Tidy this You’ve held back the secateurs all winter in the interests of wildlife, but now that those once frost-rimed seedheads are mushy, it’s time to clear up. You don’t have to cart it away: leave plant material on the soil where it drops for an instant, no-labour mulch.
Visit this Fed up with your usual weekend haunts? Seek inspiration from the National Gardens Scheme. Go to ngs.org.uk, plug in your postcode and the distance you’re prepared to travel, and up pops a list of gardens of all types and sizes open to the public.
Plant this If your lavender is looking woody and sparse, it’s time to invest in some new plants. This collection of 15 plug plants features five ‘Little Lady’, a compact 35cm x 35cm English lavender with pale blue flowers; five ‘Kew Red’, a French lavender with cherry red flowers topped with pink ‘ears’; and five French lavender ‘Papillon’, with lilac purple bracts. Both French lavenders have a height and spread of 60cm. To order the collection for £21.97 (all orders include free UK mainland p&p), call 0330 333 6856, quoting ref GU295, or go to our readers’ offers page. Dispatch March-April 2015.
