Advice needed on chosing plants
I want to plant some flowers for this summer in my garden and got totally confused. I found some flower bulbs in wilko: like begonia, peony, gladioli. They are cheap and I like it just not sure if it would flower this summer? Maybe buying some large pugs from gardeningdirect would be a better idea? I just want to make sure I will see some blooming flowera this summer. Any advice is welcome!
Last edited: 29 January 2018 10:18:06
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Gladioli will flower this summer ... (I'd plant them straight into the garden in late April/early May) begonia will also flower this summer if you start them off indoors and don't let them get frosted.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=815
Peonies may take a few years to get to flowering size.
Last edited: 29 January 2018 10:28:00
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The begonias will flower this year. I start mine off in shallow trays, early March, indoors. They get planted outdoors around June.
Don't bury the corms completely, just press them into damp compost. Here's a short video showing how, and which way up to plant ?.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eRWrczMo97c
Oh thank you very much for advice!
If you do decide to get some plug plants, don't rush to plant them straight out into the garden too early. Most of the ones on sale will have been grown in greenhouses, with extra light/heat, and are not ready for outdoor conditions.
They need to be potted on into larger pots with fresh compost and kept indoors (windowsill or greenhouse) to grow larger/stronger, and then hardened off before they go out permanently May/June time.
If you don't have the time or space to do this I'd advise waiting until spring, and then buy more established plants ?.
I usually wait for the supermarkets to get in well established plants nearer the time for planting out.
This year I’ve stopped myself buying plug plants too early by ordering the larger ones from Marshalls which won’t even be delivered till March/April.
There’s a very good article here on how to treat plug plants.
https://www.wyevalegardencentres.co.uk/cms/tips-and-advice/growing-projects/plug-plants/
If you do buy some, try to go to a garden centre or nursery so you can get a mixture, problem with some online sites is that you get so many plants of one variety. Unless you want lots that is.
Last edited: 29 January 2018 18:11:40