Show us your gardening purchases 2025

It's that time of the year when it's difficult to leave the supermarket without bulbs. This is my first purchase of the season, from Lidl. And the packet wasn't that creased when I picked it up, it just had a rough journey home!

I had a similar colour themed pack from them last year and had 100% success rate, although they did include a very red tulip in a pink-themed pack!

 

I've been on a mission to find replacements for a Box hedge and a Box ball in a container which have succumbed to Box tree moth. I'm replacing the hedge with a grow of grasses, Anemanthele lessoniana which is evergreen and will provide interest for about 5 years, and a compact, spine-free Mahonia Meteor for the container, also evergreen. That's the project for today .

 

That's a nice looking Mahonia.

 

Thank you @Escarpment, the leaves have more character than the other soft leaved variety, Soft Caress, which I once grew. It never seemed to make any progress, so we parted .

 

Yes I don't fancy the Soft Caress one. I have a traditional prickly one, but it's out of the way in the middle of my slope and the bigger it gets, the better so no pruning.

 

I'm definitely in an Orange mood. I've just been down to B&Q to see what they had, and came back with 2 Echinacea "Sunseekers Orange".

Then on the way back I remembered being similarly tempted by a "Sunseekers Red" this time last year; I planted it out in the garden and it didn't reappear this year. Oh well. That was the back garden and these are destined for the front, maybe they'll have more luck there.

Was tempted by salvias too, they had lots of lovely ones including a giant one "Plum Crazy".

 

I was very controlled at Farmyard Nurseries yesterday. I only bought pteris nipponica, zauschneria, another tricyrtis, and auriculas Girl guide and whitewater. Oh and a couple of metal half circles to hold up my floppy plants. I've given up buying the ones coated in green plastic as they always get tatty.

 

I’ve got a couple of the prickly ones too, Winter Sun, which I prefer as they flower when not much else does.

 

I've not bought many plants this year, but I wanted a white clematis for the right hand side of my pergola. I have one of the early macropetalas on the left side [Lemon Dream], but the dark ones I have that could go there would get very bleached, so I had a look to see what white one would work. I settled on one I didn't know about called C. tsukiko, and they had their sale on - 25% off, so £9 for a mature plant. It's similar to C. Miss. Bateman in colour, but without the greeny bars that you see on that on the new flowers. I have an Etoile Violette further along, so they should all work well together over the year. I need ot find a different place for the C. Polish Spirit that I'd intended having there, but I have a few spots where it should be ok.
There's another Mahonia that's not jaggy, but I can't remember what it is. They featured it on Beechgrove or G's World recently. It looked good though. I have Winter Sun in the front garden, as part of the boundary nearest to the house. I have a holly there too. The sparrows get great protection as they go back and forth from my garden to their other 'home' across from me, where they nest. The berries are enjoyed by lots of birds too.

I use some of the rusted supports @CarolineL , which are really sturdy, but I appreciate that they're not to everyone's taste. They're far better than those green plastic coated ones, as you say. Plant Supports UK - The secret behind great gardens is where I got them. There'll be plenty of suppliers though.

 

That link is useful @fairygirl - their prices are not bad, though postage cost always gives me a shock! I paid £3.99 per support for 50cm tall and 28 cm across. Tbh the rusty ones disappear so we'll in the border, I struggle to find them!

 

Couldn't resist. Tulips don't like my soil, will dance around creating raised zone with sand, grit, light compost.

 

I have quite a few of the rusted ones @CarolineL , including some of the taller, round ones for peonies etc. I use one of those for the very tall orange lilies [henryi] that I have. I've got some of the individual ones too, with the ball top, currently in an area where a clematis is, and they're a nice feature in winter too when plants have died back. I've had them all for a long time, and they're great. I bought a few of those green ones that you mention, and they're so flimsy!

I treat the bigger tulips as annuals here @Alisa, and all in pots. I love them, but they aren't suited to this neck of the woods. Some of the botanic ones [which is what you have there] do quite well in my raised beds, but the small ones often get dug up and eaten, as they're not buried so deeply, and they can still rot. They're more reliable though, but they tend to be those brighter colours which a lot of people don't like. I have one called T. Odalisque which is nice - a strong pink, and I've had T. Turkestanica, but that gradually disappeared over time. T. Honky Tonk is taller [yellow] and so is Flyaway [orange] and I've got both of those, although the latter didn't do so well last year

 

Good haul @Alisa . Where did you get them from and were they expensive? I'm tempted with botanical Tulips

My order from Jurassic plants, they replied to my questions promptly which is always a good sign. I'm not quite sure if the Arauija will be better as houseplant or if I can risk it outdoors, if there is enough of it I'll take cuttings/ split it and try both.

 

I mainly use Peter Nyssen for my bulbs @Selleri , although there are many good online suppliers, and decent GCs should have them too. I rarely go in those though. A good supplier will also be reliable if there are any problems. I don't use the cheaper online companies though - too dodgy

 

@Selleri I grew araujia from seed from @noisette47 - it was very vigorous in my cool greenhouse and the flowers were very interesting. But I didn't like that it trapped the insects in them - I had to rescue bumblebees and butterflies. So I tried planting it outside instead. It didn't survive.