Gardening Ideas from the Weatherstaff PlantingPlanner Blog

A Visit to Mount Grace Priory

Brunnera macrophylla at Mount Grace Priory

Mount Grace Priory in North Yorkshire is the best preserved of the nine medieval Carthusian monasteries in England. Now owned by the National Trust and operated by English Heritage, it’s a fascinating place to visit for both historians and plant-lovers.

The Carthusians are an order of the Catholic Church, founded in 1084 by Bruno of Cologne. The first Carthusian monastery was set up in the Chartreuse Mountains in south-eastern France. The mountains gave their name to the monastery – Grande Chartreuse. Later, the name was also shared with the greeenish-yellow liqueur the monks made there from the 18th century onwards, with its secret recipe of 130 herbs and flowers. The English word Charterhouse, which refers to Carthusian monasteries, has the...

Let’s talk about daffodils. I love them all – except, sorry, not the pink ones. Why would daffodils even think of being pink? – but I’m skewed towards the miniature ones. The big ones, dotted along banks and road verges or popping up in wild hedges, are fabulous. They catch your breath, confirm the coming of spring, bring pools of gold to the greens and browns of passing winter. But in my garden, and especially in a container, the little ones reign supreme.

The taller daffodils are regal. They cluster together. They hunt in packs. There’s a swathe of them all along the bank in front of our row of cottages and they look fantastic.

Apart from the ones opposite...

A garden border with perennials Weatherstaff Planting Planner

Some plants make perfect bedfellows. Here are some of my favourite plant combinations.

Sometimes, the perfect combination happens almost by accident. The mauve flowers of Erysimum ‘Bowles’ Mauve’ are echoed by the starry globe of Allium cristophii, opening in the background and the bracts of Acanthus mollis. The fresh green of the miscanthus grounds the group, while the soft petals of the poppies dance above, bringing a lighter focal point to the display. How perfect is that?

Allium cristophii

In my photo, Allium cristophii is peeping shyly from behind a mound of foliage. But it is no shrinking violet. It is one of several in the border and they make a spectacular display. The grey-green, strap-shaped basal leaves wither before...

Ceanothus Autumnal Blue - shrub for chalk

Alkaline-tolerant Shrubs for Chalk and Limestone Conditions

If you garden on chalk or limestone, you probably already know that acid-loving plants, like rhododendrons and heathers will not be happy in your soil. Your plants will need to be able to cope with alkaline conditions and frequently dry and nutrient-poor conditions.

Here is a selection of shrubs which should feel right at home in your garden.

Weigela

Weigela ‘Florida Variegata’ has been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit (AGM). It is a bushy, deciduous shrub with arching stems, growing to 2.5 metre in height. The grey-green leaves, margined creamy-white, are useful for providing foliage in cut flower displays.

Attractive, funnel-shaped, pale rose-pink flowers, loved by bees, appear in...

Some plants are particularly versatile and unfussy, making themselves at home and seeming to thrive wherever they come to rest. Most plants however have a preference for a particular set of growing conditions or cannot cope if the temperature gets too high or the water supply too low. Keen gardeners may relish the challenge of coaxing a particular favourite plant to prosper, but if you don’t have the time to lovingly cosset your choice specimens, getting the plants in the right place to start with is the way to go.

Plants for Chalky Soil

If your garden has chalky soil, your plants need to be able to cope with its very free-draining, nutrient-poor, alkaline conditions. (Soils rich in limestone share...

Perfect Woodland Shrubs

Woodland gardens invoke all our senses at once. Sun dappling through leaves, a shady respite on a hot summer’s day, birdsong, damp earth, rustling leaves.

Perfect Shrubs for a Woodland Garden

Getting the structure right is essential for any planting plan. During the winter months particularly, when perennials have collapsed into a soggy state of despair and bulbs have long since fled, a backbone of trees and shrubs provides form and interest.

If your garden is too small for a variety of trees or you are planting up just a corner in a woodland style, then you might choose to use large shrubs instead of trees to provide the top layer of planting. Prune to create several...

The eagerly-awaited Weatherstaff PlantingPlanner Pro is finally here.

One month FREE trial with no commitment

When we first launched the PlantingPlanner, our aim was to produce a program primarily for home gardeners. The filter tools help gardeners find plants which thrive in their garden’s conditions. And the generator produces a border plan with your choice of colour and style. Click for more information on the Home Version.

However, we found more and more garden professionals were using the program and so the Weatherstaff PlantingPlanner Pro was created. The new version provides more flexibility for garden designers to use their own flair and expertise when generating planting plans.

The intelligent Plan Generator

After drawing out the border and entering the...

To walk along the Ridgeway is to share a route travelled for more than 5,000 years. Once a series of tracks over the chalk downs in southern central England, the ancient Ridgeway eventually became a National Trail in 1972.

The trail is 87 miles in length, travelling from Overton Hill, near Avebury in Wiltshire, to Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire. Ancient sites such as Avebury Stone Circle, the White Horse at Uffington and Waylands Smithy, a chieftain’s burial tomb, as well as numerous hill forts are found along the Ridgeway’s length.

The Uffington White Horse is a Bronze Age hill figure, cut up to a metre deep into the hill and filled with crushed white chalk. Along with other ancient remains...

12 Stunning Woodland Trees

Woodland gardens invoke all our senses at once. Sun dappling through leaves, a shady respite on a hot summer’s day, birdsong, damp earth, rustling leaves.

12 Stunning Trees for a Woodland Garden

The key to planting up a woodland garden is to get the layers right – trees, shrubs, perennials, bulbs. Unless you have acres to play with, choose trees which won’t grow too tall or spread too wide for your garden.

Deciduous trees are a good choice because they allow for a wonderful display of spring bulbs and early perennials before the canopy leafs up. You will also have a ready supply of fallen leaves in autumn to make leaf mould. Gather up the leaves...

Close up of sloes, gin and sugar in a kilner jar

It all started with a malfunctioning clutch, a breakdown truck and a disused railway line. When my car was towed away out of sight, I decided to enjoy the late afternoon sunshine and walk home along the old railway line.

And that’s when I saw them – the blackthorn bushes either side of the track, dripping with sloes. Ripe and plump and ready to pick. A bumper harvest of blue-black, powdery drupes, just waiting there patiently, ready for their turn in the gin-bottling limelight.

The next day, I was back and ready for a spot of foraging. Rule number 1 for foraging: make sure you know what you are picking! Rule number 2 – leave behind enough for wildlife and...