Landscape Juice

When garden disputes get out of hand

Is it me or does there seem to be an awful lot more garden disputes between neighbours these days? The Telegraph reports how an argument between neighbours, over the ownership of metal railings dividing their two properties, resulted in them both sharing a £60,000 legal bill after the judge overturned, on appeal, a previous decision that declared one neighbour as the lawful owner of the railings. It's an awful lot of money over something so trivial and comes only days after the Mail reported how seventy-nine-year-old Milica Marcos is set to lose her home after winning - yes winning -... Read more →

Can you identify this ladybird?

Can anyone identify this ladybird for Claire Holgate? She's posted a Twitpic image this morning and wonders if it's friend or foe? Please click the image to enlarge. Read more →

The 'thermal’ lily saved by Kew horticulturist

There's too much doom and gloom in the plant world at the moment so it's nice to report some positively good news for a change. Carlos Magdalena, working at the world famous Kew Gardens, has unlocked the secret of how to reproduce the very rare and virtually extinct ‘thermal’ lily - Nymphaea thermarum. The worlds smallest water lily had been saved from oblivion by German professor, Eberhard Fischer, who in 1987 - realising the plants precarious plight - collected a few of the plants from a site in Rwanda and took them back to Bonn Botanic Gardens where the plants... Read more →

Marshalls' Drivesett Tegula now in Hazelnut

Marshalls Drivesett Tegula has long been renowned as the archetypal block paver. Its aged traditional appearance and shades make it look established from the moment it is laid. New for 2010, a new colour, Hazelnut, has been launched to complement the Drivesett Tegula range. Drivesett Tegula Hazelnut is a beautiful new colour with warm brown tones which complement a broad range of different property styles. Available in all three of the customary sizes, the range is now completed with the addition of the new Drivesett Tegula Jumper Block, enabling a wide variety of driveway patterns, as well as a circle... Read more →

Is Gigolo landscaping services the next garden trend?

One lady client said to me, when told that there was VAT to pay on top of the cost of laying her patio, 'will you accept payment in kind?': she was deadly serious! It's the ideal environment...bored and lonely housewife, hunky young gardener or landscaper on site, husband at work (or she's divorced or single) and anything can happen. It therefore doesn't surprise me, in a poll poll commissioned by B&Q, that 12% of garden owners - and it doesn't say if these are men or women - wanted a 'hunky' gardener in the garden. There's no mention of sexy... Read more →

Oakgate Nursery for year round impulse sales

Established in 1987, Oakgate Nursery have used their wealth of experience in adapting to both traditional and modern horticultural practices. They have transformed a small market garden into a successful wholesale nursery and the whole family now specialise in growing a full range of high quality one litre shrubs. Their complete package means they can supply you with super value shrubs ready for instant re-sale and all plants are individually pre-priced along with a generic barcode, a bespoke coloured label and exclusive point of sale. Most customers find volume sales can be achieved with a multi-buy offer and making it... Read more →

Landscape and horticulture trade exhibition 2011

I've been imagining and dreaming of an intimate and dedicated trade show for landscaping and gardening for many a year as I think our industry has been poorly catered for too long. Like all events, it seems that the target audience and the industries being represented are the last to be consulted and what's been delivered have been poorly presented shows that fail to meet their intended goals. Now I don't profess to have anywhere near all the answers but what I do have is an understanding of the industry I work in...I also have the benefit of running one... Read more →

Cold weather disrupts Chelsea plans

The weather forecasters are predicting rising temperatures over the next few days and bring along another mini-heatwave to the British Isles. For gardeners, warmer weather cannot come soon enough with many are desperate to move frost-tender plants out of the greenhouse to make space for new stock and get veggies and plants into the borders. The change in weather will also bring relief to amateur and professional gardeners showing at the Chelsea Flower Show; the weather has played havoc with preparations as chilly nights disrupted their careful plans for the show - many home gardeners have seen their outdoor crops... Read more →

Nick Steele - Landscape Juice featured member

Plantsman, Nick Steele, is one of Landscape juice's earliest members having joining the site in April 2008. Based just outside Newport in Shropshire, Nick runs Barlow Nurseries with the help of his team, including Louise, Steve, security officer Boris the dog and Spot the chief mousing cat. Barlow Nurseries is a retail nursery growing much of what it sells on site...they maintain an impressive plant list. Barlow's offer a garden border design, supply and planting service - specialising in trees, shrubs, and hardy perennial garden plants, garden design consultant - covering Shropshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, West Midlands..in their own words they... Read more →

French bee hotels: the crazy ideas that keep coming out of Brussels

Don't get me wrong, I'm as keen as anyone else to arrest the decline in bee populations and I feel it is something the British government should put high on its agenda when it sets out its crucial green policies. But this, Europe sanctioned, French plan to encourage wild bees away from the countryside by creating havens in pesticide free towns and cities, is ludicrous. They (the French) intend to spend £2million over five years building forty-eight 4metre x 2metre hotels out of wood, brick and plants stalks. If this Times' article is to be believed it proves that Europe... Read more →