Alan Titchmarsh says plant that will flower its socks | UK News

Alan Titchmarsh has urged gardeners to grow one plant in their garden, describing the favored perennial as a dependable summer season performer that will “flower its socks off right the way through the summer”. The TV gardener really helpful Verbena bonariensis while demonstrating how to rework a plain patio into what he described as a welcoming out of doors room crammed with color, perfume and wildlife-friendly plants.

“It’s so easy for a patio to become a forgotten space. A few tired old pots, a bench, maybe a table,” he told his Gardening with Alan Titchmarsh YouTube channel. “I’m going to show you how to turn that small space into a really useful outdoor room.” Using raised wheeled planters painted in a heat clay shade, Alan set about creating what he called “floral and foliage walls” around a eating space. “I want height. I want to create sort of floral and foliage walls, something which gives you a kind of stained glass window effect that you can look through and still see a bit of structure,” he explained.

The gardening skilled used evergreen plants including Ilex crenata and pittosporum to present year-round curiosity, while summer season flowers have been added to ship color throughout the season.

Among his top suggestions have been foxgloves, which he said are preferrred for creating a natural screen without fully blocking views.

“Foxgloves are really useful plants in either sun or dappled shade, and here they’re making this sort of semi-permeable wall that we’ll be able to look through,” he said.

However, when it got here to selecting tall flowering plants, Alan suggested gardeners to keep away from some conventional favourites.

“You can use lots of tall plants in situations like this. I wouldn’t choose delphiniums or lupins because they’re fairly short-lived in terms of their flower and also pretty brittle in the wind.”

Instead, he highlighted Verbena bonariensis as a better option thanks to its long flowering period and recognition with pollinators.

“Another plant to use is Verbena bonariensis — the thin wiry one with little pom-poms of purple flowers on the top that butterflies and bees love. They will flower their socks off right the way through the summer.”

The plant’s tall, ethereal stems make it notably useful in smaller gardens, as it supplies peak without feeling heavy or overcrowding the space.

Alan also praised lavender, describing it as completely suited to sunny patios and raised containers.

“Lavender is perfect for this situation because it loves full sun. It adores sharp drainage,” he said. “And when you brush past it and come for your morning coffee, afternoon tea, or whatever, ah, you get that glorious fragrance rising to your nostrils.”

After combining the flowers with evergreen construction plants, the presenter said the once-overlooked patio had been fully remodeled.

“So now we have an outdoor room where it was just a piece of rather inconsequential paving that you walked across,” he said.

Clearly happy with the end result, Alan added: “I’m really rather chuffed with that. Everybody will want to come and sit here and enjoy it. And if this is all the garden you’ve got, you’ve extended the house outdoors and made another room.”