BBC Gardeners' World

Last chance… Due to its popularity, we’re adding another date on the Castles & Gardens of North Wales tour (17 July 2023). See page 111 for details Maximise… your outdoor space, with our Small Space Gardening Guide including four seed packs. It’s in stores from 23 March andyoucan pre-order yours online at bit.ly/Small-Space-Guide23 Enjoy… your free tomato and tagetes seeds this month, and look out for your three double seed packs and 2 for 1 Gardens entry card with your May issue next month! Listen to our Sowalong podcasts, available at GardenersWorld.com/podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. See page 28 Subscribe and save 48% on 12 issues. You’ll receive Niwaki Sentei secateurs, worth £39, a 2 for 1 Gardens entry card & guide and free seeds, worth over £14.…

love April. Spring is doing its thing at full throttle, there’s the real chance of fine weather and often the odd bank holiday providing the perfect opportunity for a bit of extra time in the garden. It’s also when our nurseries and garden centres really begin to burst with colour – pretty, spring-flowering shrubs are always positioned prominently to tempt us, plus shelves and nursery benches are full to the gunwales with vibrant delights all calling to be popped into your trolley that, let’s be honest, is probably already overflowing. For me it’s an exciting time, and when I really begin to make an effort with my containers. I love pots, and the opportunity they provide to be creative and plant something that’s beautiful in its entirety – often in…

“April prepares her green traffc light and the world thinks, Go!”Christopher Morley STARS OF THE MONTH Tulipa Purple Crystal, T. ‘Mistress’, T. ‘China Pink’ and T. ‘Burgundy’ In the immortal words of Max Bygraves, “When it’s Spring again I’ll bring again, Tulips from Amsterdam, With a heart that’s true I’ll give to you, Tulips from Amsterdam”. It is that time of year again when, after the long winter and slow start to the year, we are flooded with colour as tulips appear. Suddenly our gardens are once again sparking with purples, oranges, pinks and dollops of cream. Yes, we have had seas of snowdrops, daffodils, tiny irises and aconites to tickle our danders but, I always think, that spring is not really real until tulips arrive. All tulips should be…

Muscari aucheri ‘Blue Magic’ Pale blue at the tip, darkening, then each flower is rimmed in frosty white. Height x Spread 15cm x 10cm M. armeniacum ‘Siberian Tiger’ Has fragrant flowers of the cleanest white, opening from green-tinted buds. H x S 15cm x 10cm M. ‘Pink Sunrise’ White buds at the tip of the spike open to rosy-pink bells, gathered in pretty cone-shaped spikes. H x S 15cm x 10cm M. armeniacum ‘Blue Spike’ Each tiny flower is doubled up with extra petals, creating a very full head of colour. H x S 15cm x 10cm Muscari M. armeniacum ‘Valerie Finnis’ Delicate pale blue bells, which stand out in borders far more effectively than the dark blue varieties. H x S 15cm x 10cm At first I thought the…

WORTH £14 The highly scented white bells of Convallaria majalis nod in the breeze on arching stems. Shade-loving, it will fll your garden with perfume. Get 10 plants free with any order opposite. Height x Spread 25cm x 25cm Flowers May Supplied as bare roots, delivery in 7 days For more offers and details on how to order, see opposite page rare | unusual | exciting Shade-tolerant beauties ◼ WOODLAND BLETILLA COLLECTION Known as hardy orchids, bletilla can be grown in woodlands and part-shaded areas. Strap-shaped foliage remains for an extended period until it goes dormant for winter. Collection includes: ◼ Bletilla striata Dark purple ◼ Bletilla striata ‘Kuchi-beni’ ◼ Bletilla striata Blue dragon H x S 30cm x 30cm F May-Jul ◼ 3 bare roots (1 of each) £21…

If I knew I were to die in six months’ time, what would I do in the garden? Perhaps the notion of planting for a future I could not share would seem pointless. But I doubt it. Gardening transcends time. Gardens never exist in any one moment. They are like the sky or a river. Everything is just passing through, including, it seems, you and me. Now, forgive me if this seems a trifle morbid. It is partly an age thing – I am now exactly the age my father was when he died – partly because, for the past year or two, I have been involved with a marvellous new garden that volunteers are making at St Michael’s Hospice in Hereford and partly because I have always loved the…