@Busy-Lizzie this is exactly what I am looking for with the picture.
Okay so I should do pots. Ive actually just ordered some smokey bush. Wish me luck I really think I am going to need it but this is a hobby I really want to try at. I just had some success at growing chilli's in winter so maybe I won't be so bad at it lol. This has clearly given me the inspo to grow a secret garden lol. I'm sure your see me posting back when it all goes horribly wrong lol.
Hannah, if you’re growing in pots I would suggest buying big pots (minimum 12” diameter at the top but 18” would be better).The bigger the pot, the less frequently you’ll have to water it. For aesthetics, keep all the pots the same colour and I would suggest dark grey which would harmonise well with burgundy (as that’s your favourite colour, note the spelling 😉).
I know I am always banging on about this plant on the forum but petunia Tidal Wave Red Velour would look stunning and it is in flower from mid Summer to late Autumn. The flowers are a sumptuous shade of deep velvety red and three plants in a 15” pot will be a blaze* of colour, tumbling down to the ground as well as mounding upwards if you give the plants a few twiggy branches to clamber through. Put three branches about 3’ high into the pot and lean them inwards, vaguely wigwam style. By mid July the supports will scarcely be visible.
Red Velour is not commonly found in garden centres but you can order it online now. You can buy seeds but they’re not the easiest things to grow so you could opt instead for little seedlings costing about £1 each. Look on the RHS website for starters - they stock them, as does Sarah Raven. A ready grown plant in a small pot will cost about £7.
The compost you put in your pots is important as quality varies hugely from brand to brand. I suggest holding back on buying compost until next month because in February the magazine Gardening Which will be publishing the results of its trials of composts for pots. Ask on this forum and contributors who subscribe will share the results.
In another pot you could grow dahlias. There are so many to choose from so start with After Dusk and Sam Hopkins; they’ll appeal to your colour palette I think. There is a lot of discussion about growing dahlias and they do require some reading but the essential problem is keeping them alive over winter … and by then you’ll be a confident gardener. For colour at the start of the year tulips would look good. I suggest Jan Reus. Tulips are supposed to flower year after year, but they rarely do well from year 2 onwards, certainly year 3. Next summer you could grow dahlias and in November cut the dahlias back and pop in the tulips. A garden centre will advise you how many bulbs to buy when you tell them the size of the pot; it’ll be more than you think. The tulips will first flower in May 2025. Gardening is not a hobby for those who seek instant gratification: you learn to be patient and philosophical.
Another pot could be for lobelia Queen Victoria. It’s a strong mid red. Many red plants veer too much towards pink or orange for my taste. This lobelia grows year after year but will need sloshings of water and look out for slugs and snails.
My suggestions are good for May and July —> late October. For other months of the year I will let others make suggestions but you have already been offered red hellebores which will tide you through January, February and March. I’m struggling to think of strong red plants for early summer but others might chime in.
Good luck. If things don’t go to plan don’t get disheartened as every gardener in the country tastes failure. Listen to the wisdom of others but don’t be afraid to try your own variations on core advice.
* Blaze. The jackets of the St John’s College boat club in early Victorian times were vivid red. They were, in university slang, blazers. It is where the jacket name comes from.
PS Use the search button and you’ll find lots of discussion and photos of petunia Red Velour. Here’s a beast of a thread running to 28 pages in which you’ll learn how to overwinter and propagate the plant. I bought six about seven years ago and have not bought another since. The original six have provided me, and my neighbours, with at least 200 more.
I would start out with a backbone of long-flowering 'good do-ers' and then keep adding to it through the year to add further accents of colour which might not be as long lived but will give extra interest. And you can add whatever bedding plants you like to fill gaps.
Salvia 'Royal Bumble' should feature heavily - it flowers continuously from late spring to autumn and is easy to look after (just hack it back to tidy up if needed). You have to buy as a plant but will come back year on year, and you can take cuttings.
Astrantia 'Roma' and Persicaria 'Blackfield' are another couple of dependable long-flowering perennials you could consider. They are only really available as plants, but you can divide them to make more.
Some smallish to medium sized purple shrubs will obviously add long lasting value, especially if evergreen (e.g. purple leaved Hebes).
I think growing plants from seed can be a bit disappointing unless you really want to invest a lot of time and effort, and I am generally too impatient, but that said, Nasturtiums are pretty easy from seed. 'Empress of India' is a nice deep red.
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
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Okay so I should do pots. Ive actually just ordered some smokey bush. Wish me luck I really think I am going to need it but this is a hobby I really want to try at.
I just had some success at growing chilli's in winter so maybe I won't be so bad at it lol. This has clearly given me the inspo to grow a secret garden lol. I'm sure your see me posting back when it all goes horribly wrong lol.
I know I am always banging on about this plant on the forum but petunia Tidal Wave Red Velour would look stunning and it is in flower from mid Summer to late Autumn. The flowers are a sumptuous shade of deep velvety red and three plants in a 15” pot will be a blaze* of colour, tumbling down to the ground as well as mounding upwards if you give the plants a few twiggy branches to clamber through. Put three branches about 3’ high into the pot and lean them inwards, vaguely wigwam style. By mid July the supports will scarcely be visible.
Red Velour is not commonly found in garden centres but you can order it online now. You can buy seeds but they’re not the easiest things to grow so you could opt instead for little seedlings costing about £1 each. Look on the RHS website for starters - they stock them, as does Sarah Raven. A ready grown plant in a small pot will cost about £7.
The compost you put in your pots is important as quality varies hugely from brand to brand. I suggest holding back on buying compost until next month because in February the magazine Gardening Which will be publishing the results of its trials of composts for pots. Ask on this forum and contributors who subscribe will share the results.
Another pot could be for lobelia Queen Victoria. It’s a strong mid red. Many red plants veer too much towards pink or orange for my taste. This lobelia grows year after year but will need sloshings of water and look out for slugs and snails.
My suggestions are good for May and July —> late October. For other months of the year I will let others make suggestions but you have already been offered red hellebores which will tide you through January, February and March. I’m struggling to think of strong red plants for early summer but others might chime in.
Good luck. If things don’t go to plan don’t get disheartened as every gardener in the country tastes failure. Listen to the wisdom of others but don’t be afraid to try your own variations on core advice.
* Blaze. The jackets of the St John’s College boat club in early Victorian times were vivid red. They were, in university slang, blazers. It is where the jacket name comes from.
PS Use the search button and you’ll find lots of discussion and photos of petunia Red Velour. Here’s a beast of a thread running to 28 pages in which you’ll learn how to overwinter and propagate the plant. I bought six about seven years ago and have not bought another since. The original six have provided me, and my neighbours, with at least 200 more.
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1025611/petunia-tidal-red-velour/p22
Salvia 'Royal Bumble' should feature heavily - it flowers continuously from late spring to autumn and is easy to look after (just hack it back to tidy up if needed). You have to buy as a plant but will come back year on year, and you can take cuttings.
Astrantia 'Roma' and Persicaria 'Blackfield' are another couple of dependable long-flowering perennials you could consider. They are only really available as plants, but you can divide them to make more.
Some smallish to medium sized purple shrubs will obviously add long lasting value, especially if evergreen (e.g. purple leaved Hebes).
I think growing plants from seed can be a bit disappointing unless you really want to invest a lot of time and effort, and I am generally too impatient, but that said, Nasturtiums are pretty easy from seed. 'Empress of India' is a nice deep red.