Saturday May 19 2012
Gardening Archive
TheVillage Gardening
Year-round colour for your garden
Posted on March 15 2009 at 6:01:42 0 comments
Do you look at other people’s gardens with envy and wonder how they manage to make them look so full of colour and interest all year round?
By selecting a few carefully chosen plants you too could have a garden that’s the envy of your friends. Many people only ever visit their local garden centre in spring or autumn, so they never see the range of colourful plants on offer every month of the year.
Take a trip to a good garden centre once a month and you will see a host of plants with topical interest every time. Buying just a couple of plants on each visit, you will soon build up a fantastic selection to brighten your garden all year.
When confronted by a display of plants, how do you know which to choose? A key point is that biggest isn’t always best – look for well-shaped plants with plenty of strong growth. The surface of the soil should look fresh, not covered with weeds or moss. The plant itself should look healthy, with well-coloured foliage.
Avoid plants that have a misshapen pot or look dull, as this could indicate that the plant is very pot-bound and suffering from starvation. A plant with a very faded label might indicate that it has been waiting to be sold for a long time – not always a bad thing, as a good garden centre should be looking after its plants well.
Never be afraid to ask for advice. A good garden centre will always have knowledgeable, friendly staff available to offer help to both novice and experienced gardeners. If there’s one thing gardeners like more than anything it’s chatting about their gardens and sharing knowledge. Even old hands say they are always learning when it comes to plants and they are more than happy to share their knowledge and experience.
If you like the look of a plant you see, be bold! Don’t be put off if you think it looks difficult or delicate. Just ask for tips on the best planting position and how to look after it. Think about how it’s going to look in relation to your other plants. Sometimes a group of the same plants can make a really big impact, while others look better grown as a single specimen feature.
Don’t forget to fill in gaps with smaller plants and bulbs which will all add seasonal interest to your garden. Plants grown in pots and other containers will also give a lovely touch of colour and can be positioned anywhere in the garden for maximum impact.
So go on – visit your local garden centre more often and create a garden that will be the envy of your friends and neighbours all year round.
* Nicci Gow is a born horticulturalist, daughter of a Worcestershire nurseryman and involved in growing and selling plants all her life – she now runs Fresh @ Burcot Garden Centre with husband Neil and their team of experienced gardeners and plant lovers.
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