What can lift the sprits more than a display of brightly colour Tulips in the spring months? I just love Tulips and I have so many photos on them stored away, I can't resist snapping away to preserve their vibrancy.  Now is the best time to order your Tulips ready for planting once the temperatures have cooled in November.

Some of my favourites:

Princess Irene Parrot - all the joy of Princess Irenes orange and purple hues, with a frill along the petal edges. 

Queen of the Night - the classic near black tulip. Wonderful mixed with paler shades against a green background.

Ronaldo - a rich marron classic shaped tulip which is reliable.

Ballerina - the most vibrant orange tulip with lily shaped blooms. 

It's very satisfying to be able to pop into the garden and pick a posie of fresh, home grown cut flowers.  I like to grow some flowers for cutting from seed or tubers each year and then the rest of the posie is made up from blooms growing in my perennial borders. 

Some of my favourite cut flowers for posies in late summer:

Dahlias - such amazing vibrant blooms and easy to grow. There are so many colours and forms to chose from.  I tend to prefer the hot coloured Dahlias in shades of orange and rich purple. 

Rudbeckia - The half-hardy annual version produces some incredible velvety blooms in rustic shades of red, rust, orange and yellow, perfect for a posie reflecting the late summer. Chimchiminee is a favoourite variety to grow in my garden.  See central image below.

Zinnia - these take a while to bloom in my garden and generally hit their peek in late summer. They come in a full range of colours and I generally grow a mixed packet of seed so I have a choice to pick from.​..

When the the days are long and the temperature warm, the perennials in our gardens really put on a dazzling show. I love to use colourful plants in our garden projects to add vibrancy and drama to a space. 

Here are a few of my favourites to use:

Salvia - so many to chose from but you can't really go wrong with Caradonna or it's smaller cousin Caramia. Both needing a sunny spot and free draining soil, they will flower for months with moody violet blooms.

Helenium - I love Moerheim Beauty for it's long lasting rich red blooms tinged with burnt orange. A tall perennial i sue at the back of a border. 

Aster Monch - This creates a great cloud of pale blue daisies in the late summer and autumn, and is a must have in any of my projects

I hope i have inspired you to add some of these plants to your garden for summer colour​

After the long cold months of winter, a vibrant splash of colour in the garden is just what you need to lift the spirits!  I do love a mixed border teaming with possibilities of flower and foliage colour, scent and texture.

​Here are some of my favourite plants for spring colour:

Erysimum (Wall Flowers) - a zingy splash of colour from Wall Flowers is what I love to see in  my borders from March onwards. In the areas where I plant hotter colours, Fire King is my favourite variety, where as in the cooler coloured borders I like to use Sunset Purple

Allium - Purple Rain is my absolute variety variety for it's large open flower heads of vivid purple. Here you can see it teamed with Aquilegia Black Barlow (another favourite of mine).

Euphorbia - I love the vibrancy of the acid green bracts in spring, Humpty Dumpty is a good compact form. 

Primroses - one of the earliest perennials to flower in  my garden and loved by the early bees. 

Hellebores - my absolute must have plant for spring colour, I am a tad obsessed with them. I have so many i will have to write a separate article on them!

I hope you have been inspired to add a few more early flowering plants to your own borders. 

The variety of plants available to gardeners is almost limitless, and can seem daunting when you are learning their names and how to care for them. Here we provide a basic guide to climbing plants and their attributes.
 
Climbers - As their name suggests, these plants climb up a structure or surface, there category refers to the fact they climb as opposed to their habit. Consequently they can be annual, perennial or shrubby.

Annual climbers include Sweetpeas, Morning Glory and Thunbergia.

Perennial climbers include some but not all of the Clematis, the perennial Sweetpea and Hops...

The variety of plants available to gardeners is almost limitless, and can seem daunting when you are learning their names and how to care for them. So what are Perennials and how do they differ from Annuals and Biennials? 

​In the 20 years i’ve been involved in the horticultural trade i must have grown several million plants destined for gardens across the East Midlands. Being a professional grower and plantswoman i know what to look for in terms of plant quality and health when selecting plants for a clients garden or my own. If you are visiting a garden centre or nursery, here are my tips for buy the best plants you can...

I love colour! And now where is it more present than in the Sun Terrace Borders of my own garden in June & July!  A 'room' within my garden, the sun terrace was created to make the most of the early morning and evening sun. A slender rectangle of sandstone paving, with a central feature pointing towards North, South, East and West, there is a beautiful teak bench on the East and West axis, which are perfect for soaking up the sun rays. 
The paving is surrounded by deep borders filled with a riotous selection of perennials, and a few select shrubs and grasses. The planting provides year-round colour and interest but reaches a crescendo in the early summer months.