Where has the summer gone, we haven't seen alot of the sun this week but with the weather warm and some moisture in the ground there are plenty of plants that can be put in now.Shrubs , perennials and container grown roses can be planted as long as they are well watered when planted and when there are dry periods in late summer and autumn.

Don't forget to dead your summer bedding and hanging baskets to prolong the season and keep feeding them every couple off weeks.

As August approaches get in amongst your perennials and dead head them, not only just to tidy the borders up, but you may even get a few more flowers in mid/ late September.

Watch out for mildew etc on autumn flowering Asters

As the flowers go over and your borders begin to look a bit tired look out for different plants to flower in late summer /autumn, Sedums and Rudbeckias and Japanese Anemones to name just a few.

Invasive ladies...
Our office was swarming with these nasty critters last year. They are Harlequin Ladybirds. On a plus they do eat aphids BUT so do our native ladybirds and these are the ones who are under threat.
In general Harlequin Ladybirds are larger and have more spots that our native ladybirds.
Think you've found one? The University of Cambridge, CEH and Anglia Ruskin University are doing a survey of Harlequin ladybirds. You can use your mobile or the web to record your sightings. Just click here to find identification sheets and more info. Another great site for native ladybird fans is http://www.ladybird-survey.org/

Attract some wildlife to your garden, bees and butterflies love Buddlejas, there are numerous varieties to choose from,whites, purples, blues and reds.

To keep them to manageable size prune them hard every spring just before they come into growth to get a nice bushy plant, they get tall and woody if not pruned every year

St Bridgets grow the following varieties-a good selection of flower colours and foliage.

BUDDLEJA
alternifoiia AGM £8.00
davidii Black Knight AGM £7.00
Camberwell Beauty £7.00
Empire Blue AGM £7.00
Harlequin £7.00
* Marbled White £7.00
Nanho Blue AGM (Mongo) £7.00
Royal Red AGM £7.00
White Bouquet £7.00
globosa AGM £7.00
Lochinch £7.00
Pink Delight AGM £7.00

Give your south facing sunny wall an exotic look by planting a Passion flower.

They come in various colours and are interesting flowers to look at and children will be fasinated by them.

Plant them where they will get winter protection outside or in a cold greenhouse or conservatory.

St Bridgets grow a good selection from Caerulea which will generally survive outside in the south west through to varieties that need winter protection.

Prices range between £7.50-£7.75.

PASSIFLORA (PASSIONFLOWER)
caerulea AGM £7.50
Constance Elliot £7.50
rubra £7.50
Eden £7.75
x exoniensis £7.50
Lavender Lady (Amethyst) £7.50
mollissima £7.50
x violacea Victoria £7.50

Give the lawn a quick-acting summer feed, especially if a spring feed was not done.

Find suitable products in both St Bridget Nurseries' Garden Centres, you can get granular feeds or liquid ones. Remember if you apply feed by hand always wear gardening gloves.

Summer Sale coming soon...

Hot off the press - St Bridget Garden Centres in Exeter are going to be having a furniture frenzy and summer outdoor living sale starting this Friday (23rd).

There are some fantastic offers on furniture including some beautiful benches. Plus there's going to be 25% off chimeneas.

Why not visit today and start planning what you will buy this weekend?

An easy to grow, summer flowering shrub for July is Perovskia Blue Spire, it flowers for a long period between July /August.

Grows to approx 1 metre tall.

Prune hard to about 30cm in Feb/ March and you will get masses of blue flowers during the summer.

Available at St Bridget Nurseries garden centres priced at £6.65 each

Another job that can be done is to cut back Lavender flowers that have finished flowering to keep the plants bushy and prevent them getting woody stems.

Unseasonably blustery again today for July, don't forget to stake your tall growing late flowering perennials and dahlias etc before they blow over, don't wait for them to be blown flat on the ground just as they come into flower.

Keep an eye on your peas, beans and outdoor tomatoes which can also get damaged with summer gales.

HERBACEOUS BORDERS FOR SUMMER COLOUR

July and August are the best months for herbaceous borders but there are perennials you can plant for colour from late winter right through the year to late autumn..

A few to look out for in July, are Liatris, Phlox and Coreopsis all flowering over a long period look out for them at one our 2 garden centres.

Another blustery and showery morning here in Exeter, Roses don't like the damp wet weather so those flowers that have finished flowering should be dead headed, prune them to a bud and you may get a second flush of flowers late August / Sept.

St Bridget Nurseries rose field is open for you to view our field grown roses, which is much better than looking at pictures in book and you can smell the scent as you walk around.

They are at our Clyst st Mary garden centre on the Sidmouth road just outside of Exeter.

They are open daily 9-5 Mon - Sat and 10.30 - 4 on Sundays.

We're back!

Yes it's been a while hasn't it? Sorry. Truth is that this blog was never written by an android, there is a person behind the words and that person had a baby. But, the person is now back and I'm going to be accompanied this time by a fantastic horticulturalist so you'll get more variety, more information and hopefully more blogs!

To celebrate we've changed the format a bit - hope you like the new design?!

It's raining today in Exeter and is a more typical English summer day! It's a day for indoor gardening and what better job than sorting through all those half used packet of seeds? We've all got them - admit it. Somewhere in the shed or under the kitchen sink they're lying there with the end rolled over. Get them out and check sow by dates then put them in an air tight container. At St Bridget's, there is now 50% off all Suttons seeds until the 21st August so why not stock up now?