Category: Blog

Winter Flowering Plants

It is often tempting to think that nothing flowers in the winter and that all in the garden is quiet and dead, however there are some plants that flower in the winter true they are not the big show off type blooms that grace our gardens in the spring and summer but still worthwhile.

There has always been a certain amount of bedding plants that will give a bright splash of colour and even a few foliage plants that add a certain amount of charm in the colour department. These are all well and good but tend to look a little false and maybe a touch garish.

Some of the winter flowering shrubs seem to be more elegant altogether more pleasing in their form, the colours are more calm and somehow more welcome during those bleak mid winter days.

I can think of few sights as pleasing as the graceful yellow flower that are produced by Mahonia Charity

This wonderful shrub will keep its flowers in the most harsh conditions.

Along with the Mahonia is the Skimmia with its rich dark green leaves and clusters of white flowers or berries it is truly a winter star. Neat and compact and easy to grow this shrub will brighten even the darkest winter day.

Why not have a winter flowering hedge for this you can employ Viburnum Tinus and be rewarded with a multitude of white flowers, on their own the flowers are small but they burn in clusters and look fantastic.

If it is a tree that you are after then the winter flowering cherry is a must, just like the other flowering cherries it will delight with its cheerful pink/white flowers. As this tree grows the coverage of flowers will become more.

Winter is not a dead period, with a little thought you can also use the photina as a foliage plant to give even more colour to your garden. Go for a walk to your local park and you will find a roit of colour and texture that shows its true value while winter does its worst.

For many years Bonsai plants have been cultivated by Japanese and Chinese people to bring harmony and nature to the home. Recently this trend started in the western part of the world and it is very popular in Europe.

Tips to care Bonsai Plants:

Bonsai plants need humidity and when it has been planted inside the atmosphere is often too dry. To create an ideal condition, mist the foliage daily and keep the tree standing on a humidity tray. the tray should be filled with gravel which is kept moist, the bonsai pot should not be standing on water. Do not keep the bonsai plant near any heat producing source as it will just make it dry.

Check the bonsai plant daily and water it, as soon as the soil starts to become dry.

Fertilize the plants every 7-10 days during the growing period (April to October), do not feed a tree in flower. If you have re-potted the bonsai plant wait for 4-5 weeks before adding fertilizers.

Maintaining the bonsai plant can be carried out in two ways:

Leaf-Pruning: Use bonsai pruning scissors or leaf.

Bamboo is one of our most popular ranges. Although not indigenous to the UK, it is a truly cherished plant all over the world. Originating in tropical and cold, mountainous regions; bamboo is highly prized as a malleable and flexible material. It is used in scaffolding, musical instruments, paper manufacture, as a building frame for houses and even serves a culinary use in Asia.

Care

Although bamboo is a hardy, resilient and low maintenance grass, by following these simple steps you can ensure that it flourishes and grows to impressive heights.

Water twice a week at first, and twice a week after

Add a bit of mulch into the soil to stabilise the soil temperature

Fertilise using a high nitrogen fertiliser in the spring and summer, a low one in the autumn and none at all in the winter

If you notice the leaves are curling up, water immediately

Varieties

There is a variety of bamboo to suit everyones palate, from the short dwarf bamboo to the broadleaf and longleaf. There is also a wide variety of colours among bamboo plants, with different shades of green, purple hues and the black stem of the Black Bamboo.

Neglectful Gardener?

Requiring minimal care and possessing one of the fastest growth factors of any plant in the world, bamboo is a safe option for the unadventurous gardener. Take a look at our range here.??

Garden Plants Online are now able to offer a full range of irrigation solutions that are able to

cater for the small patio garden to the larger mature garden. All the equipment that we have listed

in the Irrigation section is designed to be simple to use and effective in its use. Garden Plants Online are able to draw on extensive knowledge of irrigation and also of the Claber brand this in turn.

enables us to fully understand your needs. To offer the complete service and peace of mind we

are able to determine the correct amount of fittings and equipment you need for your project

all we need to know is the area or length and width of the boarders you wish to irrigate. To plan

your project with the least amount of trouble please contact us.

