Purple Wellies

One woman's musings of plant lust for intoxicating blooms

The Best Way to Water Your Garden

Have you ever considered the best way to water garden plants? Are you watering the soil, or the foliage? Plants take water up from thousands of tiny hairs on their roots, so any water on the leaves will be wasted and evaporate. It could also lead to fungal problems. Just as stems grow towards the light, roots will also track moisture in the soil growing towards it. This is called hydrotropism.

Encouraging Other Pollinators

Bees and butterflies have been on the decline in recent years and last year’s drought coupled with the heatwave have meant numbers dwindled further. Insects generally play a key species in our ecosystems so we should encourage them into our gardens, not just bees and butterflies. There are plenty of other pollinators too.

Spring Bulbs for the Garden

Often overlooked, spring bulbs are relatively cheap and easy to grow, adding some impactful colour to our gardens. Many will increase yearly rewarding you for the minimum effort of autumn planting.

Xeriscaping

Garden trends in the last year have seen further interest in Xeriscaping, no doubt affirmed by last year’s drought. This may or may not be a term you are familiar with, but as we see more evidence in our weather patterns of climate change, it is sure to be a phrase you will come across again.

The Changing Face of Our Gardens

Last year was unique, weather wise. I don’t think any of us could have foreseen the dry spring leading into a dry summer with UK temperatures hitting new records. Our gardens gasped a sigh of relief when rain finally came and then didn’t stop. Combined with a warmer than average autumn meant many plants that were forced into leaf fall early by the summer as a protective measure were then confused by the weather and did their best to provide a spring show of flowers in autumn. This was particularly common in rhododendrons and azaleas. Combined with late season flowers that just continued into December, it made for an unusual...