Longacres Blog

Autumn brings the arrival of the late flowering perennial schizostylis. I always look forward to the blooms form this elegant plant, it gives a wonderful splash of colour after earlier perennials have finished for the year. One species can be found growing wild in the mountainous regions of Africa, where it will grow in moist places, often by riverbanks. This plant will spread slowly into clumps and is more or less evergreen. It displays upright leaves, sheath flowering stems carrying flat bright red or pink flowers that will lift your garden in late autumn to early winter. It really is an autumn must have. There are many varieties to choose from, the most popular being Schizostylis coccinea. This plant will perform at its best in a moist area, but with some sun and you will find after a few seasons it would do best to divide it into other area of your garden. So if you are looking for some satisfying autumn perennials in the form of delicate flowers and cottage garden colours, Schizostaylis will deliver in all areas. Elegant Schizostylis

National Conifer Week 27th September – Organised by British Conifer Group. I would be lying if I told you I have always been a fan of conifers, whilst learning horticulture they were the plant genius that least enthused me, not to mention the mine field of species I felt I should learn. However becoming more familiar with them I now feel they are not highlighted enough. The most common request I receive from customers is their desire for a low maintenance evergreen for their garden and when a conifer is suggested their faces crumple, the word ‘conifer’ seems to have that effect. So l am here to praise up the benefits of the forgotten evergreen. Admittedly care should be taken in selection, it can be hard to imagine how a small plant could grow into a giant that dominates your garden, however there are many sorts of conifers each offering a beautiful compliment to the garden. They offer a wide range of growth habits, foliage types and colour. They can be just the right accent against flowering plants. You can select a conifer for almost any area of your garden. Shaded areas are great for Taxus baccatta, Abies alba and Juniperus sinensis to name but a few. You can even add evergreen interest to a rock garden giving colour and texture that cannot be replicated from other planting. We have a healthy stock of conifers in the plant department and given that winter is not that far away I have picked three that will give the colour, texture and interest lots of gardeners crave during the winter months. Picea albertiana Conica - This is a dwarf conifer, displaying a neat compact conical habit, it has bright green spring growth and can be used in borders or containers. You need to keep this one well watered in summer as just as an added bonus it makes an ideal miniature Christmas tree! Thuja occidentalis Amber Glow - This is a new English introduction that will add great merit to any garden. This is again a dwarf conifer which slowly forms a rounded mound and has a lovely amber yellow colour in summer and bronzing in winter, giving all year round interest. Also a good container conifer. Thuya occidentalis Rheingold - This will eventually form a large cone and is one of the best orange conifers, this looks its best when complimenting heathers and will add great winter colour to any garden. We have a vast array of conifers in stock at the moment so maybe give the conifer a chance, during those months were there is not a lot going on in the garden, that will be the time you’ll be glad you did.

Dogs love lawns, but the feeling is definitely not mutual. One of the most frustrating problems that a homeowner can deal with is dog damage to their lawns. This results from the tendency of our four legged friends to mark their territory with urine. Unfortunately, the high concentration of nitrogen scorches the grass and causes unsightly dead patches. This is especially a problem with larger dogs, due to the sheer volume they produce. Females are also significantly more damaging, because they tend to stick to one spot rather than going to different spots. However there’s no reason you can’t have a dog and a well-maintained lawn.Here are a few simple measures that can solve your problems. Your Primary Objective is Dealing with the Dog Even though there are ways to fix the damage, the most effective long term solution is to simply keep the dogs away from your lawn. If the culprit is your own dog, this is fairly simple. All you need to do is to train them to use a specific, non-turf area in your yard for their toilet needs. This is much easier to accomplish while your pet is still young. When the offending mutt is a stray or belongs to your neighbour, however, things can be a bit more complex. If you can identify the owner, it’s usually easy to convince them to keep their pet out of your garden. Otherwise, you have to resort to other types of deterrent, like a fence. You should also consider changing the lawn fertiliser you use, as some brands have ingredients that actually attract dogs. If your lawn is experiencing dog troubles, Longacres can help. We stock urine spot removers and a variety of animal repellents to keep your turf healthy and safe. Get in touch with us today to enquire about our products.

