Looking for plants for your garden but don’t know where to start?

I get asked this a lot when people are just at the begging stages of thinking about what plants to put in their garden. Its a mine field as there are many different types of plants with different labels added to them, its so confusing if you haven’t been involved with gardening before. Many people just don’t know where to start so I’m going to try to write some guidence that will help if you are thinking about adding plants to your garden or reviving an old unloved garden.

Lets start where I would begin!

Shrubs

In my mind shrubs are the backbone of any garden, they are going to give your garden all year round shape and colour. However you must be aware that some shrubs can grow very big quite quickly so before you take the plunge and plant it in your garden be sure that you know what you are buying and how to care for it correctly as digging them out is no easy task. You may need to put in a little time and effort each year to pruning your shrubs, this will include homework about the right time and correct method to prune or trim. Shrubs are probably one of the most important purchases you can make for your garden so make sure you get the right ones for you. The basic definition of a shrub is a woody plant which has several stems arising from the base, lacking a single trunk. They can be evergreen (has leaves on all year round) or deciduous (leaves fall off in the autumn and grow back in the spring). If I only ask one thing of you it is not to fall into the trap of thinking that you only want evergreen plants in your garden. Whilst they have a place there are some truly spectacular and really important plants that you should consider. Also some of the plants that we use for winter interest is because they loose their leaves and show the truly dazzling colour or form of the stems themselves.

Herbaceous/Perennials/Cottage Garden

These are the next set of plants that you should look for. As you can see by the title they can be described as many different things but generally (not always) die back completely into the soil for winter only to reappear with vigour in the late spring. They can provide a great variety of colour and shape to a garden as well as providing food and shelter for wildlife. They can take a little more work as every few years you may need to dig them out and divide them. Once a year in late autumn or early spring you will need to take away the old and dead stems of the herbaceous plants to make way for next years growth. I prefer do this in the spring as it allows plenty of places for wildlife to over winter. It may also help you if you don’t remember which were your herbaceous and which were your shrubs as by spring shrubs should show signs of sending leaves from the stems and herbaceous from the base. It could be a disaster if you were to cut your shrubs down the ground as not all them will recover from this treatment. At this point I feel like I should mention that not all herbaceous plants are hardy (have the ability to withstand cold temperatures) some are half hardy (may survive a warm winter) other are tender (they will come back next year but must be protected from frosts). Tender plants are best kept in pots and moved into a garage or shed during winter time. Plants that may fall into this category are Dahlias, some Fuchsias and many tropical style plants but check the label, google or join a specialist Facebook group.

Bulbs

There are many bulbs available that can add a fantastic splash of colour to your garden as well as providing food for pollinating insects early in the year when there is not much else in flower. We all know of the traditional daffodil and I do appreciate that yellow is not everyone’s favourite colour. I am pleased to say there are many bulbs that can give many other colours, textures and shapes, such as tulips which have come a long way over the years and there are now many really fashionable tulips available to suit all garden types. One note here though, not all tulips will come back again so look for plants that have a good chance of ‘Naturalising’ or are described as perennial as it can be an expensive mistake if you were expecting them to come back year after year when they don’t. Another thing to factor with bulbs is that they don’t like to sit in wet soil, so if your garden is wet all year they may not enjoy that and may rot before they have chance to grow. With that said there are many Iris’s that will love these conditions and will also provide early colour. The final bulb I’m going to mention are Alliums. Some flower in mid/late spring and others in the height of summer but one thing they all do is add great shape, form and surprise to any garden. The latest trend is to create a bulb lasagne where you plant a variety of bulbs in a pot at different levels these then flower at different times of the year. I have never tried it but it looks like a great idea for those who don’t have a garden love colour but don’t want to be planting up pots all year.

I could be here all day listing the bulbs you could and should get but if you like the idea you’ll have to do a little digging around on the internet yourself (did you see what I did there?).

One last catch with bulbs, you can’t buy them all year round, they need to be planted in late autumn so are usually available between October and November in bulb form but can occasionally be purchased as plants during their growing season.

