The Secret Life of the Garden.

The Secret Life of the Garden. Our garden should feel like a vacation from the world. Make your space greener with plants. For the love of gardening. Creative gardening...Ideas and advice.

I am a professional horticulturist from the Czech Republic.

22/06/2026

Coreopsis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Common names include calliopsis and tickseed, a name shared with various other plants.🌼
Whether coreopsis comes back every year depends on the variety. Perennial types will return annually for 3 to 5 years, while annual types live for only one season.
Suggested planting locations
and garden types:
City and courtyard gardens,
Coastal,
Cottage and informal garden,
Patio and container plants,
Flower borders and beds.

May be susceptible to slugs and snails
Diseases
Generally disease-free.
🌼Offers incredible benefits for both your local ecosystem and personal wellness. These hardy flowers attract vital pollinators, prevent soil erosion, and are rich in antioxidants. Traditionally, their leaves and flowers are used in herbal teas and natural dyes.🌼

16/06/2026

What do you think about Salvia microphylla
(Baby Sage or Blackcurrant Sage) is highly versatile. It is widely used as a pollinator-friendly garden ornamental, an edible and aromatic herb for teas and garnishes, and a medicinal plant for fevers and minor ailments in traditional herbalism.
(Baby Sage) is a resilient, highly aromatic, and free-flowering evergreen sub-shrub native to Mexico and Guatemala. Prized for its continuous bloom from early summer to late autumn, it comes in numerous highly sought-after cultivars ranging from vibrant bicolors to soft pastels.
Ideal for plugging gaps in summer borders, creating swathes along pathways, and mixing with ornamental grasses.
Aromatic Foliage: The leaves release a distinct blackcurrant-mint aroma when bruised or crushed.
Herbal Tea: Fresh or dried leaves are used to brew a herbal tea often referred to in Mexico as "mirto de montes" (mountain myrtle).
Garnishes: The vibrant flowers have a mildly sweet taste and make beautiful, colorful additions to summer salads and desserts.

03/06/2026

One of the most popular dried flowers available, Limonium sinuatum (Statice), is an erect, short-lived perennial or biennial, often grown as an annual. It boasts dense clusters of papery, funnel-shaped flowers in summer and early fall.
Limonium sinuatum, commonly known as wavyleaf sea lavender, statice, sea lavender, notch leaf marsh rosemary, sea pink, is a Mediterranean plant species in the family Plumbaginaceae.
Primarily used in floristry as a fresh cut flower and a staple in dried floral arrangements. Its papery, brightly colored bracts last for weeks in a vase and retain their shape and color long after they are dried.

Butterflies: The sturdy, branching stems provide a perfect landing pad.
Butterflies are incredibly drawn to statice's rich nectar, making it a staple for butterfly gardens.
Statice produces an abundance of pollen and nectar. Bumblebees and honeybees frequently flock to them, especially in the heat of the summer when nectar sources can be scarce.🐝🦋

28/05/2026

Adding bark mulch and reducing the number of plants in your garden are excellent ways to conserve water. Together, they significantly reduce moisture loss from the soil.
It shades the soil and blocks the sun and wind, reducing evaporation by up to 70-80%.
Weeds steal water from your plants; bark blocks sunlight and stops weeds from germinating.
It keeps the soil cool in the summer, which keeps roots healthier. ☀️

24/05/2026

Digitalis is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous perennial plants, shrubs, and biennials, commonly called foxgloves.
Perennial foxgloves
with slender spikes of tubular flowers in gentle hues, such as soft yellow, rusty orange or dusky pink, perennial foxgloves are more modest, but slightly longer lived than biennial types. They give vertical structure to dappled shade in early summer, combining well with ferns and hardy geraniums.
Deadheading is the process of removing spent flowers from plants to encourage more blooms and prevent seed production. This helps to redirect the plant's energy into producing more flowers rather than producing seeds.
While the plant is toxic when ingested, it's also important to be cautious when handling foxglove. The plant can cause skin irritation in some people, especially when the sap comes into contact with the skin.
Depending on the species, the digitalis plant may contain several deadly physiological and chemically related cardiac and steroidal glycosides. Thus, the digitalis plants have earned several, more sinister, names: dead man's bells and witch's gloves. The toxins can be absorbed via the skin or ingestion.