The basic fact is that plants in the garden are a creative landscape and due to the fact that new

plants often get added, plants need to get established and a steady supply of water delivered to the

base and root zone of the plant is the best method to ensure healthy and even growth .

Drip Irrigation offers an effective and cost efficient water delivery method to ensure that not one

drop of water is wasted. If you consider that only 1% of the worlds’ water is usable for everyday use

then it becomes even more clear that we must use this resource in an effective way.

Water companies are now seeing that drip irrigation is so much more effective than the traditional

point and spurt of the hose pipe and indeed are starting to remove timed drip irrigation from hose

pipe bans.

The other major saving will be noted in the lower cost of your water bills.

Effective but basic

The most basic yet effective product we supply is known as seep hose. This is a porous hose that

is simple to connect and can lay on top of the soil or be laid in a trench when planting a hedge for

example. Seep hose comes in 15m and 25m lengths . Easy to use and cost effective, for even more

control you can add a Claber water timer.

Cypress Tree: Bring the Oldest Living Tree to your Garden

The elegant cypress tree dates back thousands of years, and is known to be one of the oldest living trees on earth! There are around 24 varieties of the evergreen Cypress, such as the Italian Cypress or Mediterranean Cypress, Monterey cypress goldcrest, Blue Arizona cypress and Castlewelland Gold cypress, to name a few. Whether they take the form of shrubs or trees, they are majestic, hardy and require little maintenance.

Here are a couple of celebrity cypress trees that have fascinated the world for hundreds of years!

• Arbol del Tule – This towering Tree of Life stands with its head held high, in the town centre of Santa Maria del Tule in Mexico. Its trunk is the stoutest in the world, and the tree itself is believed to be around 1400 years old!

• The Lone Cypress One of the most famous trees in the world, this particular Monterey Cypress in California needs no introduction! In comparison with the Arbol del Tule, this tree is a youngster, barely 250 years old but is perhaps one of the most photographed trees!

   

Cupressus symbolizes longevity! So if you want to bring this gorgeous plant or tree into your garden, do check out our range of cypress trees and place your order hassle-free online.

Jobs to do in the Summer Garden

After the busy spring period and all the buying of new plants the time has now arrived when we can fully expect not to get any frost and we can look forward to our more tender colourful plants to delight us with a pallet of colour.

However it is a rare thing to see a gardener resting on his or her fork more likely they are still going to be titivating this and dead heading the other.

At this time of the year it is vital that you keep everything well watered and pay great attention to plants that are in tubs as tubs tend to dry out faster than boarders this is also true with your hanging baskets, when you water try to do this first thing in the morning or last thing in the late afternoon. You could even consider installing a simple drip kit on a timer.

Your summer bedding should really be starting to come into its own now but you will get much from these plants if you carry out regular dead heading and they will just keep flowering until the first frosts.

It will also be noticeable that if you have any rose bushes they will be starting to bud and would have put on a lot of new growth, use a general fertilizer like grow more and you will be rewarded with larger blooms and again keep them well watered. Keep an eye out for any aphids and take the necessary action to stop their spread.

Growing your own fruit and veg is very popular and is a great way to get the children interested in where food comes from and although you should have a lot of your main veg growing strongly now it is not late to sow things like Radish, spring onion, lettuce. Tomatoes are always great for kids to grow because they fruit a lot and are easy, why not try the cherry types but do not leave it any later than the last week of May to plant them.

Keep an eye on runner beans and make sure they are growing up the poles and again keep them well watered and it is also important to keep growing areas weed free. It is very possible to grow veg all year round.

The lawn, often overlooked but it is apart from you the hardest working part of your garden, you have a choice with a lawn you can spend a load of money on it or you can save money by hard work and end up with the same result.

Other things like hedges will be putting on lots of growth do not worry about cutting them back and keeping them neat, however if it is your neighbours hedge by law you must give the clippings back however I have never heard of a case of some demanding their hedge clippings bits.

Enjoy your summer!

Summer is the time of year when most gardeners start to see the fruits of their labour come to life. As a landscape gardener it is essential to keep the garden trees, lawn, pond and any other garden features in clean neat and tidy order.

