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    Annuals and half hardy seasonal plants

    Home » Annuals and half hardy seasonal plants
     Baby Bedding Plants for a Fantastic Summer Display
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    By Alan Down
    In Annuals and half hardy seasonal plants, Bedding Plants, Container gardening, Gardening, Grow your own, KinderGarden plants
    Posted April 2, 2021

    Baby Bedding Plants for a Fantastic Summer Display

    Baby bedding plants can produce a fantastic summer display! If your fingers are pink and not green and if the seeds you sow never seem to come up, then growing pre-germinated seedlings is for [...]

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     Downy mildew free Impatiens
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    By Alan Down
    In Annuals and half hardy seasonal plants, Bedding Plants, Container gardening, New Varieties, Plant breeding, Plant Review, Summer colour
    Posted July 16, 2020

    Downy mildew free Impatiens

    Downy mildew free Impatiens has long been the bedding plant breeders holy grail! That’s because Impatiens, which are often called Busy Lizzies, were the number one selling bedding plant [...]

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     Plant up your pots for Summer!
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    By Alan Down
    In Annuals and half hardy seasonal plants, Container gardening, Seasonal Gardening
    Posted May 24, 2020

    Plant up your pots for Summer!

    It’s time to plant up your pots for summer! If Easter Weekend is the traditional time to plant out potatoes then surely May Bank Holiday is the time for getting a great display for summer! [...]

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     A beautiful garden with KinderGarden plants
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    By Alan Down
    In Annuals and half hardy seasonal plants, Container gardening, Gardening, Grow your own, KinderGarden plants, Seasonal Gardening, Summer colour
    Posted March 9, 2020

    A beautiful garden with KinderGarden plants

    Creating a beautiful garden with KinderGarden plants is easy but you need to start early! Wouldn’t it be great to produce a garden just like this? Well although this is a demonstration [...]

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     Modular growing of plants
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    By Alan Down
    In Annuals and half hardy seasonal plants, Gardening, Gardening tips, Grow your own, Plant Propagation, Sowing, Vegetables
    Posted February 18, 2020

    Modular growing of plants

    Modular growing of plants is on the increase and there are many advantages to raising plants this way.   This frustrating season! Here we in mid February and hardly a thing has been sown or [...]

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     It’s time to get busy with plug plants
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    By Alan Down
    In Annuals and half hardy seasonal plants, Gardening, Plant Propagation, Seasonal Gardening
    Posted March 17, 2019

    It’s time to get busy with plug plants

    Plug plants have revolutionised the growing of bedding plants for both commercial and amateur gardeners. Germinating seeds of some of our favourite bedding plants can be slow, expensive and [...]

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    About Alan

    Flora and fauna have always fascinated me but it was a lifelong career in horticulture that filled most days.

    Having grown up on a farm where boyhood days were filled with discoveries of the natural world I soon found that my passion for plants – wildflowers at that time – would direct my career…

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    Alan E Down @AlanEDown
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    And this was wild bullace plums that I foraged last autumn. But these steps are so useful and safe for lots of #gardening and #diy tasks! https://t.co/tKb2UE9hIR
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    Henchman Ltd @Henchman_Ltd
    We're dreaming of summer days, picking fruit & enjoying the harvest

    Great photo from @AlanEDown of a very productive fruit picking session, with a little help from his Henchman

    #staysafe #harvest https://t.co/uakQPP1f5o
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    I know how important this is for @IndiePlantGuide nurseries! https://t.co/Fhuo13ADuF
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    Alan E Down @AlanEDown
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    Gardeners and the garden industry really needs this. https://t.co/afgfliEQ2S
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    Tom Pope @ipm_tom
    Exciting opportunity for an @The_RHS funded 1-year MRes based @HarperAdamsUni to investigate the use of nematodes to control vine weevil, one of the most damaging garden pests, in peat alternative growing media. Please DM me if interested. https://t.co/6g6yOJOGXp
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    Rhodanthemum Casablanca is such an underrated plan Rhodanthemum Casablanca is such an underrated plant! Give it sun and fast drainage and it repays with masses of daisies in spring. 

