Lizzie’s Good Life – Creating waves in your garden this summer

This weather has brought our bedding season in to full swing. I’ve been battling customers at the till explaining to them it’s just too early and ‘don’t think this heat wave is going to last’… being very cynical in my old age at their attempts to convince me that they have a greenhouse they’ll fit this all in to at home…!

Especially petunias which are very tender and cannot withstand any light frost.
The Petunia surfinias are the star of our show here at Pinewood. We grow 6000 baskets full of them and they decorate gardens up and down England . They are so versatile, if you get the right variety. For Stoke Park we plant up huge pots with tall canes and the Petunia ‘Easy wave’ climbs up the canes to create a spectacular show. I’m always warning customers that they need a lot of water if they are in pots and baskets. They have so much foliage you can’t rely on even a thunder storm to penetrate them and they drink an awful lot so in a heat wave they need watering twice a day.

They’re little drama queens. They wilt dramatically in a day, but don’t fret. By putting them under a dripping tap, in the shade, you’ll revive them. If this doesn’t work then you can resort to chopping them back and giving them a good feed – they really do bounce back. Removing the dead crispy flowers promoted good growth and please prune ‘bits’ off them every week, just a snip here and there won’t be noticed in their mane of foliage but keeps them from getting leggy and ugly on top.

Petunias are actually great in dry conditions if they are planted straight into the ground as they have really long roots which get down below the water tables – but just be cautious in pots and baskets. We planted up some crates for a wedding recently and paired them with white geraniums, nemesia and floaty tall cosmos for a stunning show.
All these plants are available at the nursery! Why not join us for our BBQ & musical extravaganza in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support on 10th May? Tickets available from the Farm Shop 01753 662907

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This post was written by Pinewood Nurseries