I'm a useless gardener (
) and have no idea which plants you can plant and when, so what are some pretty flowering plants that can be planted mid-late March time?
I always enjoy a trip to the garden centre to look at the flowers and anything else that takes my fancy (a long with a cup of tea), but rarely buy, probably because I know so little about it. So any help would be welcome!
Hi Riana
A big part of my gardening is the trial and error element - don't be scared to buy things or worry about "the right way to do things". Mid-late March is a good time to start planting things, as long as the soil is workable and what you are planting can tolerate late frosts.
Go to any garden centre now and for an easy option there are lots of summer flowering bulbs ready to plant at the moment.
I would recommend that you buy a book to guide you a bit and can thoroughly recommend the Reader's Digest New Encyclopedia of Garden Plants and Flowers (about £11 from Amazon but worth every penny). You can read through and choose things you like - see the conditions that they need and then hunt them out at the garden centre.
Do you want them to flower now, or later? Something that needs to be planted every year (annuals) or something that lasts from year to year (perennials)?
Kingfisher
Thanks for the replies. I think I'd like perennials, but I don't mind when in the year it flowers. South Coast Ranger, I think you're probably right in that I should just give it a go and see what happens!
If you want perennials then the other thing to do is ask around and see if you can have bits from other people's gardens. Also be nosy and look in other gardens and find out what various plants are that you like.
hi there riana,i love gardening and grow lots of annuals every year from seed,so rewarding a tiny seedling growing into lovely plants.sweetpeas are my favourite and are quite easy.you can sow them directly in the ground where you want them to grow,they need support either canes or trellis etc,they keep me going all summer with lovely scented flowers for the house.
If you want perenials its quite good if you can get to anywhere that someone opens their garden to the public,its a good way to get ideas and you often find they sell plants at reasonable prices too.
I like a lot of the old cottage garden favourites like holyhock,foxglove,evening primrose,lupin,teasel etc you find they self seed and come back year after year
i love gardening and grow lots of annuals every year from seed,so rewarding a tiny seedling growing into lovely plants.
So true! It is a wonder of nature that plants and trees grow out of something so small and unremarkable.
There are many plants you can grow that attract wildlife - ones that I find easy and attract wildlife are:
teasles
candula (marigold)
ox eyed daisies
nasturtians - very very easy and grow well on poor soil!
look on
http://www.wigglywigglers.com for more - they are a company dedicated to gardening for wildlife and sell plants, seeds and accessories.
Wilkinsons also sell easy to grow seeds that you can just throw down and they will grow - try wildflower mixture, or cottage garden mixtures...
If you have room for a tree - try hawthorne - it has very pretty and scented blossom early spring and produces berries that birds eat.
I hope this helps!
You could grow ivy up your house wall for the birds to nest in or honeysuckle
The ones that grow in garden centres are usually sterile hybrids that don't produce nectar for butterflies/bees etc. Going for native species is always a good idea.
Lots of weeds are also good for wildlfie and very pretty sometimes.
Ponds are also excellent and make garden pretty - and you get loads of wildlife visitors.
Gardening really is addictive - I had a lawn when I moved into my house, no I have two ponds, lots of hedges, wild flower borders, a wilflower meadow and some trees, bird feeders, bird boxes etc!