Grasses

No garden is complete without at least one grass. and I don’t mean the typical green flat lawn that we are all used too. I mean tall moving grass that has fabulous flower/seed heads in the autumn and will stand tall throughout the winter providing structure movement and hibernating spots for wildlife. Be brave and get a wonderful tall grass, a fantastic structured Calamagrosis or a colourful Miscanthus, not feeling so brave or don’t have a big garden then try Stipa tenuissima, it is only 60cm tall and will provide the same feel but take up a lot less space. Once again do your research as some grasses grow wide and you don’t want to have to try to dig out a grass that has become invasive or grown to wide for your garden. If in doubt keep it in a pot and place the pot in your border. Many of these grasses don’t grow easily from seed so you don’t need to worry about that too much. But what ever you do, don’t ever, ever be tempted to plant a bamboo in the ground. It will run underground and spread wider than you can imagine and come up in cracks and even concrete if it gets big enough. If I learnt one thing working at Chester Zoo it is that one day Bamboo will take over the earth (along with the cockroaches). There is one reason why it is considered the most sustainable wood on the planet and that is its ability to grow quickly, very quickly.

Annuals

Annuals are one of the cheaper type of plants you can buy, this is why so many new gardeners fall into the trap of buying only these for their garden to find that they need replacing every year therefore making gardening feel like its hard work and expensive. Annuals definitely have a place in a garden and have in the past been very popular with various planting schemes. They grow from seed to flower in a very short period of time, usually only taking from March to July to be fully grown and in bloom. Many will set seed which is highly beneficial to our pollinators as they have lots of lovely nectar, they will also provide some of the most spectacular colour in your garden. Annuals can be used in pots and hanging baskets to provide a real splash of colour that cannot be beaten. So many of our native wild flowers are annulals and if you have space for a wild flower meadow you should plant one (This is a huge subject on it’s own) it could be one of the best things we can do to help restore the balance of nature.

Cost of creating a garden

Now I’m not going to lie and say that creating a garden is easy or can be done on the cheep. Creating a garden is expensive and time consuming but once it is complete it is such a pleasure to watch the seasons pass. Plants take time and care to grow and the longer they take to grow the more care they needed and the more they cost to produce. So a seed that comes to its full size in one year costs a lot less than a perennial that will take 3 - 5 years to be mature or a shrub that may take 4 -7 years to be at a size that will establish in the ground.

So when creating your garden buy wisely. If you are on a tight budget accept that you may need to wait to have the full and glorious garden you desire or speak to your friends and family if they already have a lot of plants maybe you can offer to help them to split their herbaceous plants in the spring. This will help them to have plants that will grow with extra vigour and take up less space and provide you with some free plants for your garden. Its is also a very sustainable and community driven way to garden.

Take some time to do your research take notes or photos of the plants you especially like and find out what they are and seek them out specifically. Spend some time on Pinterest looking a different styles of gardens and find out what plants go into that style of garden. Spend some time visiting professionally cared for and matured gardens and see what some of the plants look like when they are fully grown. talk to the gardeners who tend those gardens and ask at plant nurseries, plant fairs and garden centres about how to care for the plants you especially like.

Gardens are not something that should be built in a day, they should be a labour of love and a promise to a better future for yourself and the creatures that will rely upon your creation.

Garden with wildlife in mind

If you have the opportunity or necessity to redo an old or tired garden, spend some time looking at the plants that the wildlife use. For example, where do the birds land or nest, where are the pollinators hovering and taking food in the spring autumn and winter season? Trust me when I say this that birds, insects, mammals and reptiles all remember where good sources of food and shelter are and if they were to head to your garden for either and it be gone it could be the difference between life and death for them so garden with care and consideration.

Sometimes there is nothing that can be done and the site needs to be cleared before work can begin, but where possible replace one beneficial plant for another beneficial plant either in the same space or nearby we should do this and I would go as far as to say we have a moral responsibility to do this. We are custodians of nature and we should do our best to work with it and help it to thrive. This is why I love plants so much. If we only care for the trees and the plants wildlife all over the world will thrive. If we destroy and flatten the earth in order to own every corner, wildlife will not survive.

If you would like some help and advice in your own garden why not treat yourself to a one to one with Jo!

She has been a keen wildlife gardener for many years and has experience with many different styles of gardening.

Spring Flowers

Here at DJA plants we have been growing spring flowering plants in our greenhouse over the winter months and finally we have a greenhouse full of colour and fragrance.

I’m going to be honest and say that I have never really planted spring flowers in my garden before. However as we start to consider the plight of our native bumble bees it has become more and more important that we ensure that our gardens have flowers for as long as possible. With our seasons become more and more erratic its not unusual to find that a sunny winters day has awoken a queen bee from her resting place and she is out and about foraging for something to revive her energy. What can I do to help? I hear you say! Well its really quite simple and you don’t even need a garden to do it. Purchase some locally grown native plants from a small grower such as ourselves and ensure that the plants have not been exposed to any nasty neonicotinoid pesticides which will continue to live in the plant and its pollen long after it has been used. then pot up a planter or your garden beds with these plants. any nectar and pollen loving insects will soon start to visit and once they know where to go for food they will soon set up home nearby.

