Shire Plants Blog

The origin of Chicory is described in a German folk tale. A young woman sat down at the side of a road to weep for her dead lover. None could console her, and so great was her grief that she resolved … read more

Matthiola incana 'Pillow Talk' has the most heavily scented flowers and just a few stems can fill a room with a lovely fragrance. This plant has long been a cottage garden favourite, grown in the … read more

This wonderful plant is called Fox and Cubs because of the dual appearance of bronzy-orange open flowers (the fox) alongside red-brown flower buds (the cubs).  Tall stems hold the flowers above … read more

Our British native plants have some of the prettiest flowers. This is Dropwort (Filipendula vulgaris), which has coral-pink buds which open to beautiful fluffy white flowers. Eminently suited to our B … read more

For a limited time, all of our Perennial Wallflowers (Erysimum) are reduced by 25%. Now is a great time to get them into the ground, or into containers, for flowers this year and then several years to … read more

It's Chelsea Flower Show, so it's time to go around the garden doing the Chelsea chop. This isn't a new type of dance, sweeping the gardening world, but a method of pruning for herbaceous perenn … read more

We've had to temporarily fence one off one of our potting benches because a pair of Robins have built a nest in a rubbish bag (on the ground in the corner). She's been sitting in the nest for a whi … read more

It's #WorldBeeDay today and the RHS are encouraging gardeners to plant bee-friendly plants including Lavender, Oregano, Allium, Nepeta, Cosmos and more. Generally, bees require 'simple' or 'single' fl … read more

May's newsletter went out to subscribers yesterday. If you haven't signed up to receive our monthly newsletter, you can view the latest issue here. If you want to receive future newsletters, just … read more