Monkton Elm News, Events and Tips Blog

Monkton Elm Plant of the Month  Our plant of the month for July, is the Salvia.  With a wide variety to choose from, these spires of flowers can grace any garden! From the larger, more established plants, we have a number of smaller plant pots, with younger plants, making it an excellent value for money purchase! Our newest addition to our range of Salvias is the 'Naomy Tree', a soft pink salvia with larger flowers than most commonly found varieties, the Salvia Naomy is a romantic and subtle bloom that flowers profusely from June to September. Its soft colours and gentle sage scented leaves are ideal for creating a calming colour scheme in the garden to reduce stress.   Plant with soft pastel blues and whites for a gentle and peaceful summer display of colour . Salvias are a great group of plants for attracting pollinators into the garden, bees and butterflies love them! There are many different types of Salvias, some hardy and some not so hardy. Choose from shrub...

Chelsea Flower Show is the pinnacle of the gardening year – for over 100 years it has been inspiring gardeners worldwide. The extensive television coverage it now attracts means that everyone can enjoy a little piece of loveliness. The many glorious show gardens are always outstanding and a common thread amongst them is often the Allium bulb. 

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 common name of Callicarpa is ‘Beauty Berry’ and it’s not difficult to see why – clusters of almost metallic violet-purple berries like shiny beads are born on its branches just as the leaves begin to fall, and persist ‘Profusion’ is an improvement on the species as it is reliably self fertile, although growing a group of Callicarpa will result in a more showy display.  It may be trimmed to shape in early spring.  This fully hardy, medium sized shrub grows to 3m by 2.5m in ordinary soil (provided it has good drainage) in a sheltered, sunny position.  It carries masses of tiny lilac flowers in summer.   Callicarpa is generally untroubled by pest and disease.

The cool, moist British summer weather suits The Michaelmas Daisy, which grow from 20 cm to 2 meters depending on variety.  They attract bees and butterflies.  Grow in good soil in full sun to light shade, and stake tall varieties.

Hydrangeas have large blooms that bring flamboyant colour to the garden in late summer and autumn. They are easy to grow, dependable and improve with age.  Use them in big, bold groups in the border, or even try them in large containers. 

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.

Launched 6 years ago, this hardy Geum blooms all summer, and is very adaptable, its zingy flowers looking good with so many colour combinations. ‘Totally Tangerine’ is trouble free in the border, reaching about 90cm in reasonable soil, in a sunny position.  It doesn’t seed everywhere and rarely requires staking, just the occasional dead-heading.

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.

Indoor Cyclamen persicum.

One of the prettiest succulents, the flowers of the Kalanchoe are very long lasting and are available in a host of colours.

Perennial Salvias form a large group of garden plants and are one of the mainstays of the midsummer garden border. 

Viburnum Carlesii is a superb shrub for the April garden. Also known as the Koreanspice, it’s sweet, heady fragrance fills the warm spring air. 

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

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.