Here at DJA plants we use beneficial predator insects to control the pests that might harm our plants and if we really have no choice we may use neem oil to remove anything that is particularly bothersome but on the whole we live with nature and tolerate snails and slugs (to a degree) knowing that all of the wildlife we invite into our garden will help to see it off.

I think what has surprised me the most about some of these spring flowers is the fragrance. Our native Primula vulgaris (Primrose Everlast), Viola cornuta and Iris Reticulata were really pungent. I noticed the fragrance as soon as I walked into the greenhouse and especially when I bought them into the house to photograph them. new varieties are great but some of the more traditional plants are superb just as they are.

Propagation from leaf cuttings

For me the greatest joy of growing plants is propagating and watching them grow before my very eyes.

As a huge Harry Potter fan nothing feels more like magic than watching a plant grow from a tiny seed into a full leaved plant or watching a single leaf produce a miniature version of itself.

Many succulents will grow from leaf cutting but not all, if you want to give leaf cuttings a go but aren’t sure which plant to choose send a message to jo@djaplants.co.uk and she will help you to select the easiest or most interesting from our available plants.

So how how easy is it then? Its so easy that many succulents do it as a way of cloning themselves in the wild should they sustain damage. However not all leaves that fall will have the ability to grow roots and become a miniature version of its parent. In order to have the best success you need to select a clean, healthy and plump leaf, this might mean that you need to pluck a leaf from your very happy plant. Don’t worry you wont case any harm if you are careful, many of these plants will shed leaves over time anyway as they grow so eventually you wont even be able to see where you plucked it from.

If you are artful you could create a stunning display using the leaves of multiple plants in a wide shallow bowl and enjoy the design as they start to grow.

To get started I recommend a shallow pot with no more than 5cm of gritty compost. I use half compost and half grit. Alternatively you could just place the single leaf alongside its parent plant.

Simply lie this leaf on the surface, you don’t want to stick it into the soil or try to bury it, but make sure that the part that was closest to the parent plant comes into contact with some of the surface of the substrate (fancy word for soil mix).

Place it in a cool bright corner and wait. You don’t need to keep the soil damp as this is more likely to cause the leaf to rot than root. You will also note that I suggested somewhere cool, about 15c is good. If it is too warm your leaf might dry out and shrivel up before it has the chance to send out roots. It is the same with light, you need to keep it in a bright spot but not full sun as this may also cause your leaf to shrivel.

Whilst I don’t recommend keeping the soil wet it can be beneficial to mist from time to time but I am talking fortnightly at most until you start to see roots develop, then you can water carefully. Aim to keep the soil moist but always on the dry side, as always with succulents, If in doubt don’t water.

Leaf cuttings can take a long time before they do anything, I would allow anywhere between 3 - 6 months before you start to see roots appear and the same again before you start to see a little miniature plant starting to emerge. the best method is to put them aside and forget about them or if you make a succulent art bowl enjoy it for its current beauty and one day you will see the signs of growth. Some leaves will develop quicker and it is variable depending on conditions but the main thing you need to know is it can be slow so be patient.

Here is my word of caution, I see many places offering succulent leaves for sale and whilst this can be a great way to build up a collection at a reasonable price it will take a long time and I have been stung in the past by receiving leaves that are not large enough or strong enough to make it through the process of evolution from leaf to plant. A better way is to find a collection buddy and purchase a whole plant that is strong and healthy to begin with and take cuttings and leaves to grow from that.

One of my favourites to grow from leaf is Graptopetalum paraguayensis as shown pictured above and is available to purchase from our shop should you want to have a go for yourself.

The cost of an indoor jungle?

So you’re looking to create a place of calm and surround yourself with plants in your office or home! However you’re wondering how much is it going to cost me to create this little oasis?

Plants may not be as expensive as you think, whilst there are plants out there that can cost in excess of £100 in my personal opinion you don’t need these to create your zen space. These types of plants are for those people who have lots of experience caring for plants and want to say they have species that no one else has. Believe it or not some of the good old traditional house plants that were around in the 1970’s are still around today and they are still around for a reason, because they thrive and survive in the home setting and in my honest opinion this is the key when deciding what plants you should get for your home or office.

