Globe Artichokes are considered a true gourmet food by many, probably because of there unusual and exotic looks. These large and architectural perennial plants are grown for their edible flower buds, but they also make great ornamentals in the garden. 'Imperial Star' is a very good cropper, even in its first year, and forms exceptionally large buds with a great taste that are ready to harvest between June and September. Any buds left on the plants will flower, looking like thistles that are a magnet for bees and butterflies. Remove the buds just before they open and begin to flower and boil or steam until tender before remove the leaf scales one by one. The scales and hearts are delicious dipped in melted butter. The plants will provide excellent crops for several seasons, but it's best to replace them ever 3 or 4 years as they become gradually less productive. Supplied as 3 established plants in 9cm pots, ready to plant, reaching 180cm (6ft) in height and 75cm (2½ft) wide.
It's hard to beat the sleek and simple lines of well-trimmed quality Buxus, adding a modern yet classic look to any garden. Used for centuries as a classic garden hedge or to form borders around other planting such as roses, Buxus sempervirens is a well-loved and instantly recognised feature of both formal and contemporary gardens. Equally at home in small or large gardens, box hedging is perfect for edges, borders and small boundaries, and makes neat hedges 1m tall over 10 years if required, although can be kept much smaller if needed. Whether dressing either side of a classic porch, or as a feature in minimalist decking gardens, it's hard to think of another easy to grow, yet versatile plant as good as Box. Supplied as an established plant in a 9cm pot, these 15-20cm plants are 3 years old and trimmed several times to give really bushy plants that make growing a box hedge easy. Plant one plant per 25cm (10in) for best results. Totally hardy too, leave them out all year - they look great covered in snow too! The key with Box is not to let them dry out - especially when in full sun for much of the day. Keep the roots cool and well-watered and they will grow 10-15cm per year. Do not trim for 2-3 years after planting, then lightly tip in summer as needed.
Transform Your Garden - Grow These Garden Hardy Perennials For 6 Months Of Spectacular Colour Every Year! These incredibly colourful, strong-growing perennials will transform your garden from this year. Providing a wonderful display of showy colour and long-lasting structure throughout summer and until late October, they will look great AND attract beneficial insects including butterflies, ladybirds and honey bees, perfect for fruit and veg gardeners where pollination is so important. Supplied as plugs, they are big enough to plant straight out spring, summer or autumn and will establish and get better year after year. If planting together in a border, we suggest you plant 60cm (2ft apart), which they will fill after their second season. Main varieties Included (but not guaranteed): Achillea 'Summer Berries', Delphinium 'Pacific Giant Mix', Digitalis (Foxglove) 'Dalmation Mixed', Hollyhocks 'Chaters Double Mixed', Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise', Gaillardia 'Mesa Mix', Geum 'Lady Stratheden', Aquilegia 'Mrs Scott Elliot', Alchemilla mollis, Salvia Salvatore Blue, Verbena bonariensis, Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'. Note: Due to this product being available all year, in some weeks we reserve the right to substitute some varieties in the specific collection shown here.
Illuminate your summer displays with the very latest and best trailing Begonia - Super Cascade Mixed... Containing THE very best palette of bright colours ever seen in begonias, including some completely new shades, Super Cascade will provide you with the most torrential summer-long display of semi-double cascading double begonia blooms - each 3-4in across! Super Cascade is ideally suited for the British climate too with strong, very weather resistant blooms - giving you a cascading rainbow of colour from May until early November. Grow in hanging baskets, window boxes and patio containers - anywhere that will allow the plants to cascade freely, then just wait for the flowers - whatever the weather! Trails to 60 cm (24in). Supplied as 12 plug plants, ready to grow on before planting out.
Just imagine biting into your own juicy, homegrown peaches - perfect to enjoy picked straight from the tree! With gorgeous pink blossom in spring followed by sumptuous red-blushed fruits, Prunus persica 'Suncrest' is the ideal peach for your kitchen garden. Despite their reputation as being a bit of a specialist fruit, peaches are remarkably easy to grow, and 'Suncrest' is well suited to the UK climate, being self-fertile with blooms that are relatively frost tolerant. The large, firm fruits are called 'freestone', which means that the flesh separates easily from the stone, making 'Suncrest' great for eating and cooking, and it is definitely one of the best-tasting peaches, with an exceptional flavour. Supplied as an established plant, 90-110cm tall in a 5L pot, ready to plant out now.
A flower with real 'wow-factor', Osteospermum Double Pink will certainly liven up your pots and baskets with an abundance of long-lasting, soft-pink blooms. Each flower on this fabulous variety has a double row of slightly darker petals in the center, making these Cape Daisies a real eye-catcher. As an added bonus, the sturdy pom-poms last twice as long than the ordinary varieties, giving you much more flower power in your garden. Ideal when planted in pots or the centre of hanging baskets, Double Pink will thrive in full sun or partial shade, making them a good all-round addition to your garden - they even make fantastic cut flowers for the vase. Easy to grow and needing very little in the way of aftercare, the compact, domed plants are also remarkably drought tolerant meaning that they are perfect for low maintenance areas of your garden too. Supplied as 6 x plug plants, ready to pot up and grow on before planting out.
