Not flowers and chocolates again! Surely the way to a green-fingered person’s heart on Valentine’s Day is to make the most of the great outdoors, do some spectacular planting and wallow in luxury at the end of a hard day’s digging.
There’s an abundance of romantic gifts for the gardener, from a simple heart-shaped garden ornament to wonderful hampers of luxurious, sweetly scented organic products to wash away the toil of the day.
Think beyond the box of chocolates to items which will bring pleasure for years to come.
Award-winning rose grower David Austin has a stunning container gift rose collection, for instance, which can be ordered to arrive on a specific date. Each rose arrives in a gift box, decorated with a rose print.
Among the gems in the collection is the St Swithun, a beautiful English climbing rose which produces large, saucer-shaped blooms in a romantic shade of pure pink blush, with a strong myrrh fragrance. The containerised roses come in 6ltr pots (£24.95 including standard delivery, phone 01902 376 300).
If your loved one is inspired by other people’s gardens, or simply enjoys a romantic day out in the open air, an annual membership to the National Trust is a must. It provides free unlimited visits to all of the 200 Trust gardens across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Buy gift membership on 0844 800 1895 or Membership starts at £37.88.
If she’s the apple of your eye, buy her a rosy-red Redlove bare root apple tree, excellent for both eating and cooking, which bears red fleshed fruit that has a beautiful pattern running through it and retains its colour when cooking. Exclusive to Suttons, the tree has unusual, long-lasting, deep pink spring blossom. (£24.99, phone 0844 922 0606)
Add a touch of sparkle to your relationship – and your garden – with a twinkly red mosaic heart hanger, made with red-coloured glass shards and frost and weather resistant. Available in different sizes from gardens2you (from £8.99, phone 01933 624 084).
If you want a more personalised gift, you can name a pack of rose seeds after your loved one that can grow into a rose bush to cherish forever.
Simply name your rose will register the name to the unique pack of rose seeds and personalise the certificate, which you will receive with both your chosen name and the unique seed reference number allocated. It comes presented in a stylish gift tin. (£19.99)
If you’re looking for a timely gift, check out Gardman’s Hamilton Roman numeral clock, with its romantic heart-shaped metal designs. (£24.99. (Gardman, stockists 01406 372 227).
With more hearts in mind, this delightful heart-shaped plant holder in brown rustic finish will add a touch of romance to any garden. It makes an eye-catching feature planted with cascading geraniums or ivies and can be used as a conservatory planter or outside hanging from a tree. (£22.50)
For someone you think is hot stuff, you might opt for a gift of a chilli plant to grow in a windowsill container, with delicious Belgian chocolates with a kick of hot chilli. (£9.95, phone 01458 270 911)
Alternatively, the same company offers more of a pampering gift for gardeners with its organic weekender gift box filled with organic toiletries including bath oil, soap and a votive candle scented with jasmine and geranium with manuka honey. (£27.95, phone 01458 270 911)
Create a romantic mood either inside or outside with a set of coloured glass happy tealights from The Balcony Gardener. Each set contains a silver, blue, pink, purple and yellow glass tealight. (£30, phone 0207 431 5553)
If the present is for an avid birdwatcher, what about a new pair of Magnaloux LC2 8×25 binoculars to admire the feathered friends which come into the garden? Featuring high-quality lenses for improved performance, they are also waterproof and nitrogen filled, meaning they can be used even in wet conditions. (£79.99, from phone 0800 978 8314)
If you’d rather display a token of your love artistically, create some heart-shaped topiary of your own using privet or box. This might involve treating yourself to a suitable topiary trimmer such as the Bosch’s Isio Cordless Shape and Edge, a lightweight tool which your loved one can use afterwards. (£59.99 from good stockists,)
If you want to make your loved one smile, buy her a novelty red kneeler saying Keep Calm And Carry On Weeding. More suitable for him might be the green version, A Nice Cup Of Tea Please. (£3.95 each,phone 020 8746 2473)
Best of the bunch – crocus
These pint-sized corms provide a splash of colour in late winter and early spring, producing slender, goblet-shaped flowers.
While the large-flowered Dutch crocus, C. vernus subsp albiflorus, are easy to grow and bear blooms in white, mauve, purple, yellow or striped and look wonderful in a pot or bowl on the patio, the smaller-flowered specie crocus are useful for early colour in pots planted with other bulbs.
C. tommasinianus is one of the prettiest, with its slender pale lilac-blue flowers with orange stigmas, opening in the late winter sunshine.
It looks amazing naturalised under trees in poor, free-draining soil. Good cultivars of this type include ‘Barr’s Purple’, ‘Ruby Giant’, which produces red-purple flowers, and ‘Whitewell Purple’, with purple-blue wide opening flowers.
Crocus look great planted in drifts of one or more colours and are superb for naturalising.