Where can I get these oldies but goodies? The most cost effective places I have found to source large plants is Lidl, Aldi B&Q or Ikea. A good sized plant will normally cost you between £10 and £15. But why are they so cheep? The main reason is because they can buy in massive bulk and ship them to stores all over the country enabling them to get a great discount from the supplier. You may be wondering if they will be healthy because they are so cheap and the answer is absolutely. if you provide them with the right care and attention when you get them to their new home they will thrive just as well as any expensive plant you buy and probably more so because these stores generally buy those plants that are pretty robust. So what’s the downside I hear you say? I guess for many of us plant lovers the worst thing about seeing plants for sale in these stores is that they just treat them like any other commodity, they don’t hire people with adequate training or knowledge to care for them, they aren’t watered properly or kept in ideal temperature or lightning conditions but because they have such a high turnover of plants it doesn’t really matter to them.

Should you buy them? Absolutely they are great value and will serve the purpose. Don’t however let this stop you from surfing the internet to discover small business who may be selling plants for slightly more but provide them with better care and will also be willing to give you all of the after care advice you need and many will support you and be excited to hear how your new green companion is doing in its new home.

How much will it cost you to create that jungle experience in your own home or office? Well interestingly its probably the pots that are going to cost more than the plants and to find a pot that matches your décor is no easy feat and can easily triple the price. I have found nice large pots in TK max in the past but they still aren’t cheap. Don’t forget when buying a pot for your house plant you DON’T want it to have holes in the bottom or you need to buy a saucer so that they moisture from the bottom of the pot doesn’t ruin your floor or surfaces.

If you’re looking for a more bespoke service, want something a little extra special or want to buy from somewhere that will offer you hints, tips and advice be sure to look for a local plant shop in your area or online. They will know what plant will suit the conditions you have to offer and will normally provide help when it comes to time to pot your plant up or if you have any problems with care If you are local and looking for something larger than you have seen many of these smaller companies will be able to source something for you.

If you would like any advice from us or to use our consultation service to provide you with information about how to care for the plants you already have or to uses our bespoke service to help you fill your home or office with plants please don’t hesitate to get in touch we would love to help you.

Send an email to jo@djaplants.co.uk

How Sustainable is buying plants?

To be perfectly honest, anything that we do as a consumer is not sustainable or environmentally friendly. With that said it is far better for the local economy, better financial share and the planet as a whole if we buy from small local businesses and remain mindful of what we are purchasing.

As a consumer of plants myself I became very much aware that the scale on which many plants are grown, the conditions they are grown in and the resources that are used to grow them is not great for the health of our planet and that is why I decided to create DJA Plants. We are a small business based in Cheshire hoping to help to change your mindset around what you buy and what it has taken to get it to you. I’m not going to preach and tell you how perfect I am because I’m not. However since I have decided to raise my awareness of environmental issues I have bought a lot less things and considered the impact they have than I ever did previously.

At DJA Plants we grow the majority of our plants from cutting or seed in our nursery here in Winsford, Cheshire. We also rescue Cactus and Succulents and care for them until they are growing and well rooted down, at which point we are able to offer some unusual, old and difficult to acquire plants to everyone at sensible prices.

We do not sell leaves of plants or cuttings, we believe in selling only established plants to our customers. Growing from leaves or cuttings is fun and exciting but not guaranteed so we will never offer these for sale. That is not to say that we will not give these away if we have them available. We want everyone to learn and enjoy propagation.

We aim to grow all of our plants here in the UK. From time to time we purchase some plants from overseas and we may propagate from some plants that came from overseas but we believe that plants grown in a local setting have a much better chance of survival. We will be totally open and upfront about where our plants come from and where they were grown.

We chose to use non plastic pots because we feel it is important to not only recognise the damage that plastic has on our environment, but also to have the discussion about what can we do better to have a more positive impact on our environment. We will be the first to admit that plastic is an amazing resource and that alternatives are not necessarily better for our planet or any more sustainable. However if we are having the conversation with as many people as possible we are raising awareness and helping to become leaders for change in our industry.

We only use Peat free compost and consider the environmental impact of all of the products that we use. this includes our use of perlite and horticultural grit. We try alternatives and ensure that they work and have the same effects before we sell our products containing these alternatives or offer recommendations about these alternatives.

We don’t use harmful chemical sprays. We use biological controls such as beneficial insects. This might be why if you buy garden plants from us they may have the odd aphid or signs of slug damage. I believe we are all only visitors on this earth sharing the resources that we have and insects are part of a healthy eco system. If we get it right there will be balance and we don’t need to kill things with traps or chemicals the planets cycles will be in harmony and help us to take care of the “pests”. If you have an explosion of aphids today, I can assure you, you will have an explosion of ladybirds tomorrow! Of course the other alternative is to only buy plants which pests don’t like, that is an option too.

