Monkton Elm News, Events and Tips Blog

A bigger Californian Lilac giving year round structure and leaf colour as well as a rich display of spring flowers.  

With spring rapidly approaching it's time to think about some wonderful colour for your garden for the months ahead. For February we have chosen three traditional favourites. 

Indoor Cyclamen persicum.

The Princess series of Alstroemeria offers stunning long lasting flowers in many different colours but on a dwarf plant.  This makes it ideal for the patio in a pot, or at the front of the flower border.  It requires no staking, only reaching around 20 cm in height.  Grow in a sheltered site, in either full sun or partial shade, in free draining soil.

A short lived perennial Wallflower, ‘Bowles Mauve’ flowers almost continually from late winter to early autumn, producing highly scented, mauve flowers above narrow, grey-green leaves. Plant in any poor to moderately fertile non-acid soil, in full sun. Take cutting regularly for a supply of young plants.

Alliums (Ornamental Onions) are grown for their showy flower heads, which are mainly found in shades of purple, lilacs and soft white. This early summer flowerer ranges in height from 15cm to 1.8m, the taller varieties being perfect for the herbaceous border. Alliums prefer a sunny, open well drained site, and perform well when planted at a depth of 4 times the diameter of the bulb. Try Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ or Allium ‘Globemaster’ for tall, showy blooms.

This diminutive Winter Windflower flowers in early spring, gradually self seeding to carpet large areas with its small daisy shaped flowers, lending an informal air.  It looks wonderful in many situations, from woodland planting, to rockeries, or surrounding other spring flowering plants.  Grow in well drained, humus rich soil, in sun or shade.  Available in Blue, Pink and White.

Cultivated Primroses offer such a vast array of colours they give instant impact in the spring garden.

Want to learn more about summer flowering bulbs? We’re inviting you to hear from Taylors Bulbs expert Duncan Witt during our next Gardeners’ Group on Tuesday 3rd March from 11am. Duncan will be giving his expert advice to everyone who comes along. He will be able to talk to you about summer flowering bulbs and advise you on the best ones to plant in your gardens and which varieties work well together. The talk will last for approximately 45 minutes. The first 50 people to attend the talk will be offered the chance to take home a gift.

During February your garden could need protecting from all sorts of weather conditions from frosts to heavy rain and wind but there should be a few days when you’ll be able to get out and get some tasks completed. Here are our top tips for this month…

This charming ornamental Cherry delights with clusters of semi-double blush pink flowers, illuminating any mild winter’s day. Flowering from late autumn to early spring on bare branches, its leaves turn yellow in autumn before falling.

If you want to find out what you should be doing in your garden this month (February, 2015) then come and visit us for free expert advice, during our Gardeners' Group.

You can get some handy grow your own advice during our seed and spud spectacular weekend on  Saturday 21st February and Sunday 22nd February during normal garden centre opening hours.

It’s always nice to have a variety of plants indoors over winter to brighten up your surroundings, but they need to be properly cared for in order to survive.

Would you like to find out how to add more colour to your garden this winter? Andrew Pitman our Store Manager will be hosting a free talk on the topic during our monthly Gardeners’ Group on November 4th.

Our choice plant of the month for November is the beautiful indoor Cyclamen persicum.

The nights are certainly drawing in and it’s getting darker much earlier these days. Plant expert, Andrew, gives us the latest from the plantaria and some advice for autumn gardening…

We’re backing the Horticultural Trades Association’s (HTA) annual ‘Plan it, Plant it this Autumn’ campaign again this year.

September is a key time to carry out annual maintenance on your lawn. Our sundries buyer, Sara Wildman, gives us her top tips on how to get ahead for 2015…

August can be a month to kick back and relax but if you want to get ahead for the new season then there are plenty of tasks that you could be doing. Here are a few tips from our horticultural experts.