A timely orchid post below from our intrepid plant expert Jack, currently having a hard life in his new role in...Hawaii. Come home soon Jack! Some lovely pictures below the post - not often you get to see orchids growing in the wild! Hi - I'm Jack Shilley! In August 2014 I left the Longacres Garden Centre plant team to head out on an amazing adventure to the island of Kauai, Hawaii to study tropical plants in their native environments with the National Tropical Botanical Garden. When you think of tropical plants (at least here in the UK) you will immediately think of indoor plants or house plants - and while these plants can't live a happy life outdoors, kept inside with a bit of TLC every now and then can add beauty, colour and fragrance to just about any room you like. One of the very common houseplants available (and arguably one of the most stunning to own) are orchids. Orchids traditionally come from tropical regions of the world where they grow on the branches of trees (Epiphytes) or on rocks (Lithophytes) without any soil at all. There are millions of varieties of orchids found all over the world. Below is an example a common house plant orchid (found for sale in the UK) and a couple of different orchids, only likely to be found in their native regions. Phalaenopsis species. (Moth Orchids) This is quite possibly the most common orchid found for sale in the UK but this doesn't keen they aren't beautiful - in fact they are really stunning and come in a huge variety of colours and sizes suitable for anyones need. Care Tips - Moth orchids can be grown in a wide variety of light levels, make sure they aren't in direct sunlight. Moth orchids can tolerate shade but make sure its not too dark. - Keep your orchid in a humid place if possible, a kitchen windowsill, a bathroom etc… with temperatures no lower than 16ºC - Don't cut off the flower stalk until it turns brown. So long as its green it may still produce flowers! Ascocenda species These orchids can sometimes be found for sale in garden centres in the UK but more often than not you can find them from specialist orchid nurseries. This entire species of orchids are man-made hybrids crossing two species together to create a stunning result! Care Tips - Ascocenda love warmer areas - don't let the temperature drop below 18ºC. - These orchids have strong root systems and they should be encouraged to produce these adventitious roots to help the plant keep ample air circulation and to allow it to dry out quickly. - Keep your Ascocenda in an well light, sunny position. Dracula species (Monkey Face Orchid) These orchids are hard to find so an orchid specialist would be best to source these funny looking orchids. The clue is in the common name for this species as the flowers (particularly those of Dracula simia’) look like little monkey faces! Cute! Care Tips - Dracula species are very fussy, temperatures must not go above 25ºc or below 12ºc, with ample air movement and high humidity levels. - These orchids must not dry out at any time! Keep well watered. - These orchids tend to have trailing flowers so hanging baskets or orchid baskets are advised. I hope that this has given you a small insight in to the huge world of orchids - many of which reside here in Hawaii - and how you can add some tropical orchid flare to your home! Ascocenda Orchid Phaelenopsis Orchid Orchids growing naturally

An increasing number of studies conducted over the past few years reveal that some houseplants remove harmful airborne contaminants. These plants can purify indoor air, which, according to authorities, is more polluted than what is circulating outdoors. A study conducted by NASA scientists found that houseplants may help create breathable atmospheres during space explorations. Trials have shown that plants like the South African Gerbera Daisy, Gerbera Jamesonii and Hybrids are effective in removing chemical vapours; these plants prefer to be kept in rooms that have longer periods of direct sunlight. To maintain a healthy indoor environment, try and place these houseplants in strategic locations, keeping aesthetics in mind. Experiment with them and aim for it to be visually pleasing. In order to keep the plants healthy don’t forget to check how much water it needs, to avoid under or over watering. Strategic Locations It is important to keep your houseplant in the right environment, making sure it has the right amount of sun; some need to avoid long periods of direct sunlight as they might not be able to survive. The Golden Pothos, or Epipremnum Aureum, features heart-shaped leaves and splashes of gold and cream; this plant is good for large offices as it can survive in shady locations and has a good rate of chemical removal. Another good choice would be Genus Dracaena which likes dimly-lit areas and cool temperatures. Aesthetically Appealing Originally from Madagascar, Dypsis Lutescens (Areca Palm) is one of the best plants for removing indoor pollutants. It is also one of the most attractive houseplants. An easy to keep plant, it requires little watering and minimum maintenance to treat a few pest and disease problems. Low Maintenance Buying houseplants that require low maintenance to help reduce your carbon footprint. A Bamboo Palm or Chamaedorea Seifrizii is amongst those with the highest transpiration rates and requires low maintenance. Data shows that it can help remove benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde from the air. If you’re not into palms, the White Phalaenopsis Orchid is a good alternative. Just keep in mind to water generously during spring and summer, and very sparingly in winter. Chances are that all sorts of chemicals were used in the building of your home or office, all of which may be causing fatigue, headache and itchy eyes. To reduce health risks at home, install houseplants and garden plants. Longacres offers an impressive selection of houseplants, perennials, climbers, and bulbs. We provide easy access to sustainable living through high quality gardening supplies. Browse through our website and contact us for more information.

