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Plant Once Comes Back Year after Year
22
items As a gardener, I always ensure to include plants in my planting schemes that bloom throughout the various seasons. There is always something interesting happening in the garden. Wether it be flowering bulbs that come and go, annuals grown from seed f...
Sections
5
Autumn Flowering
Winter Flowering
Spring Flowering
Summer Flowering
Great For Bumblebees
Autumn Flowering
Autumn is not the end of the flowering season, there are so many little gems that will give your garden some amazing colour and structure still. So prolong the flowering season in your garden with my hand picked recommendations here.
Rudbeckia. this plant never disappoints. With it's large daisy like flowers it just gets bigger and better every year. This is one of those plants that is a must for any Autumn display.
Rudbeckia fulgida 'Little Goldstar (PBR)' - black-eyed susan
Winter Flowering
When I think of winter flowering plants, Clematis and Hellebore are the two that immediately jump straight to mind for me. They have beautiful pale hue flowers, lovely foliage and are a welcome sight to my eyes and that of early pollinators. Here are...
This early-flowering hellebore will often produce its large, glowing white flowers in time for the Christmas festivities - and it will usually continue to bloom until early spring. Therefore, it is invaluable for livening up the garden during some of...
Helleborus niger 'Christmas Carol' - Christmas rose
A very rare and unusual form of clematis that originates from Nepal and parts of southern China. It is a remarkable plant, that loses all its foliage in late spring or early summer and remains dormant throughout the hottest months of the year. In lat...
Clematis napaulensis - clematis (group 1)
Large, nodding, creamy-white flowers appear from winter to early spring and are followed by attractive seedheads. This charming evergreen climber is ideal for training around a doorway in a sunny, south or west facing, sheltered location, where the d...
Clematis cirrhosa 'Jingle Bells' - clematis (group 1)
Producing a mass of creamy white flowers from late winter to early spring, this bushy evergreen clematis will thrive in a partially shaded spot that is reliably moist in summer, but offers good drainage in winter. It is hardy to -7C, although soft ne...
Clematis × cartmanii 'Avalanche (PBR)' - winter flowering clematis (group 1)
Delicate pink flowers with upswept petals appear in winter or early spring above rounded, silvery-green leaves. These diminutive cyclamen are perfect for naturalising around the base of deciduous trees and shrubs. Best in humus-rich, well-drained soi...
Cyclamen coum - sowbread or cyclamen bulbs (corms)
It's hard not to love these wonderful bulbs for adding colour to the garden when little else is awake. The nodding white flowers have a small green marking on the inside of each tepal, are honey scented, and appear in late winter. They look particula...
Galanthus nivalis - common snowdrop bulbs
This is a great plant to plant below decidious trees as by the time the tree puts on it's spring growth this plant has had it's delicate flowers. Making way for spring flowering flowers to start to show. Also a great choice for pots as it has quite a...
Erica carnea f. alba 'Whitehall' - winter heath heather
This Variety of Heather with it's vibrant pink flowers has a long period of flowering all the way from winter through spring so it is a really great plant to carry you on through two seasons. The bees will also thank you for it.
Erica × darleyensis 'Furzey' - darley dale heath
Spring Flowering
Spring is when I start to come back to life. My spirits are lifted when I start to see the signs of my plants literally springing back to life. I just feel invigorated after Winter when this happens. It means it's time to start sowing my seeds in the...
Sweetly scented, violet-blue, edible flowers from February to March and heart-shaped, bright green leaves. Sweet violets are perfect for naturalising in a shady woodland garden or shrub border in moist, well-drained, humus-rich soil. Much loved by Vi...
Viola odorata - sweet violet
This long-flowering, bushy, vigorous wallflower produces long spires of deep mauve flowers from late winter to summer (and usually into autumn), above narrow, grey-green leaves. It is a short-lived plant, but it makes a vivid display for many months ...
Erysimum 'Bowles's Mauve' - perennial wallflower
The almost true-black flowers of this new variety are a stunning sight, particularly when they are just beginning to open. They are mostly outward facing (all the better for seeing them), although some may be more pendent, but they all have an alluri...
Helleborus × hybridus 'Harvington Black' - Lenten rose hellebore
A beautiful form with pendent or outward-facing, lemon-yellow flowers, which appear in late winter above leathery foliage. It makes a stunning ground cover in areas of dappled shade, where it can be used to light up areas beneath deciduous trees and ...
Helleborus × hybridus 'Harvington double yellow' - Lenten rose hellebore
One of my favourite spring flowers. I prefer this particular Primula as it flowers on a taller stem and showcases the blooms. A really pretty addition to the late spring and early summer garden, this variable, semi-evergreen perennial looks wonderful...
Primula elatior - oxslip
I am a purple flower person if you haven't noticed by now! I absolutely adore this Primula. It sparks my joy! I highly recommend adding this one to your collection. Nicknamed the drumstick primrose, this variety sends up vibrant purple-mauve pom-poms...
Primula denticulata - drumstick primrose
A low-growing, bushy perennial that produces a very pretty display of purple-blue, pea-like flowers in spring. This is an excellent plant for kick-starting the display in the herbaceous border, where it will associate well with spring flowering Lampr...
Lathyrus vernus - spring vetchling
This is one of my favourite Tulips. The pastel colours remind me of the Sweets I used to get as a child called Fruit Salads. It's such a lovely colour.
Tulipa 'Menton' - single late tulip bulbs
Summer Flowering
Highly sought after by bees and butterflies, this wonderfully shrubby and long-flowering verbena is ideal for wildlife-friendly gardens. ‘Santos’ is an improved and denser flowering form of the species (Verbena rigida), and is an invaluable addition ...
Verbena rigida 'Santos' - verbena - Santos Purple
I have planted lots of the orange and Red Monbretia but this one is the nicest to me with it's delicate happy yellow colour. Once you have this plant in the garden it is there for life. It comes back every year and multiplies. It's great for giving a...
Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora 'George Davison' - montbretia
Great For Bumblebees
As a big Wildlife gardener there are quite a few Perennial plants that are a must in your garden if you want to do your bit for Bumblebee Conservation. Here I recommend the following which I have planted in many garden schemes for that exact purpose.
Primula Vulgaris- British Native Primrose is a great early source of Nectar and Pollen for Bumblebees as the Queen comes out from Hibernation ready to find a nesting area. Flowers Mar-May. A great investment as these will come back year after year an...
Primula vulgaris - primrose
(Primula Veris) Cowslip. This Early spring flowering Native Wildflower is dwindling in it's natural pastures. This is a great one to add to your garden for not only conservation of Bumblebees but also conservation of The Cowslip. Again another one that will naturalise and mu...
Primula veris - cowslip
Snowdrop (Galanthus) One of the earliest Bumblebee suitable bulbs. For Early Bumblebees a great and much needed source of nectar and pollen.
Galanthus nivalis - common snowdrop bulbs