Something quite baffling happens to gardens up and down the country during May.
Thousands of people rush to their local garden centre to buy their annual bedding plants, which they lovingly plant in their gardens and spend the rest of the summer providing amounts of water and TLC to keep them looking good till September when they die and have to be replaced the following year … and so the cycle goes on.
You would think the Horticultural industry would be a model of greeness but it never ceases to amaze me what a waste of water and effort this has to be.
Not having a regular supply of water is a real problem for traditonal bedding plants. If you are planning to visit your local nursery to buy summer bedding it is really important to think that you might be better off buying something that needs less water and will come back again next year? Mediterranean plants are one suggestion since they are adapted to long periods with no or very low rainfall and can reappear after the UK winter.
Try to buy plants with silver/grey waxy leaves as they will cope better with a lack of water. Dont be tempted by the rows of traditional bedding plants that are in every nursery at this time of year – petunias, lobelia and bizzy lizzies require vast amounts of water to get them through a hot UK summer and they are just not suitable for climate change gardening.
Mediterranean plants will provide a much better consistent display in hot temperatures as well as being low maintenance without all that wasteful watering.There are many different flowering and non-flowering ones to choose – see the Mediterreanean plants lists on the Home Page.
Something quite baffling happens to gardens up and down the country during May.
Thousands of people rush to their local garden centre to buy their annual bedding plants, which they lovingly plant in their gardens and spend the rest of the summer providing amounts of water and TLC to keep them looking good till September when they die and have to be replaced the following year … and so the cycle goes on.
You would think the Horticultural industry would be a model of greeness but it never ceases to amaze me what a waste of water and effort this has to be.
Not having a regular supply of water is a real problem for traditonal bedding plants. If you are planning to visit your local nursery to buy summer bedding it is really important to think that you might be better off buying something that needs less water and will come back again next year? Mediterranean plants are one suggestion since they are adapted to long periods with no or very low rainfall and can reappear after the UK winter.
Try to buy plants with silver/grey waxy leaves as they will cope better with a lack of water. Dont be tempted by the rows of traditional bedding plants that are in every nursery at this time of year – petunias, lobelia and bizzy lizzies require vast amounts of water to get them through a hot UK summer and they are just not suitable for climate change gardening.
Mediterranean plants will provide a much better consistent display in hot temperatures as well as being low maintenance without all that wasteful watering.There are many different flowering and non-flowering ones to choose – see the Mediterreanean plants lists on the Home Page.