Blooming ...

Good Morning!

Following on from Tuesday's post I have some more photo's of how things are doing. The front border is coming along nicely, the Antirrhinum's are flowering and the Dahlia's are doing well too.

The Cosmos in one the tubs are flowering nicely.

The Hanging Baskets are slowly filling out and starting to flower. I have added Geranium's to the centre which will add some height once they too flower.

I know I have said it before but I just love how clean and fresh the blooms of this Surfinia are.

Mrs Popple has finally started opening up it's many flower heads.

The Dianthus 'Alan Titchmarsh' has had buds for weeks and one of them has slowly started unfurling. I love the little splash of lime & pink they have in the centre!

The Perennial Viola is still doing well.

And finally here's a look at two of the Sweet Pea's that are becoming my favourite's for their colouring.

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

A Few Changes ...

Good Morning!

Today's post is a little update on how things are looking and have changed around the garden. As you remember we saw our first Sweet Pea of 2014 last week and this week we were greeted by another in this beautiful painted petal design!

The Hanging Baskets that I planted up a few weeks ago are filling out and were hung out last week. Some are further on than others and here's a look at three of them.

I only bought one of these Surfinia 'Melissa' but I took cuttings from it and used the plants they produced in two other baskets. I also took another cutting this week which I am planning on using in a pot, I love the fresh pale green of the petals.

I sowed some Diascia seeds which were free with a magazine a month or so ago and after finding this teeny pot when sorting through my pots yesterday I planted it up with one of the seedlings.

The Orange Tree has come out of the conservatory for the Summer and has taken up residence is the most sheltered part on my patio I could find alongside another wigwam of Sweet Pea's.

The pot's of shrubs on the patio steps are coming along nicely and provide some all year round interest.

The 'Tickled Pink' Apple Tree has some baby apples emerging.

Finally I gave the shady spot between our conservatory and next doors a bit of a re-jig. There's an annoying gap between the fence and window that you can't really do anything with,  I blocked it off with some staging on an angle, filled it with some pots and then placed my Acer and Azalea in-front of it along with some more planted pots of bedding.

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Hanging Baskets ...

Good Morning!

Today's post is all about Hanging Baskets! Now it is a bit early to be putting Hanging Baskets out just yet, there's still a risk of frost so it is best not to put them out or any bedding plants until the end of May / first week of June. 

However now is the perfect time to get your Summer Hanging Baskets planted up! By keeping them undercover in your GH for the next couple of weeks it gives them a chance to fill out and become more established before being planted out. Resulting in them looking even better when they are on show!

First off I still have my Spring Baskets out so I collected some extras for planting up, it's always good to have some spares ;) Before filling make sure your baskets are free from any old plant waste and have drainage holes. You may need to stab a few holes through the liner yourself so it's always good to give them a good check.

It is always a good idea to add some slow release plant food to your baskets. There are a variety of different brands and types out there but this year I have decided to try 'Incredibloom' by Thompson&Morgan.

With my baskets I always like to add 3 basket plants which fill it up nicely. It may not look like it when you first plant them up but they do fill out. 

You can also add some 'filler' plants which are bedding plants perfect for going in between the larger plants, such as Lobelia which I have used here. In this basket you can see a Petunia, Nepeta and Calibrachoa. I repeated each basket design twice so that I would always have a corresponding design.

I also decided to keep some of my baskets without a bedding filler and all the one variety but different colours. For example this basket includes Petunias, one of which is 'Lime Green' and the two others are 'Black Cherry'.

In this basket I have included a Fuschia 'Trudi Davro', Petunia 'Black Cherry' and Bacopa 'Blue'.

This basket is smaller than the others so has a single Surfinia 'Melissa' inside.

Lastly I planted up one of my Summer Containers with Helychrysum 'Gold', Calibrachoa 'Fuschia' and Petunia 'Sunshine'. There is also another Lobelia in this design which is hiding around the back!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope I have helped give you all some ideas!

HAPPY GROWING!
XXX

Cuttings ...

Good Morning!

Today's post is all about a money saving way of creating your own plants for free! This is done simply by taking cuttings from your own plants. When doing this you want to make sure that you pick a healthy part that DOESN'T have a flowering bud on it as you want to make sure that all it's energy goes into producing some roots!

TIP - Take cuttings in the morning before it gets too hot so that it doesn't give the cutting chance to dry out. It is also when the plant is holding the most mositure. 

Today's particular cuttings are from some Fuschia plants!

Once you have chosen a part of the plant you are happy with cut with a clean pair of Secateurs directly beneath a leaf node.

Strip the plant of it's leaves apart from the ones at the top. As mentioned before we need to make sure each cutting keeps all the energy it can.

Push your cuttings down the edge of a plant pot that has been filled with a mixture of compost and vermiculite. You can dip the cutting into some rooting powder before placing in the pot however Fuschias usually do just as well without it.

Don't forget to label what they are as no matter how much you think you will remember what is what, you won't lol

I also took some cuttings of a Surfinia (a trailing basket plant).

So why not give it a go? What's the worse that can happen? If it fails it hasn't cost you anything and if it doesn't, you have some more plants!
If you take some cuttings right now they should be ready for the Summertime.

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX