Create a stylish and relaxing space in your home or garden with this stunning tipping jugs water feature from Serenity.
From late spring, Ajuga reptans 'Black Scallop' produces violet blue flower spikes that really stand out against its thick mat of shimmering black foliage - which becomes even darker when grown in full sun. ?Black Scallop? is more tolerant of sun that many other Bugle varieties, and makes an excellent groundcover plant, thriving in almost any soil conditions. Use it to attract pollinating insects to your wildlife garden, or allow it to creep through rockeries or the front of borders. Height: 15cm (6). Spread: 60cm (24).
With crinkled leaves in pastel shades of green, cream, purple and pink, this low-growing ground-cover plant is fun and frothy, all ready to party! Every summer, Ajuga reptans 'Party Colour' bears flower spikes above its pretty leaves, adding violet-blue to the colour mix, and bringing a new dimension to its evergreen all-year interest. Perfect for a shady spot, Bugle is easy to grow and requires no maintenance. It's a great choice for a woodland border or for a patio container in a shady corner. Height: 20cm (8). Spread up to 50cm (20).
Ajuga reptans 'Catlins Giant' is grown for its foliage as much as its flowers, slowly spreading to form a carpet of glossy, purple-green leaves. This semi-evergreen perennial flowers from late spring through to midsummer, producing masses of upright spikes of blue-purple flowers that are highly attractive to bees. 'Catlins Giant' is a popular Bugle selection, with larger leaves and flowers than the original species, and has been awarded a prestigious RHS AGM. Perfect as ground cover for woodland gardens and shady borders, Ajuga plants prefer partial shade, and are extremely low maintenance. Height: 50cm (20). Spread up to 1m (39).
The nectar-rich flowers of Ajuga reptans f. albiflora 'Alba' make it a real magnet for pollinating insects. Its thick mats of evergreen foliage make excellent ground cover, and the perfect backdrop for compact white flower spikes that light up even the dullest corner of the garden. Bugle is a study and dependable plant, a hardy perennial that will thrive in difficult shaded areas and on almost any type of soil. Ajuga reptans f. albiflora 'Alba' looks superb in the front of cottage garden borders, or creeping through woodland areas and rockeries, and flowers from late spring to early summer. Height: 20cm (8). Spread: 60cm (24).
Ajugas are hardy, low growing perennials that are ideal for creating evergreen groundcover, with attractive foliage and delightful little spires of spring flowers. 'Burgundy Glow' has wonderful green and cream variegated foliage with splashes or deep burgundy red which give rise to dainty bright blue flowers from April until June, forming a carpet of early colour to bring your garden to life in the spring. Also known at the Carpet Bugleweed, Ajuga plants will knit together to form an attractive evergreen blanket of groundcover to help keep weeds at bay. As a member of the mint family, it spreads through runners and will quickly cover bare patches in you borders. An incredibly adaptable plant, Ajuga is often grown in shady, areas underneath trees and shrubs and is makes particularly useful groundcover in areas where grass doesn't grow well, and will help to control erosion on banks. It's also perfectly happy in the sun and can tolerate a little drought too. Recommended by the RHS as a 'Plant for Pollinators' the flowers are produced through the spring and summer and are a favourite with butterflies and bees. Supplied as 3 established plants in 9cm pots, ready for planting, growing to 15cm (6in) high and spreading 60cm (2ft).
Juglans regia, the English or common walnut is a deciduous, broadleaf tree with shiny, feather-like leaves and fleshy, green fruits which contain the delicious nuts. In spring, the trees produce tiny immature fruits which are wind pollinated by fat male catkins and, although trees are self-fertile, you can greatly improve yield by introducing another type of walnut. The walnuts themselves develop inside a fibrous, leathery casing which splits when the nuts ripen in early autumn. This is when the nuts are at their finest, with a softer texture and distinctive, creamy taste. If you want to store them for Christmas, you are best off drying or freezing them after removing all traces of the outer husk. These fast-growing trees can reach 30m (100ft) high and 15m (50ft) in ideal conditions, and although tend to be smaller in the UK, they're still a plant that likes lots of room to grow. Supplied as an established plant in a 22cm pot, approx. 1.5m tall, ready for planting out. Did you know... That walnuts originated in ancient Persia, where they were reserved for royalty.The best wood is at the base of the tree, so walnuts are often dug up for timber, rather than felled.Walnuts produce a growth inhibitor - juglone - that has a detrimental effect on some species of plants growing nearby and it is believed that this stops other plants growing around them and competing for nutrients - a very clever tree!