Good enough to eat – Globe artichokes
These unusual veg are not only delicious but they provide an eye-catching architectural highlight with their spiky leaves topped with huge blue thistle flowers.
It’s the hearts inside the globe-shaped flowers which are edible, although you can also boil the outer scales around the flower and serve them with melted butter or vinaigrette.
Globe artichokes need a good fertile soil that is well drained but doesn’t dry out in summer, so dig in plenty of organic matter before planting. They can be sown in trays in a greenhouse in February, pricked out in March and April, hardened off and then planted out when they are 10cm high, preferably in a sunny but sheltered site, allowing at least 75cm diameter per plant.
Do not allow the plants to flower in their first year, as you want the roots to build up reserves for the following year. You can stop them flowering by pinching out all the flower buds. When the plants mature in year two, restrict the number of main buds to five or six.
Keep newly planted artichokes well watered. Flower buds on established plants should appear from June onwards and will grow to around 1.5m (5ft) in height.
Harvest the artichoke flower heads when they have reached a good size and before they open. They should be green and tight with fleshy outer scales. Once the flower heads start to turn purple and scales start to open they become inedible.
Three ways to… enhance roses
1. Increase their flowering by training stems horizontally, or in sweeping arches, so that they will produce flowering stems along the branches.
2. If covering a pillar, don’t place the stems vertically against the support. Wind them around, spiral fashion and they should flower lower and better.
3. Tie in new stems of climbers and ramblers with lengths of garden twine, making a figure of eight between stem and support, so the tie does not rub on the stem and damage it.
What to do this week
Prepare the ground if you are planning to sow or turf a new lawn, to give the ground time to settle.
Test your soil to see whether the pH needs adjusting, so you can take action before the main growing season.
Continue to refirm any young plants lifted by frost.
Order young bedding plants and summer-flowering bulbs, corms or tubers.
Continue to put cloches in position to warm the soil for early sowings of vegetables in March. They need to be in place for at least three weeks for the soil to benefit.
Sow quick-growing perennials such as campanulas and poppies to valentines flowers him this year.
Keep beds clear of weeds. Groundsel and chickweed in particular should be removed from around growing chrysanthemums as they are host plants for the chrysanthemum eelworm.
Take cuttings from dahlia tubers.
Weather permitting, take hardwood cuttings of hardy climbers now to save time later in the spring.
Prune old canes of autumn raspberries down to the ground as soon as new growth appears.
Transfer fuchsia cuttings taken in the autumn into 5cm (2in) pots.
Sow parsley in pots indoors or outdoors under glass, sieving a light covering of compost over the seeds.
There’s an abundance of romantic gifts for the gardener, from a simple heart-shaped garden ornament to wonderful hampers of luxurious, sweetly scented organic products to wash away the toil of the day.
Think beyond the box of chocolates to items which will bring pleasure for years to come.
Award-winning rose grower David Austin has a stunning container gift rose collection, for instance, which can be ordered to arrive on a specific date. Each rose arrives in a gift box, decorated with a rose print.
Among the gems in the collection is the St Swithun, a beautiful English climbing rose which produces large, saucer-shaped blooms in a romantic shade of pure pink blush, with a strong myrrh fragrance. The containerised roses come in 6ltr pots (£24.95 including standard delivery, phone 01902 376 300).
If your loved one is inspired by other people’s gardens, or simply enjoys a romantic day out in the open air, an annual membership to the National Trust is a must. It provides free unlimited visits to all of the 200 Trust gardens across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Buy gift membership on 0844 800 1895 or Membership starts at £37.88.
If she’s the apple of your eye, buy her a rosy-red Redlove bare root apple tree, excellent for both eating and cooking, which bears red fleshed fruit that has a beautiful pattern running through it and retains its colour when cooking. Exclusive to Suttons, the tree has unusual, long-lasting, deep pink spring blossom. (£24.99, phone 0844 922 0606)
Add a touch of sparkle to your relationship – and your garden – with a twinkly red mosaic heart hanger, made with red-coloured glass shards and frost and weather resistant. Available in different sizes from gardens2you (from £8.99, phone 01933 624 084).
If you want a more personalised gift, you can name a pack of rose seeds after your loved one that can grow into a rose bush to cherish forever.
Simply name your rose will register the name to the unique pack of rose seeds and personalise the certificate, which you will receive with both your chosen name and the unique seed reference number allocated. It comes presented in a stylish gift tin. (£19.99)
If you’re looking for a timely gift, check out Gardman’s Hamilton Roman numeral clock, with its romantic heart-shaped metal designs. (£24.99. (Gardman, stockists 01406 372 227).