A compact and relatively new variety, 'Chic n Choc' is suitable for growing in a container on your patio or balcony and produces an abundance of noticeably scented blooms. Ideal for a pot or smaller space in sun or dappled shade, this is a honeysuckle that anyone can grow, whatever the size of your garden! With an impressively long flowering period from early summer until the end of autumn, this honeysuckle produces beautiful crimson-purple flower buds in early summer which open to reveal fragrant flowers of delicate pink-white that eventually saturate with warm golden-yellow. Even when not in flower, this is a honeysuckle to covet - its glorious red stems provide the perfect contrast to the elliptical blue-green leaves and as a semi-evergreen it will hold its own in the garden for longer. Easy to grow and maintain, with the only pruning required being a quick snip to keep it tidy, 'Chic n Choc' is also disease tolerant and fully hardy. Supplied as an established plant in a 2L pot, ready for planting straight out.
This veritable super food is believed to carry all manner of health benefits and is recommended by health experts and dietitians accordingly. Packed full of vitamins and minerals as well as antioxidants, they are not only really good for you but they taste great too! Blueberries provide true season-long interest and will produce wonderfully fragrant tubular blossom in spring, followed by delicious fruits that form and colour up ready for picking from June onwards. This collection will provide 3 months of harvest from June until September with each bush providing up to 5kg (over 10lbs) of fruit per season once fully established. Blueberries make brilliant patio plants and will grow perfectly in pots. Do remember to use ericaceous (slightly acidic pH) compost though as all blueberries are lime intolerant. In autumn, the foliage will provide a bright flourish of scarlet colour before falling off for the winter. The collection comprises 3 varieties, selected for their wide harvest period and ease of growth in your home garden. Yellowberry: A real novelty, the warm yellow leaves are tinged with pink and orange tones and make for an altogether highly decorative plant for the kitchen garden. Fruits July Bluedrop: A new type of blueberry, 'Bluedrop' brings a new dimension to this popular berry. Everbearing with teardrop-shaped fruits (hence its name) you'll experience a taste sensation with an abundance of balanced, sweet and sharp blueberries.Fruits June to September Littleblue Wonder: Highly ornamental, in spring the bush becomes covered in pale flowers - so much so that it has earned this blueberry the name the 'Heather Blueberry'. Then in autumn, the foliage will provide a bright flourish of burgundy red colour before falling off for the winter.Fruits June
No one could accuse Pacific Giants of being shy and retiring with stately spires of flower in shades of purple, lavender, blue and white, these Delphiniums flowers are a great success. The flowers are borne on 2 metre long stems that rise elegantly above clumps of divided green foliage and provide a vertical spectacle between June and late summer. Due to their lofty stature they are perfect at the back of beds and borders, and will instantly provide your garden with a 'cottage garden' look. Loved by bees and other pollinating insects, the flowers are ideal for cutting so you can create wonderful floral displays indoors.
A striking combination of pink petals suffused with white, this lavish osteospermum certainly has the WOW factor. Perfect for all manner of container displays and border planting, this is a variety that can't be missed! With abundant heads of bloom to fill your pots, the cheery pink blooms are highlighted by a dark indigo 'eye' made even more dazzling by its golden halo of pollen. This wonderful combination of colour makes the perfect summer combination and the daisy-like blooms of 'Banana Sennen Sunrise' are produced in profusion for months on end. Ideal for pots and borders, osteos are sun lovers, opening in response to the sun and grow best in moist, well-drained soil. Flowering from spring to autumn, the uniform, compact plants will tolerate light frost as well as heat and drought, plus being easy to grow and needing very little in the way of aftercare, they're the perfect variety for your garden. Supplied as 6 x jumbo plug plants, ready to grow on before planting out.
Praised by many as the very best periwinkle, vinca minor 'Bowles Variety' boasts striking lavender-blue, star-shaped flowers that are produced over many months from spring right through to the autumn. An invaluable plant for brightening dull corners of the garden this vigorous, low-growing evergreen perennial will thrive in sun or light shade in most soils. Its trailing stems root easily where they touch the ground, eventually forming a mat of glossy green leaves that act as a superb weed suppressant. Easy to grow, hardy and very low maintenance, the periwinkle is the perfect plant for any gardener who wants great results with very little effort Fully deserving its coveted RHS Award of Garden Merit, you can be sure that this is a proven garden performer, guaranteed to be suitable for UK gardeners at every level of experience. You can therefore plant this in the garden with confidence, for stunning displays for many years to come. Supplied as an established plant in a 2L pot, ready to plant straight out.
One of the very best white periwinkles, vinca minor 'Gertrude Jekyll' boasts striking snow-white, star-shaped flowers that are produced over many months from spring right through to the autumn. An invaluable plant for brightening dull corners of the garden this vigorous, low-growing evergreen perennial will thrive in sun or light shade in most soils. Its trailing stems root easily where they touch the ground, eventually forming a mat of glossy green leaves that act as a superb weed suppressant. A proven garden performer, guaranteed to be suitable for UK gardeners at every level of experience periwinkles are easy to grow, hardy and very low maintenance - the perfect plant for any gardener who wants great results with very little effort. You can therefore plant this in the garden with confidence, for stunning displays for many years to come. Supplied as an established plant in a 2L pot, ready to plant straight out. H10cm x W100cm, with flowers April - September.