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Browse 281 guides Open Plant Finder

Choose plants for British soil, light and weather. Find practical care advice from planting through to pruning.

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Useful advice, organised around your next job

Choose plants by soil, light, space and season, not the picture on the label. This library contains 281 practical guides for British gardens. Each guide covers planting, care, pruning and common problems. Advice reflects UK seasons, rainfall and frost risk. Begin with a recommended guide, explore a plant group, or browse the full collection below.

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Start with a popular guide

Quick routes into the questions gardeners ask most often.

How to Grow Dahlias

From tuber planting to lifting after the first frost.

How to Grow Roses

Choose, plant and feed roses for repeat flowering.

How to Grow Hellebores

Reliable winter colour for borders and containers.

Best Climbing Plants

Cover a fence or wall without choosing the wrong climber.

Trees for Small Gardens

Add height and structure without losing your garden.

From the library

The latest plant guides

281 guides in this section

Red poinsettia in a pot on a bright living room windowsill with a frosty UK garden outside

Plants 28 October 2026 9 min read

Poinsettia Care: Keep It Red Past Christmas

Poinsettia care for UK homes: how to choose a healthy plant, where to put it, how to water it, why leaves drop, and how to get it red again next year.

Sunny UK border of bearded iris in flower in shades of purple, blue and pale yellow

Plants 11 August 2026 9 min read

Bearded Iris: Plant Shallow, Flower Every June

How to grow bearded iris in UK gardens: plant the rhizomes half-exposed in full sun, divide every three to four years and fix clumps that won't flower.

Cup-and-saucer vine with purple and creamy-green bell flowers growing over a garden arch

Plants 4 August 2026 8 min read

Cobaea: Grow the Cup-and-Saucer Vine

How to grow cobaea, the cup-and-saucer vine, in the UK: sowing seed on its edge, planting out after frost, support, feeding and why it won't flower.

Magenta corncockle flowers in a cornfield-annual mix with red poppies, blue cornflowers and a bumblebee

Plants 4 August 2026 9 min read

How to Grow Corncockle, the Cornfield Annual

How to grow corncockle (Agrostemma) in UK gardens. When to sow, why it needs poor soil, stopping floppy stems, cutting for the vase and handling it safely.

Lavender-blue phacelia flowers with bees in an allotment, with a shed and veg beds behind

Plants 4 August 2026 8 min read

How to Grow Phacelia for Bees and Better Soil

How to grow phacelia in the UK as a quick green manure and a bee magnet, with sowing times, how to dig it in and how to stop it seeding everywhere.

Golden rudbeckia flowers with dark centres massed in a sunny border with a bumblebee

Plants 4 August 2026 9 min read

How to Grow Rudbeckia (Black-Eyed Susan)

How to grow rudbeckia in the UK, from telling perennial and annual types apart to the best varieties, sowing, planting, deadheading and fixing mildew.

Tall Verbena bonariensis with purple flower clusters and a red admiral butterfly beside a gravel path

Plants 4 August 2026 9 min read

How to Grow Verbena Bonariensis in the UK

How to grow Verbena bonariensis: where to plant this tall see-through verbena, sowing and moving self-sown seedlings, and helping it survive winter.

Bletilla striata hardy orchid with magenta-pink flowers above pleated leaves in a paved courtyard

Plants 18 July 2026 9 min read

Hardy Garden Orchids: Bletilla and Beyond

Some orchids do grow outdoors in the UK. How to plant Bletilla striata, get it through a wet winter, grow it in pots and choose other hardy orchids.

Deep violet-blue aconitum monkshood spires above divided dark green leaves in a part-shaded UK border

Plants 17 July 2026 8 min read

Aconitum (Monkshood): How to Grow It Safely

How to grow aconitum (monkshood) safely in UK gardens: planting in damp part shade, wearing gloves, siting away from children and pets, and the best types.

Clumps of yellow and white daffodils of different types flowering beside a grass path in spring

Plants 16 July 2026 9 min read

Daffodil Types: The 13 Divisions Explained

Daffodil types explained: what each of the 13 RHS divisions looks like, how to tell trumpets from large cups, and which suit grass, borders and pots.