With more hearts in mind, this delightful heart-shaped plant holder in brown rustic finish will add a touch of romance to any garden. It makes an eye-catching feature planted with cascading geraniums or ivies and can be used as a conservatory planter or outside hanging from a tree. (£22.50)
For someone you think is hot stuff, you might opt for a gift of a chilli plant to grow in a windowsill container, with delicious Belgian chocolates with a kick of hot chilli. (£9.95, phone 01458 270 911)
Alternatively, the same company offers more of a pampering gift for gardeners with its organic weekender gift box filled with organic toiletries including bath oil, soap and a votive candle scented with jasmine and geranium with manuka honey. (£27.95, phone 01458 270 911)
Create a romantic mood either inside or outside with a set of coloured glass happy tealights from The Balcony Gardener. Each set contains a silver, blue, pink, purple and yellow glass tealight. (£30, phone 0207 431 5553)
If the present is for an avid birdwatcher, what about a new pair of Magnaloux LC2 8×25 binoculars to admire the feathered friends which come into the garden? Featuring high-quality lenses for improved performance, they are also waterproof and nitrogen filled, meaning they can be used even in wet conditions. (£79.99, from phone 0800 978 8314)
If you’d rather display a token of your love artistically, create some heart-shaped topiary of your own using privet or box. This might involve treating yourself to a suitable topiary trimmer such as the Bosch’s Isio Cordless Shape and Edge, a lightweight tool which your loved one can use afterwards. (£59.99 from good stockists,)
If you want to make your loved one smile, buy her a novelty red kneeler saying Keep Calm And Carry On Weeding. More suitable for him might be the green version, A Nice Cup Of Tea Please. (£3.95 each,phone 020 8746 2473)
Best of the bunch – crocus
These pint-sized corms provide a splash of colour in late winter and early spring, producing slender, goblet-shaped flowers.
While the large-flowered Dutch crocus, C. vernus subsp albiflorus, are easy to grow and bear blooms in white, mauve, purple, yellow or striped and look wonderful in a pot or bowl on the patio, the smaller-flowered specie crocus are useful for early colour in pots planted with other bulbs.
C. tommasinianus is one of the prettiest, with its slender pale lilac-blue flowers with orange stigmas, opening in the late winter sunshine.
It looks amazing naturalised under trees in poor, free-draining soil. Good cultivars of this type include ‘Barr’s Purple’, ‘Ruby Giant’, which produces red-purple flowers, and ‘Whitewell Purple’, with purple-blue wide opening flowers.
Crocus look great planted in drifts of one or more colours and are superb for naturalising.
Good enough to eat – Globe artichokes
These unusual veg are not only delicious but they provide an eye-catching architectural highlight with their spiky leaves topped with huge blue thistle flowers.
It’s the hearts inside the globe-shaped flowers which are edible, although you can also boil the outer scales around the flower and serve them with melted butter or vinaigrette.
Globe artichokes need a good fertile soil that is well drained but doesn’t dry out in summer, so dig in plenty of organic matter before planting. They can be sown in trays in a greenhouse in February, pricked out in March and April, hardened off and then planted out when they are 10cm high, preferably in a sunny but sheltered site, allowing at least 75cm diameter per plant.
Do not allow the plants to flower in their first year, as you want the roots to build up reserves for the following year. You can stop them flowering by pinching out all the flower buds. When the plants mature in year two, restrict the number of main buds to five or six.
Keep newly planted artichokes well watered. Flower buds on established plants should appear from June onwards and will grow to around 1.5m (5ft) in height.
Harvest the artichoke flower heads when they have reached a good size and before they open. They should be green and tight with fleshy outer scales. Once the flower heads start to turn purple and scales start to open they become inedible.
Three ways to… enhance roses
1. Increase their flowering by training stems horizontally, or in sweeping arches, so that they will produce flowering stems along the branches.
2. If covering a pillar, don’t place the stems vertically against the support. Wind them around, spiral fashion and they should flower lower and better.
3. Tie in new stems of climbers and ramblers with lengths of garden twine, making a figure of eight between stem and support, so the tie does not rub on the stem and damage it.
What to do this week
Prepare the ground if you are planning to sow or turf a new lawn, to give the ground time to settle.
Test your soil to see whether the pH needs adjusting, so you can take action before the main growing season.
Continue to refirm any young plants lifted by frost.
Order young bedding plants and summer-flowering bulbs, corms or tubers.
Continue to put cloches in position to warm the soil for early sowings of vegetables in March. They need to be in place for at least three weeks for the soil to benefit.
Sow quick-growing perennials such as campanulas and poppies to valentines flowers him this year.
Keep beds clear of weeds. Groundsel and chickweed in particular should be removed from around growing chrysanthemums as they are host plants for the chrysanthemum eelworm.
Take cuttings from dahlia tubers.
Weather permitting, take hardwood cuttings of hardy climbers now to save time later in the spring.
Prune old canes of autumn raspberries down to the ground as soon as new growth appears.
Transfer fuchsia cuttings taken in the autumn into 5cm (2in) pots.
Sow parsley in pots indoors or outdoors under glass, sieving a light covering of compost over the seeds.
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