii, Sorbus aucuparia (Rowan), and Prunus ‘Amanogawa’ deliver […]

Quick Answer Prune most hydrangeas in late winter to early spring, ideally March in the UK, once the worst frosts have passed and you can see fresh buds emerging. Remove spent flower heads, cut back a quarter of the oldest stems to the ground, and trim remaining stems to an outward-facing bud. Climbing hydrangeas are […]

Many of the plants that define the classic English country garden style thrive specifically because of alkaline conditions, meaning that if you live in a very chalky garden, there are plenty of plants to choose from. Trust me, as the garden design expert, having all kinds of soil still lets you have flower beds full […]

From designing hundreds of client gardens across the UK, I can tell you that the gardeners who stop fighting their soil and start choosing plants that genuinely love it are the ones who achieve the most spectacular results. Acid soil is home territory for some of the most beautiful plants in cultivation. In this guide […]

Quick Answer Plant fertilisers supply the three key nutrients plants need: nitrogen (N) for leaf and shoot growth, phosphorus (P) for root development, and potassium (K) for flowers and fruit. Remember the mnemonic shoots, roots and fruits. Organic fertilisers such as compost, seaweed, and chicken manure pellets are always preferable to synthetic alternatives, as they […]

Quick Answer A pleached tree is a tree trained into a flat, formal screen of branches on top of a clear stem, often called a hedge on stilts. Plant them at the width of their frame, usually 1.5m apart, at least 40cm from fences, and brace each one with a stake, a horizontal timber rail […]

Quick Answer A tree ring is a circular metal, plastic, or stone edging that creates a clear, grass-free zone around a tree planted in a lawn. It takes around 30 minutes to install, prevents grass from competing with the tree for water and nutrients, and makes mowing much easier. Choose a ring sized to match […]

The plants on this list are the ones I return to again and again in my own garden designs because they deliver season after season with minimal intervention from you. Besides, once you’ve bossed these specimens, you’ll be relishing more challenging plants in future years and thats where the gardening magic really happens! Quick Answer […]