Penstemons are grown for multiple reasons, the most common being their ability to attract bees and butterflies into your garden and the long flowering season they have. Some varieties will flower in early summer and flower well into the autumn. If you want to add a great deal of colour to your border gardens, especially later in the summer when many perennials are beginning to finish flowering, these are a wonderful solution, especially if you…

There is nothing quite like an array of stunning bedding plants to add colour to your garden. You can purchase the summer bedding plants at the end of spring, usually around April or May, but why head to the nursery multiple times when you can grow bedding plants from seed when you can have much more fun growing your own? And the satisfaction you will feel when the time comes that they are in full…

Lobelia seeds might look very small, difficult to sow and handle, but they are actually easy to sow and very easy to germinate. The rewards you get from growing Lobelia from seed are truly worth the effort. Trailing varieties of Lobelia such as ‘Trailing Saphire’ or ‘Trailing mixed’ can be grown in hanging baskets and containers to trail over the sides, whereas bush varieties of Lobelia, such as ‘Crystal Palace’, ‘Cambridge Blue’ and ‘White Lady’…

Osteospermum is a very colourful flowering plant that is perfect for border gardens or patios. These plants are usually planted as summer bedding plants in the UK, although you can get some hardy perennial varieties most people plant the summer bedding varieties. The flowers themselves take on a daisy-like shape and are incredibly colourful with contrasting centres. You can enjoy these blooms from the end of spring all the way through to the first frost…

Laburnum trees are known for their stunning yellow flowers and are also known as the ‘Golden Chain’ plant because of the draped flowers they produce, these look somewhat similar to Wisteria flowers. It’s no wonder that many people want to grow them. The two most popular types are Laburnum (Laburnum anagyroides) and the hybrid Laburnum x watereri ‘Vossii’, with the latter probably being the most popular of the two. The good news is that while…

Asters are perennials that are known for bringing a lot of colourful flowers at the end of the summer and autumn when other flowers might be starting to fade. They take on the appearance of a daisy and because there are so many varieties available, the height of the Aster plant you have can range between 20cm and up to a metre. That being said, you can find Asters that attract bees and butterflies and…

Lillies are a very popular group of plants thanks to their fragrant flowers but at what point should you deadhead those flowers and should you even do it in the first place? Do you have to cut them off or can you leave them? Deadheading Lily plants The process of deadheading is fairly simple. Once you see the flower has faded you can break it off very gently with your hands or you can use…