by Colour Your Life, CYL
New Year, new plant stories
New Year – new you! Everywhere you look at this time we are being encouraged to begin new life-regimes for exercise, weight loss, savings, learning new skills. It’s exhausting just to look at them – try putting them into practice! What everyone really needs to pep-them up now is a spot of plant magic and what better plant group to do this than the hellebores?
by Colour Your Life, CYL
Nothing completes a fabulous painting better than a complementary border or frame - the same goes for your garden. Put the finishing touch to your masterpiece by growing the right kind of hedge around it! Hedges also have great potential within the garden. The French renaissance style of ‘potager’ is experiencing a revival in garden design. Could you create a beautiful kitchen garden delineated into compartments with a decorative hedging pattern?
Erica in society
by Colour Your Life, CYL
When I think of the word ‘Erica’ a few things come to mind – who could forget Erica Roe, the Twickenham streaker, Lou Bega’s Mambo No5 with ‘a little bit of Erica by his side’ and finally the under-sung Erica plant with its fabulous winter flowers (known popularly as heath or heather).
by Colour Your Life, CYL
A wonderful month with Christmas to look forward to and decorating inside and out to enjoy. Use lots of berries and foliage for a really festive feel – plus don’t forget outside too. You can also create a winter arrangement of garden plants in a nice tub, give it a ‘Christmassy’ decoration and then place it outdoors - by the front door, on the garden table or on the balcony - or in a cool spot in the home. A poinsettia will create an instant Christmas atmosphere in your living room.
by Colour Your Life, CYL
Winter gardening used to be something of a contradiction in terms. Many people simply used to ‘put the garden to bed’ during the colder months, tidy things up at the end of autumn and wait for spring with a mug of a hot chocolate and a seed catalogue for company. Now this has all changed and planning the garden for winter beauty and enjoyment is a priority for many. It’s easy to see why.