For the third year, The Sun are running a competition to find Britain’s Best Plant Retailer to find the best places in the country to get good plants, at a fair price, from friendly helpful staff - we hope you think of Longacres in this way! As well as letting us know you think highly of us, there are 40 x £25 prizes of National Garden Gift Vouchers that will be sent to winning voters chosen at random once the counting is complete. In order to have a chance of winning one of these, the voting slip needs to be completed with a full name and address. We hope you will support our chance to become recognised as one of the best plant retailers by voting for us - from August 1st to 31st you will find voting slips and a box to put them in by the tills at Longacres Garden Centre. Thank you!

Birds are a beautiful and exciting addition to any garden. It’s heart warming to see these creatures picking your garden to feed or make its temporary home. Bird watching may not sound exciting, but there is something very fulfilling about spotting an especially beautiful or rare bird. This explains why so many people choose bird watching as a hobby. As a matter of fact, we love birds so much we have compiled a list of the best feathered friends to look out for in the garden, along with how to attract them. Golden Opportunity The first bird on the must-see list is the goldfinch. They are a very common bird, visiting over half of the gardens in the UK every week. Nothing brings these birds to the yard faster than sunflower hearts and nyger seeds. Bird watchers love spotting goldfinches because of the combination of their golden brown bodies and red faces. House Guests The next bird on the list is the house sparrow. These are a noisy bunch, and fly all over the country in small flocks. They make their homes in – well, homes. There is nothing particularly special about their diet, and will eat virtually anything made for birds. Romantic Bands Pushing the difficulty up a tick, the next bird is the collared dove. These birds are distinct because of the black collar on their necks. The only thing that makes this bird partially hard to spot is that they do not fly in flocks. Being romantic birds, collared doves only travel in pairs. When a bird watcher spots this bird, its partner is not far off. Loud and Colourful The chaffinch is one of the most colourful bird you can spot in a garden. They sport a shock of blue-grey plumage on their heads. Still, that is not their defining feature. Chaffinches have a distinctly loud chirp that lets people know they are coming. Look Down Watchers will need to do a bit of work to spot a dunnock. This bird’s favourite foods are worms and spiders. This is why they like spending time under bushes and around flowerbeds. This is the only bird that bird watchers look for staring down instead of up. If you have any questions about birds and the best feed to attract certain types, contact us today. Our teams deal in bird feed all the time, and know a thing or two about the birds flying over British skies.

During the last remaining sunny days of the season, no activity is as perfect as a barbecue gathering. There is an unmatched kind of joy when you and your friends gather round, laugh together, and enjoy great quality food and drinks. But, whilst most people see the fun in this activity, some find barbecue gatherings environmentally unfriendly. Piles of paper plates, plastic cups, and disposable utensils abound, not to mention the bucketful of food scraps you have to deal with after. Fortunately, there is more than one way around this, and with a little thought you can make your barbecue gatherings eco-friendly. Here are some ways that can help you green up your grill party: Replace your grill Although the good old charcoal grill gets things done, it’s not so green. You might want to replace that with a first-rate propane barbecue grill instead, as gas-fuelled ones still let you cook that marinated meat nicely without the harmful substances that coal emits. Discard your disposables Let go of the paper plates and plastic utensils the next time you organise a BBQ. Outdoor dishes and utensils are good investments, as their use goes beyond barbecues – you can take them to camping trips and picnics too. Pack some linens instead of paper towels. If ever you go with the disposable route, try to choose biodegradable items. Sort out the rubbish Lastly, separate the party waste. Before the guests arrive, place some labelled bins where they can put their beer cans, wine bottles, plastic containers, and other types of waste for easy recycling and disposal post-party. For food scraps, you can instruct everyone to chuck their waste into a compost bin. Going green in your next barbecue is not so hard. What’s even better is that we can help you achieve your objective of an eco-friendly BBQ. Here at Longacres Garden Centre, we’ll help you find everything you need to make your barbecue eco-friendly. Browse our website or contact us for more information on the products we have.

