The Four Ps of Spring
June 25, 2024 11:48 amRead in Afrikaans There are four annuals with pretty petals and names starting with the letter ‘P’, we often refer…
Freddie’s Flowering Favourites – Petunias & Calibrachoas
May 31, 2023 11:05 amHanging basket tips: It’s time to plant lots of glorious colour and there is no better than petunias and calibrachoas…
Flanders Poppy
July 27, 2022 10:00 amPapaver rhoeas The Flanders poppy is a flower that symbolises lives lost in conflict which is remembered and celebrated annually…
A Cut-Flower Garden For Beginners
July 15, 2022 1:56 pmGrowing flowers for the vase is something you can do yourself with a little planning and know-how. It is such…
3 Colourful Fillers
June 21, 2022 11:15 amEvery garden always has gaps – bits of bare soil between plants that can be filled with pretty annuals. So,…
Dazzle with begonias
November 22, 2021 11:05 amIf you really want to know how to make a splash with begonias, visit parks and gardens in summer and…
Cinerarias – Nothing Short of Spectacular
June 10, 2021 1:43 pmThere are not many annuals that bloom through cold weather, and that bloom better the colder it gets. Cinerarias (Senecio…
Autumn in Bloom – Autumn Flowering
June 3, 2021 11:57 amAutumn is often called the second spring because there are so many garden flowers in bloom at this time. Not…
How to sow primulas or garden fairies
May 18, 2021 2:26 pmThis year if you plant only one annual that flowers in late winter and spring, make it a colour cloud…
Pink Summer Flowers
January 28, 2021 10:54 amSummer gardens are potentially the brightest and showiest of all the seasons. Plant growth is rapid and the results are…
Violas
August 7, 2020 12:43 pmViolas are irresistible. They are petite, fragrant, flowers without any fuss and come in every colour of the rainbow. What…
Dianthus
April 2, 2020 2:47 pmDianthus needs to be added to the list of garden toughies that are water-wise, don’t mind neglect and outlast most…
Beacon Impatiens
August 26, 2019 2:00 pmWelcome back summer’s best-loved flowers for shade. The fast-filling bedding Impatiens Walleriana, which all but vanished from summer shade gardens,…
Pansies To Brighten Your Garden
June 12, 2019 9:03 amPansies are the easiest way to add colour to the winter and spring garden! Nothing matches their charm, or the…
6 Flowers to Plant Now For a Spectacular Spring
February 18, 2019 8:00 amRead in Afrikaans Many of the most important spring flowers need to be planted out as young seedlings in autumn.…
Beat the heat
January 15, 2019 11:55 amHelp your Roses to Keep their Cool • Hot nights bother the roses more than the heat during the day.…
Exuberant sun lovers
February 19, 2018 2:07 pmWe picked a large pot and filled it with some exuberant sun lovers to lead you joyfully through the quiet…
Potted Spring
February 16, 2018 11:05 amTo celebrate spring and inspire you to play with colour, Tanya and I spent a happy, flower-filled afternoon in her…
A cheery winter trio
February 16, 2018 10:36 amColourful winter annuals and perennials are not scarce at this time of the year. We went shopping and found lots…
Boxed-in Summer
February 8, 2018 2:45 pmIt’s high summer and the nurseries are filled to the brim with pots and punnets of annuals and perennials in…
Senecio elegans
January 11, 2018 1:02 pmWild Cineraria Senecio is a member of the Asteraceae (daisy) family, which is the second largest family of flowering plants…
Malcolmia maritima
January 8, 2018 11:06 amVirginia Stock, French Forget-me-Not As gardeners, we are always in search of fragrance so it’s a mystery why the sweetly-scented Virginian…
Lobelia
January 8, 2018 8:32 amThere are very few flowers that can match the true blue of Lobelia. For connoisseurs of blue there’s even a…
Geranium incanum
December 20, 2017 8:32 amCarpet Geraniums True Geraniums or Crane’s Bills – from the Greek word geranos, a crane, owing to its fruit which…
Arctotis Acaulis and Stoechadifolia
December 15, 2017 9:10 amAfrican Daisy, Gousblom, Silver Arctotis, Kusgousblom Arctotis is a fairly large genus of about sixty species within the daisy family…
Antirrhinum Majus
December 13, 2017 3:04 pmThe ‘Snapdragon’ For gardeners wanting an easy growing winter annual it is worth re-stating all the good qualities of Antirrhinum…
Cinerarias by any other name
April 19, 2016 11:55 pmThis beautiful flowering plant with daisy flowers in a spectacular range of bright colours is still affectionately called cinerarias by…
Silybum marianum
January 14, 2016 12:25 pmMilk Thistle The spectacular Milk Thistle is huge, eye-catching and drought tolerant! Its massive rosette of white-marbled, seriously prickly, deeply…
Senecio cineraria ‘Silver Dust’
January 14, 2016 12:11 pmDusty Miller Senecio Cineraria ‘Silver Dust’ (Dusty Miller) is a low-growing sub-shrub that is often treated as an annual. It…
Lobularia maritima
August 17, 2015 11:39 amSweet Alyssum Lobularia maritima is a delicate, fine-textured plant with masses of white blooms set against variegated foliage. It is…
Dazzling dahlias
April 23, 2015 6:58 amIsn’t it strange how some flowers just go out of fashion, for no good reason? That’s been the fate of…
Cosmos bipinnatus
March 27, 2015 10:47 amGarden Cosmos or Mexican Aster From March through into April and always around the Easter holidays, fields of self-sown Cosmos spring…
Container Plants that Beat the Heat
March 27, 2015 9:58 amThere are a number of tough waterwise characters that thrive in containers and love being out in the midday sun.…
Alstroemeria
August 14, 2014 12:01 pmInca or Peruvian Lily As its common name implies, the Alstroemeria, or Inca Lily, originates from South America. Alstroemeria is…
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