23/05/2026

Ligustrum ovalifolium🌱is primarily classified as a large shrub. While it grows as a dense, bushy shrub, it can also be trained and pruned to grow as a small, multi-stemmed tree.
California privet or oval-leaved privet, is a species of flowering plant in the olive family Oleaceae.
All parts of plant are poisonous if ingested by humans.
The species is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in many countries, as a shrub, and grouped for an informal or formal hedge.
Privets need to be trimmed several times during a growing season, in order to maintain a formal hedge shape. Regularly trimmed plants do not produce flowers or fruit.

Ligustrum ovalifolium is the most common hedging plant species in cultivation in the United Kingdom.

22/05/2026

Catalpa trees are fast-growing, deciduous ornamental trees famous for their large, heart-shaped leaves, showy orchid-like blossoms, and long, bean-like seed pods.
There are about eleven species worldwide, grouped into North American, Asian, and hybrid varieties. The large leaves and dense foliage of Catalpa species provide good shelter from rain and wind, making the trees an attractive habitat for many species of birds.
They do not present many threats of falling limbs, but the dark-brown fruit husks that they drop in late summer may be a nuisance.
Commonly also called catawba, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae.
Cultivars & Hybrids: Includes variants like the Golden Catalpa (C. bignonioides 'Aurea') and the purple-leafed hybrid (C. × erubescens 'Purpurea').
Chinese Catalpa (Catalpa ovata): A smaller, hardy tree originating from Asia that produces beautiful pale yellow flowers.
Southern Catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides): Typically smaller than its northern cousin, this species has slightly smaller, somewhat pungent leaves and very showy, heavily spotted flowers.
Northern Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa): The hardiest and tallest species. It features slightly larger flowers and leaves, and leaves that taper to a distinct, long point.
Catalpa is also occasionally used as a tonewood in guitars.

21/05/2026

Transforming a broken old water feature into a vibrant, tiered planter is a fantastic way to upcycle. Since you can easily plug the plumbing and fill it with soil, it makes a perfect focal point for a patio or garden.
Transform your garden is an exciting, gradual process. Start by editing out dead plants and edging the lawn so you can clearly see your space. Next, define new zones by extending borders, adding potted plants, or building a small patio, keeping your local climate and maintenance preferences in mind.

20/05/2026

The Callistemon Speciosus plant or known as the Bottle Brush Flower, is a beautiful red color.⚘️
Most bottlebrush varieties bloom over a long Summer season, in shades of Red or Crimson. One exception is callistemon sieberi, which has light yellow flower spikes. Some species of bottlebrush are drought resistant and some are used in ornamental landscaping. They need minimal pruning.Flowering is normally in spring and early summer (October–December), but conditions may cause flowering at other times of the year.
These spring-to-summer flowering beauties are well suited to growing in full sun to part shade spots. However, for more flowers plant them in as much sun as possible. Bottlebrushes trees will grow in heavy clay soils or sandy soils and they don't mind a light frost either.
🐝🦋Bees and butterflies love nectar-rich bright flowers.

19/05/2026

Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl '
(tea tree, manuka) is valued for its bioactive essential oils, famous manuka honey, and tough timber. It is used topically to treat skin and fungal infections, eaten as a health supplement, and planted for windbreaks, soil stabilization, and ornamental garden displays.
Leptospermum is hardy to about -5C, may need protection in winter.
A rounded, evergreen shrub to 2.5m, larger and sometimes tree-like in its native New Zealand.
A rounded, evergreen shrub to 2.5m, larger and sometimes tree-like in its native New Zealand. The small, aromatic, dark green leaves are the source of an essential oil used medicinally for centuries by the Māori people. In late spring and early summer it bears a profusion of shallowly cup-shaped white flowers; bees that feed on these flowers produce the famous manuka honey.

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