** It's competition time! ** All you have to do is click like & share on this post and guess how many balls are in this pool to win the pictured pool and its content! (Staff excluded – sorry!) How it works: The closest or exact answer will be the winner and in the event of more than one person guessing the correct answer, the person to guess first will win. You can only guess once and your guess must be left in the comment section below the post on the Longacres Facebook page. The closing date is Sunday 17th August and we will announce the lucky winner on Monday 18th August! You can click here to view our full range of pools. Good luck everyone and happy guessing!

[please note - you can click on all images for larger size] We had a brilliant day out to the 'proving grounds' this week - where the existing, new and even experimental spring, summer and autumn bedding plant varieties are tested; and growers, garden centres and other groups come to make buying choices for the next year. Even the entrance was awash with colour - the large beds of Zinnia and Phlox looked brilliant. Zinnia Phlox           Everything is planted in beds stretching far and wide, with a change in variety in every row. They are watered just once, and then left to grow in whatever conditions the UK chooses to throw at them that season. It gives a very good indication of how they will cope with our climate - important as many of the experimental varieties are developed abroad in places such as Spain and the US west coast where conditions are ideal and just a little better than ours. The verbenas were amazing - masses of colours to choose from, including some eye-catching hybrids. These two were favourites: Verbena (experimental) Verbena Quartz Redeye           There were also rows of Salvias and an amazing mix of Zinnia as you can see below. Salvia beds at the proving grounds Mixed Zinnia             We found plenty of new varieties which will be available at Longacres next year (both instore and online, in our bedding plant section), along with some new hanging basket examples. At the proving grounds they also included an interesting 'invisible' water feature in one of their show sections, and areas displaying the all of the plants in a variety of ways - beds, pots, hanging baskets, vertical walls and more. The 'magic tap' water feature Close-up photography Petunia Hybrid             We had a great time - many thanks to Royden, Mel and Wendy at Perfect Choice. This was my first trip up there, but I'm hoping I can make it every year from now on.

There are a few things to do to make sure your plant doesn't languish and unexpectedly die after you've transplanted it. The growing medium in which you bought the plant may easily have become very desiccated. Water may largely drain out round the edges of the pot, giving the plant little opportunity to absorb it. In the garden centre plants are watered every day. At home it may often be left for a few days, there are no water reserves in the soil, so the plant gets nothing to drink and either dies or becomes poorly. When a plant’s roots have pretty much filled the pot it pays to stand the container in a deep saucer, water it thoroughly and let it stand in the water for an hour or two so the compost is thoroughly moist. Then replant it and give it a thorough watering as soon as it is in its new home. It pays to water regularly for a few weeks whilst the plant establishes itself in its new home, every day if the weather is very hot and dry and your garden soil is not retaining moisture around the plant. When planting you should make the hole the right size, the soil line of the plant in the pot should be the same when it is in the ground. Many shrubby plants are grafted onto another rootstock and if they are settled more deeply into the earth the junction of the graft is below the ground and may start to produce another plant entirely. (Roses are a prime example of this issue.) There is always an exception to the rule, Clematis are generally buried more deeply – planting instructions are usually on the label when you buy these plants. In many cases the plant has been in the pot in which you bought it for some time (especially by the end of summer). It may have become ‘pot-bound’. This means that the roots are crammed in and have circled tightly round and round. Even when it has been transplanted the roots can continue to grow in this same circle. They fail to reach out into the soil and therefore get little in the way of nourishment, or even water. The solution is to encourage the roots to move outwards by teasing some of them away from the tight packed root-ball. In all cases it’s worthwhile to spread the roots at the base of the container outwards to encourage them to reach into their new environment. If you put your plant into another container the plant will use up the nutrients that are in the compost within a few weeks. After this time you will need to provide the plant with ‘food’ - a general purpose rose feed is the classic recommendation. There are many others! You can choose between short term and slow release fertilisers (these are more expensive but once having applied them it is job done for the season). Even in the garden plants will flower better if they are provided with extra nutrients from spring till the end of summer. The foliage of plants in nutrient-poor conditions can deteriorate quite rapidly. Some types of plant only flower once a year, lilacs and peonies are examples of this. Other plants will continue to produce flowers if the old ones are promptly removed. This is the case with most modern roses and many popular herbaceous plants. If you regularly ‘deadhead’ by snipping off the bloom as it begins to fade the plant will make more flowers for you. It is much less work than it sounds to keep your new plants alive and happy! Enjoy. This Longacres Blog post contributed by Susan A. Tindall

If you have an Instagram account you can follow us for exclusive & behind the scenes photos! Here is one taken last night of Ben in our bedding department with a dragonfly! Don't forget to follow @LongacresGC