If you want to enjoy spring flowers like daffodils and alliums in your garden next year, then this is the time to take action and get busy planting bulbs! When visiting garden centres to buy bulbs, choose plump and firm, healthy bulbs and avoid purchasing dried out and desiccated bulbs, as these won’t amount to anything.
Ox-eye daisies are one of Great Britain’s most endearing wildflowers. These charming large, white daisies with their golden centres light up our meadows; we should embrace these beauties, as they can bring just as much joy to our summer gardens! August and September is the ideal time to sow seeds.
The ox-eye daisy, dog daisy, or Marguerite is also known by the botanical name Leucanthemum vulgare.
Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count runs from Friday the 17th July 2026 through until Sunday 9th August 2026 – meaning the count ends today. It has been so hot and I’ve been too busy since the Butterfly Count started, so mainly due to the heat I’m sorry to say that I’ve only managed to do two Big Butterfly counts this year – both of them in my garden on the same day (with a gap in between each count).
Hardy annuals grow, flower, and die within the same year. Short-lived they may be, but their generosity of spirit and abundant flowering give our gardens a delightful floral boost, making these plants welcome additions to our gardens. Sowing seeds directly in the soil now requires less physical effort and is more economical than buying plants to plant in springtime. Spending under £10 on hardy annual seeds at the garden centre can produce enough plants to fill an average sized garden!
My heart is full of love for butterflies, so I’m encouraging everyone to take part in Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count, which starts on Friday 17th July 2026 and runs until Sunday 9th August 2026.
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are beautiful, reliable plants that flower for ages, their attractive blooms provide an abundance of nectar for bees and butterflies. Plus, chives produce a regular supply of tasty leaves and flowers from May until the end of summer – they’re such great value plants! In addition to all of the above, chives flourish in containers of peat-free compost or will thrive planted in any soil (apart from waterlogged soils) in a sunny or partially shaded site.
Bluebells (known by their botanical name, Hyacinthoides non-scripta) are one of our most beautiful British native wildflowers. In April, these graceful and elegant plants bring irrepressible delight and joy to our country walks, as their nodding flower stems and sweetly scented, bell-shaped flowers form seas of intense blue beneath the trees of many UK woodlands. Experience this majesty yourself – take an uplifting walk alongside serene carpets of bluebells at Winkworth Arboretum, in Godalming or visit another magnificent part of the UK where you can see bluebells.
When you imagine your perfect container plant, what do you dream of?
Does your garden need a boost? Do you have enough summer-flowering perennials? Treat yourself to some Echinacea, these gorgeous plants have stunning, long-lasting flowers that attract butterflies, moths, bees, and other pollinating insects.
I adore Echinacea, also known as Coneflowers. My favourites are the purple and white flowered forms of Echinacea purpurea, as well their elegant cousin, Echinacea pallida.
Plant Heritage is a charitable organisation that works to safeguard and conserve the diversity of our garden plants by encouraging the growing, propagation, and distribution of plants. National Collection holders are key to Plant Heritage’s aims, they hold documented, registered plant collections, featuring plants that are proactively propagated and conserved. Many popular groups of plants are currently without the protection of a National Collection holder, including some fabulous plants that attract a wide range of fascinating bees, butterflies, moths, hoverflies, and other important pollinators to our gardens.
Red Mason Bees emerge from hibernation this month. These bees don’t sting. Male Red Mason Bees have white hairy faces, they awaken first, followed by the dark-faced females; both are ginger in colour. After mating, the female Red Mason Bee chooses a nest site, often a hole in a wall, a bee brick, old bramble stem, or nest box. The female works tirelessly gathering mud to construct a chamber in the back of a hollow stem or tube.
I want to inspire you to support nature and Surrey’s conservation groups and make a positive difference for the Small Blue Butterfly by growing Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) in your garden, or at your school, workplace, or allotment.
The Small Blue Butterfly is Britain’s smallest butterfly; it was once common in Surrey. This rarity is classified with Near Threatened status by the IUCN Red List.
Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) is one of our beautiful British wildflowers that grows in chalk grassland, over sand dunes, across shingle, and atop cliffs, in South East England. These stunning plants should be cherished, as from late spring and early summertime, Kidney Vetch bloom continuously for around three months. Their flowers are a magnet for bees, and Kidney Vetch thrives in containers on a sunny patio or balcony.
Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count runs from Friday the 12th July 2024 through until Sunday 4th August 2024. Taking a Butterfly Count is one of my absolute favourite things to do! I’d really like to encourage you to join in and take your own Butterfly Count – this is such a fun activity.
I absolutely adore butterflies and moths, so I make the most of every opportunity to grow plants to attract and support these insects. Every year I trial different plants in containers, searching for plants that are easy to grow and form naturally floriferous, and attractive plants that will delight gardeners and attract bees and butterflies. One of my top performers is Scabiosa columbaria, one of our native wildflowers that’s also known as the Small Scabious.
April is the month for seed sowing. We can sow hardy annuals and half-hardy annuals now, as well as the seeds of fruit and vegetables, but perhaps you’d like to grow something different? Mistletoe berries are ripe now, so it’s the perfect time to gather berries and raise your own mistletoe plants!
Mistletoe (Viscum album)Mistletoe doesn’t grow in the soil; it grows up in the branches of trees.
Rather than traipsing around the shops and frittering the weekend away in seemingly endless queues to buy gifts this December, I’d like to encourage you to head out into the garden to propagate your favourite plants and share the joy of home-grown gifts this Christmas!
Mint is a fast-growing and spreading plant. I always recommend growing mint in containers to prevent this plant’s naturally assertive growth from taking over your garden, patio, and any nearby countryside!
I was both excited and incredibly relieved when I heard that the National Trust had purchased Munstead Wood, the Surrey home and eleven-acre garden of the legendary horticulturist, designer, writer, artist, photographer, and craftswoman, Gertrude Jekyll.
Gertrude lived at Munstead Wood in Busbridge, Godalming, from the 1890s until her death in 1932. Having met the renowned architect Edwin Lutyens early in his career, long before he achieved fame and was knighted, Gertrude invited Edwin to design her an Arts and Crafts house to complement the garden.
Meadows epitomise the picturesque idyllic summer garden that so many of us dream of. However, creating a successful meadow is often more of a challenging project than we anticipate. Whether you’re creating a new meadow or fixing a failed meadow, August and September are the months that meadow gardeners must spring into action!
Preparation is the key to success. It’s easy to rush soil preparations, giddy with the excitement of sowing seeds – this is where most people fail.
I’m sad that Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count has finished for another year, but I am delighted that I managed to take two Big Butterfly Counts yesterday; the sun shone following a day of heavy rain and thunderstorms. I am already looking forward to the Big Butterfly Count returning in 2024; however, before then I plan to spend as much time as possible outdoors with butterflies and moths!
