If you are starting out in gardening it is easy to be tempted to buy glorious plants when they are looking their best at the garden centre or nursery. It’s a fantastic marketing ploy to make wonderful displays of seasonal plants.
Just take a look in other people’s trolleys to see how successful it is.
Of course if you visit your garden centre or nursery every month (and you should) and you buy just one plant in season each time, your garden will gradually acquire year round interest. BUT you need to make sure you are choosing plants that will thrive in your garden and in your soil, if in doubt ask the plant sales staff for advice.
A new plant is a fantastic investment. For the price of a bottle of wine you get something that provided you give it the care it needs to establish, will perform in your garden for years on end. It might be a herbaceous perennial that will clump up into a wonderful cushion of garden colour or a tree or shrub that will grow into a specimen and adorn your garden for the next two decades. Don’t forget each plant also offers you the potential for cuttings and divisions to further fill your garden or to give to gardening friends.
My plant of the month is the red stemmed dogwood, Cornus sibirica ‘Alba. It has stunning autumn foliage and the most glorious red stems that glow in the winter light and my resident robin likes to hop around in its branches!
December 4th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Your blog is so informative. keep up the good work!!