Gardening to me is one of the most rewarding jobs to be in, watching your garden grow trimming pruning and weeding as necessary. I always start by mowing the lawn as this makes a huge difference to the overall look of the garden. By now most Garden Plants will have either flowered, started to flower or start to bear fruit.

Although the plants and fruits may not be ripe yet, you will start to see growth spurts and you can begin to nurture your plants and flowers spraying pesticides, pruning and using any other means to deter rodents and insects from eating through your lovely garden. If you have a pond in your garden, summer would be a great time to clean it, as taking care of the pond is not as daunting as it looks.

Keep the water relatively clear and clean out some of the vegetation that has built up. Avoid using chemicals to get rid of any weeds as using chemicals can harm the creatures and insects that live alongside your fish.

Luxform Uplighting

Up lighting in terms of the outdoor room that we call the garden is a very powerful effect that allows an object to be shown in striking contrast during the hours of darkness.

In general statues and trees are often the objects of up lighting and the choice of mood that you can create is enhanced by the strength and colour of the bulb that is employed. It must be noted at this point that halogen bulbs are best suited to this role and although most lights come with white bulbs a trip to your local diy store will enable a full choice of colour halogen bulbs.

When first starting out on an up lighting task it is incumbent to take in account the mood you wish to convey, mellow and cool will require a blue tint while stark and standout will warrant a harsh bright white yet mellow and warm will need a soft peach white. All of this makes a vast difference to how one will feel while in the garden after night fall.

Certain plants look fantastic given the up lighting treatment and in terms that a general if the plant is architectural then with care it is going to look great.

It is also to be noted that water can be up lighted with lighting units placed under the water or very close to the water.

In short up lighting is something that will give your garden an added boost and almost make it feel like a new experience during hours of darkness.

Top 5 top summer activities with your child

Its the time of the year that a lot of parents dread 😉 Come July and most schools would close for a long summer holiday!

Are you looking for top 5 fun and interesting activities to do with your child? Do you need ideas that will not burn a hole in your pocket? Heres our list!

1. Bring on the green thumb

Believe it or not, a lot of children actually love plants and gardening. Not all of us can afford the luxury of a full-fledged garden. However, growing a little potted plant is a really easy way of encouraging your children to get a little closer to nature. Get your children to grow some really easy plants like tomato or bamboo, or pretty flowering shrubs like a rose bush, and make sure the job of watering for and caring for the plants is their responsibility. Check out our range of indoor Garden Plants for sale online, and get started right away.

2. Transform a corner of your home into a picnic spot

Planning a picnic need not be a very daunting task! Picnic rugs, well-stocked baskets, cool lemonade you could arrange all of these in a jiffy and have a picnic in your very own garden! Call a few friends over if you like, and let the children have a ball in your garden shed or summer house (if you have one). Do not worry if you don’t have an outbuilding simple convert a corner of your home into a pretend garden with a few bits and bobs like potted plants, green rugs, colourful plastic plates and glasses and easily available garden furniture.

3. A very messy Picasso or Van Gogh

Does your child love mess? Simply buy a huge pad of white sheets and a box of paint for under 5 and give them a collection of tooth brushes, paint brushes, twigs and leaves!! You never know – your child might just become the new Picasso or Van Gogh! And if not, then he/she could just remember this as a really fun-filled summer holiday. P.S: Make sure you spread a huge plastic sheet beneath so you don’t have a hard time cleaning-up!

4. Non-conventional construction ideas

Having to assemble tractors and houses all the time could be boring! Why not inject a little fun into this activity by setting a REAL-LIFE model that they can either copy or use their creative genius and improvise upon? Consider this exotic hot-tub cabin for instance. Get the children to make a unique hot-tub enclosure or an imaginative dragon-shaped boat and watch them unleash their creativity!!

5. Not just Cooking, but meal-planning

Children are smarter than we think they are. While a lot of parents already involve their children in cooking (baking simple cakes, making a sandwich, etc) not many talk about meal-planning. Introduce your children to the concept of vitamins and nutrients and 5-a-day, and assign them the task of planning a balanced meal. Teach them young and your little chefs will benefit from this knowledge forever!

Follow these simple ideas to have fun in easy and inexpensive ways. To get started, check out our huge range of indoor plants for sale!