With Mother’s Day coming up this weekend, we have put together a list of some of our favourite flowers and plants which will make either a lovely gift for your mother, sister, grandparent, a neighbour, or just to put in your own garden! With the days getting longer, the smell of freshly mown grass in the air, and little more sunshine after the grey we’ve had, it’s not hard to get excited that Spring is just a few weeks away. If you are inspired by our list please get in touch for a bespoke quotation! With garden centres busier than ever we can help you source the plants you need at competitive prices and of excellent quality to ensure you get the best your garden deserves!

Lavandula (lavender) - a plant that needs no introduction. It’s hardy, evergreen and adds colour to a border. It also gives off a lovely scent and is known to be attractive to bees and other pollinators. It’s easy to grow, and is a fool proof lovely addition to your garden. Being low maintenance it only needs annual pruning to ensure it doesn’t grow wild and woody, but you can use these cuttings to propagate more plants! We recommend planting a border of these as an alternative to easy destroyed buxus. Our top tip, if you can put them in a sunny spot to keep them happy all year round.

Roses - one of our favourite things about growing roses in the garden is that in addition to adding scent and colour to the garden, their cuttings can make for beautiful home grown arrangements. Repeat flowering roses in particular provide multiple beautiful blooms all summer long which will make an ideal table topper. Our top tip is to cut your roses in the morning before the heat of the day and put them straight into water. For a bespoke rose selection for your garden, please get in touch so we can best advise based on the soil, sunlight and space you have. Roses are typically chosen to spark memories so they are a very personal aspect to your space so take time in choosing. In the meantime, some of the roses we recommend and have seen gardens enjoy are;

Iceberg (Climbing rose) - a firm favourite in our gardens. A repeat flowering climber of medium size this rose has white smaller blooms with a light sweet scent. It’s easy to train and can be planted in all soil types.

Gertrude Jekyll - this rose has a phenomenal scent, however what you get in fragrance you lose in longevity, this is a single flowering rose. It is one of the first to flower each season and it a quintessential Old Rose fragrance.

Gabriel Oak (English Shrub Rose) - deep pink almost fluorescent flowers with a strong fruity scent, also a repeat flower but big impressive blooms.

Adelaide d’Orleans (Rambling Rose) - a white elegant rambler with dainty white blooms with a light delicate scent. Growing up to 6ft these can create an impressive flower across the front of your home or over a structure like a pergola

Malvern Hills (Rambling Rose) - with soft yellow and white blooms this is a more polished rambler that repeat flowers. This has a stronger stem which is perfect for a shady or wind trap area.

Lilium (Lilies) - you can plant these as bulbs right up until Spring so you still have time. Again, these are easy to grow, and hardy to fluctuating English weather - you can even force them to flower by keeping them in containers inside and they’ll flower for you within 6 weeks. There are various types of bulbs so be sure to get the right one for the type of soil you have, as always we can advise. Oriental hybrids are colourful and heavily scented, wheres Asiatic hybrids are easier to grow but are scentless. We can guide you on the right ones for your soil type and garden. Our top tip is to remember to trim off the yellow pollen laden stamens as this can stain anything that’s brushed against it - sticky tape is the best method for getting it off clothes!

Seeds - this is also the month to start sewing seeds such as sweet pea, plant your summer flowering bulbs and put in the ground any indoor forced bulbs which will have finished flowering now. Be sure to deadhead any Narcissus (daffodils) but allow the foliage to die naturally and mix with the soil.

You may have also noticed the abundance of delightful blossom that’s gracing the streets of London at the moment. From the candy floss pink of the cherry trees which usually reaches its peak around April ,but is coming to us earlier after a more mild winter. You’ll also see blooming magnolia trees which will be followed by the wisteria which we look forward to come May. Some of our favourite spots to see this are; Ravenscourt Park, Kyoto Garden in Holland Park and of course lining the streets around Chelsea, Kensington and Hammersmith and Fulham.

If you’re looking for a creative way to get kids involved in the garden, you can always try letting some fresh petals from your plants dry out to create a pot pourri, or dry out some lavender and sew a little bag to pop on a pillow. A natural sleep ease remedy which I think we could all use about now!

That’s all from us for now, we hope you make the most of the blue skies before we head into Spring showers and we look forward to seeing you and your garden soon!