We want you to enjoy your plants so we are here to offer you help and advice at anytime. You can reach us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, email or via or website. We have all sorts of guides, such as watering advice and even the opportunity to have a one to one consultation session about any plants in your home or garden. These are available on our website or you can send us a direct message with your problem and a photo of the associated plant. When you buy from your new plant will be in the best possible condition to survive even the least green fingers.

Should I water my Cactus in Winter?

The simple answer is NO, you shouldn’t be watering your cactus over winter and here are the reasons why:

As the nights become darker your cactus will naturally want to go into a period of dormancy as it simply won’t be getting enough light to enable it to grow properly. Combine the darker nights with cooler temperatures and you definitely don’t want to water your cactus. Wet roots and cold conditions will lead to your cactus getting root rot and sadly this is pretty much always terminal. I keep my warmer climate cactus on my bedroom windowsill all year round. They sit just above a radiator but I still withhold water in the winter. A second reason you should not water your cactus in the winter is because this could cause them to become confused and want to grow, this will cause what we call etiolation. A plant is becoming or has become etiolated is when the new growth at the top is a lot lighter than the rest of the growth of the plant. Over time this will become thin and spindly and make the plant look distorted and just wrong. Once this has occurred there is no going back even if the lighting and watering problems are rectified this will still leave a mark on the cactus to tell its story long into the future.

If you keep your cactus in a greenhouse or an unheated conservatory you especially shouldn’t water. They will be more likely to survive the cold months if the soil is 100% dry. I keep all of my cactus and succulents (with the exception of a few) in my greenhouse which is heated to 6°C over winter.

As a rule of thumb for the UK we recommend to stop watering in September. This can be hard as we have had some really hot and sunny autumns just lately but if your plants are not in a centrally heated home I recommend not to be tempted to give them too much, if any water after September. Start watering again around April but again if we have any more cold weather predicted you may want to reconsider waiting a little longer.

To put this advice into perspective, your cactus or succulents, if healthy, will absolutely survive a little longer without water. That is what they have evolved to do. It will not however survive being wet or cold.

When you do water in April, wake your plant up gently with a light water to allow the roots to adjust from being totally dry to knowing to expect some moisture. Cactus are incredible and they can develop tiny roots really quickly to take advantage of a sudden rain shower to enable them to take up any water given before it evaporates from the soil.

Two final points on watering is firstly, never spray your cactus with water. They are adapted to survive in an arid (dry) climate and a regular spray or misting will only cause them to rot.

When you do water your cactus and succulents during the growing season (April to September). Give them a good water so that all of the soil is wet (make sure you are using the correct soil mix for your cactus and succulents and the correct size pot for the root system) and then wait for the soil to dry out before watering again. This could be 1 week or it could be 2 depending on the weather or the growth cycle of the plant. If you are not sure you are better to wait than over water. Never let your cactus sit in a pot with water in the bottom for longer than 2 hours.

NB: These answers are based on the reader being based in the UK

Wildlife in your garden

One of our biggest passions here at DJA Plants is wildlife and this is probably what has led us to grow plants. Our native wildlife doesn’t need our help, it needs us to help to protect and encourage the natural environment all around us so that it can get on with what it does best and that is survival.

I have always been fascinated by animals and like many people put a lot of focus and emphasis on how we can save and protect our native, birds, bees, mammals and amphibians. However the simple truth is that they don’t need us to anything more difficult than stop polluting, reduce and reuse what we already have and to generally care for the environment (plants) that surround us and them. Domestic Gardens make up some of the largest expanses of green space in the UK and if we simply make them inviting the wildlife, it will come and it will thrive. When we moved in to our current home 5 years ago it was a square patch of grass with a few overgrown shrubs and paving stones all around. There was a little wildlife here and there but the garden was mostly devoid of life and movement. Over the years we dug out wide boarders and filled them full of flowering shrubs and beneficial plants such as Mahonia, Cornus, Verbena, Echium and Ivy. I wanted full borders with large and colourful herbaceous plants such as Alliums, Primrose, Echinacea, Rudbeckia, Foxglove, Cosmos and so many more. This type of planting does come with some pitfalls for the wildlife, because it mostly dies back in the winter, so I make up for this by trying to ensure that there is always something in flower, plenty of evergreen shrubs and leaving dried stalks of the herbaceous plants up until well into spring. Now all year round our garden is abound with life buzzing, hopping and chirping away and although it is a busy and bustling space it is one of the most relaxing places I can be in.

If you want to delve deeper how to create a wildlife friendly garden why not get a copy of our Gardening for Wildlife Guide

send us a message and have a chat with us about how we can help you to make your garden a more inviting space for nature.