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John Moore

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I’ve previously talked about ground cover plants in general and some of my favourite recommendations, as well as which ground cover plants I plant in shady positions. In this guide, I want to focus on fast growing ground cover plants and have included shrubs, perennials and even a couple of my favorite alpines. Some of my recommended ground cover plants, including Vinca, also known as Periwinkle, thrive in more shady positions, while others, including Ceanothus…

As a professional gardener and working on my family’s nursery for over 20 years, one of the most common questions I get asked is, ‘Why is my conifer turning brown?’.  After further investigation, it’s nearly always usually caused by one of two reasons: by trimming to hard into brown wood or at wrong time of year. The second reason for browning is the Cypress aphid, but more on this further down. There are a handful…

As a professional gardener with over 20 years of experience, many of my customer’s gardens still offer unique challenges and opportunities presented by shaded gardens. As someone who’s worked on my family’s small nursery, I’ve seen firsthand the impact some of the most versatile climbers can have. I’ve talked a lot about shrubs for shade as well as some of my favourite climbers for north-facing gardens, so in this guide, I am sharing my best…

As a passionate and professional gardener working in my family’s nursery growing shrubs, one plant that nearly everyone falls in love with is dwarf Buddleias. They are much smaller and compact at around 2-3ft, and their smaller flowers make a stunning display of colour. Dwarf buddleias, or ‘butterfly bushes, also attract butterflies and other beneficial pollinators to your garden and are easy to care for with a little pruning and a little love. What I…

After over 20 years of maintaining lawns as a professional gardener, if there is one job I think has the most significant impact on the quality of a lawn, it would have to be scarifying the lawn to remove moss, thatch, weeds and other debris. This is best done in Autumn or early Spring, depending on when I get a chance to do it. Next, I overseed the lawn with quality grass seed using a…

As a professional gardener and nurseryman with over 20 years of hands-on experience, I’ve noticed yellow flowering shrubs have always been a popular request. This is especially true in Spring when shrubs like Forsythia, Mahonia ‘Winter Sun’, and Kerria japonica can appear to be the only shrub flowers along with stunning spring bulbs. With this in mind, in this guide, I thought I would focus on shrubs that bring warmth and brightness to any landscape:…

As a professional gardener who has maintained lawns and gardens for over 20 years and worked at my family’s nursery, one job that has the most impact when maintaining a lawn is scarifying the lawn. It makes such a huge difference to the quality of the lawn, although it can look rough after scarifying for a few weeks. However, you will be rewarded with an amazing lush lawn in a few weeks time. This can…

Over the past two decades of being a professional gardener and working at my family’s small garden centre, I often ask what shrubs I can plant in clay soil. I’ve already talked about what perennials grow well in clay soil, shrubs for sunny spot and what plants are best for clay soil, so in this guide, I wanted to focus on the best shrubs for clay soil. For my customers, as a professional gardener, I…

Over the last 20 years of working in my family garden centre as well as being a professional gardener maintaining customers’ gardens, I’ve looked after hundreds of topiary plants both in the nursery as well as for customers as part of our garden maintenance side of things. I talked about how artificial topiary can be a good option in the past, but you can’t beat the real thing, especially when you’re looking to position two…

In my 20 years as a professional gardener, working in my family’s garden centre and in clients’ gardens, I’ve come to appreciate the value and beauty that evergreen groundcover plants bring to the landscape. I’ve also come to understand their role in sloped gardens where traditional planting isn’t always convenient. I’ve previously discussed fast-growing groundcover plants as well as groundcover plants in general, so in this guide, I wanted to focus on evergreen groundcover plants…