Not a lot of difference between Casablanca and African Eyes and both worth planting!

Here planted in an old stone container with the purple form of sea thrift Armeria maritima 'Rubrifolia'

#daisy #daisies #alpinestars #alpineplants #containergardening #containergarden #seathrift #white #celebratetheseason #celebratethelittlethings 
#embracingtheseasons 
#aseasonalshift 
#aseasonalyear 
#inspiremyinstagram 
#somerset 
#gdnmediaguild
    Thank you @niwakijake for these #garden snips and Thank you @niwakijake for these #garden snips and really close fitting gloves. Both will be really handy in #mynewgarden 
Thanks also @gdnmediaguild for organising this.

#gardening #newstuff #niwaki #niwakigarden #tools #toolsofthetrade
    We’re into the late #daffodils here now and a ni We’re into the late #daffodils here now and a nice pot full of Kaydee from a new supplier to the UK called simply Dutch Grown. 
You really can get 5 months of daffodil blooms with a selection of varieties! @GdnMediaGuild
    Blackthorns have been exceptional in bloom this sp Blackthorns have been exceptional in bloom this spring! Apparently unaffected by the recent frosts it will be interesting to see what effect this has on fruiting and the all important sloes.

My grandfather would always call this a “blackthorn winter” since we invariably get a cold spell when blackthorn is flowering.

These are in the #leylandway and #monarchsway in Somerset.

Accompanied by garden warbler, wren, robin, chaffinch, great and blue tits and the distant cawing from a rookery. (Sorry no sound)

How fortunate am I?

#naturalworld #hedgerow #longdistancewalking #nature #naturelovers #springtime #springishere #april #white #sloegin #springblossoms 
#celebratetheseason #celebratethelittlethings 
#embracingtheseasons 
#aseasonalshift 
#aseasonalyear 
#inspiremyinstagram 
#somerset
    Tulipa tarda An easy little one for shallow pots Tulipa tarda 
An easy little one for shallow pots (as here), a sink or in the rockery.

#springblossoms 
#gold 
#flowerbulbs 
#celebratetheseason #celebratethelittlethings 
#embracingtheseasons 
#aseasonalshift 
#aseasonalyear 
#inspiremyinstagram 
#somerset 
#southwestisbest
#gardening
#horticulture 
#horticulturelife 
#horticultura 
#gardenlife 
#gmgspring 
#springisonitsway 
#springisontheway 
#spring 
#signsofspring
#april 
#gardenlifestyle 
#tulip 
#tulipfestival
    An old Narcissus in our village churchyard and pop An old Narcissus in our village churchyard and popping up in other older gardens too. 
I believe this is White Lady which can be traced back to pre 1897. 
It has an old world charm and is clearly a survivor!
It dances with every slight breeze and has a faint (to me) scent.

#daffodils #heritage #narcissus #churchyard 
#springblooms
#celebratetheseason #celebratethelittlethings 
#naturesway 
#naturalisedbulbs 
#inspiredbynature 
#inspiredbyflowers 
#alittlebeautyeveryday #slowsimpleseasonal #theconstantlycurious 
#myquietbeauty 
#embracingtheseasons 
#aseasonalshift 
#aseasonalyear 
#inspiremyinstagram #whimsicalwonderfulwild #botanicalpickmeup 
#somersetlife 
#somerset 
#southwestisbest 
#tintinhull
    And still the daffodils keep coming! This is Golde And still the daffodils keep coming! This is Golden Echo - a multi headed and scented one from @taylorsbulbs1919 

Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca 'Citrina' behind is full of bloom and competing strongly in the scent stakes!
    Magnolia ‘Felix Jury’. Fabulous colour and for Magnolia ‘Felix Jury’.
Fabulous colour and form and flowering well at a relatively young age. 
One of the many excellent Jury hybrids bred in New Zealand.
    Churchyards have become an important refuge for wi Churchyards have become an important refuge for wildflowers and this one is spectacular! Primroses, Lent lilies (daffodils), violets, lesser celandine and much more.
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