Broad bean plant lifted from an allotment bed showing the root nodules where nitrogen is fixed

Plants 16 July 2026 12 min read

Nitrogen Fixing Plants and the Sharing Myth

Nitrogen fixing plants for UK gardens: which legumes, trees and shrubs to grow, how to check the root nodules, and when the nitrogen reaches your soil.

Beds of red, pink, yellow and white tulips of different types flowering in a UK garden in spring

Plants 16 July 2026 11 min read

Tulip Types: All 15 Divisions Decoded

Tulip types explained: all 15 official divisions with flower shapes, heights, UK flowering times, example varieties and which ones come back each year.

Frosted perennial border in a UK suburban garden at dawn, showing which plants cope with winter cold

Plants 15 July 2026 9 min read

UK Hardiness Zones: Why USDA Zones Mislead

UK hardiness zones explained: what the RHS H1a to H7 ratings mean in Celsius, how USDA zones compare, and why winter wet kills more plants than cold.

English ivy growing over an old brick wall with lobed climbing leaves and rounded autumn flower heads

Plants 13 July 2026 11 min read

English Ivy: Grow It or Get Rid of It

English ivy in UK gardens: when to keep it for wildlife, whether it harms walls and trees, how to grow it well, and how to remove it for good.

Eucalyptus tree with pale peeling bark and long grey-green leaves on a lawn in a UK garden

Plants 13 July 2026 9 min read

Eucalyptus in UK Gardens: Grow or Remove

Eucalyptus in UK gardens: the hardiest species, planting small, coppicing to keep it shrub-sized, and how to tame or remove a tree that's too big.

Flowering currant Ribes sanguineum in full bloom with hanging pink flowers beside a stone wall in spring

Plants 13 July 2026 9 min read

Flowering Currant: Grow and Prune Ribes

How to grow flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum) in the UK: where to plant it, when to prune for more flowers, the best varieties and easy cuttings.

Abutilon with hanging orange bell flowers trained against a warm brick wall in a UK garden

Plants 13 July 2026 9 min read

How to Grow Abutilon (Indian Mallow)

How to grow abutilon in the UK, from choosing a hardy or tender type to wall planting, pots, feeding, pruning and keeping it alive over winter.

Purple aubrieta spilling over a dry-stone wall in a hillside garden in spring

Plants 13 July 2026 8 min read

Aubrieta Walls: Get a Sheet of Spring Purple

How to grow aubrieta on walls, banks and gravel so it sheets with spring flowers: planting in wall pockets, stopping rot and keeping mats dense.

Pineapple lily flower spikes with leafy tufts above broad strappy leaves in a sunny UK front garden border

Plants 13 July 2026 8 min read

How to Grow Eucomis (Pineapple Lily)

How to grow eucomis, the pineapple lily, in pots and sunny borders: spring planting depth, summer feeding and keeping bulbs dry through a UK winter.

Mature jade plant with a thick trunk and glossy oval leaves in a terracotta pot on a bright windowsill

Plants 13 July 2026 8 min read

Jade Plant Care: The UK Houseplant Guide

Jade plant care in the UK: the right light, how little to water, gritty compost, getting flowers and taking cuttings of Crassula ovata, the money plant.

Oxygenating pond plants growing under clear water in a small timber-edged garden pond with irises

Plants 10 July 2026 8 min read

Best Oxygenating Pond Plants for Clear Water

The best oxygenating pond plants for UK ponds: native hornwort, water-milfoil and starwort, how to plant them, and the invasive ones you must never buy.

Mexican fleabane spilling over a low stone wall and into paving cracks in a UK front garden

Plants 10 July 2026 8 min read

How to Grow Erigeron (Mexican Fleabane)

How to grow Mexican fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus) in walls, steps and paving cracks: sowing, where it thrives, spring cut-back and self-seeding.

Foxgloves in a family garden border with a low woven willow fence around the clump

Plants 10 July 2026 10 min read

Poisonous Garden Plants: A Child Safety Guide

Which poisonous garden plants in the UK are a real risk to children, which are fine to keep, how to fence risky ones and what to do if a child eats one.

Magenta Christmas cactus in full flower in a terracotta pot on a bright windowsill

Plants 9 July 2026 9 min read

Christmas Cactus Care: Get Buds Every Winter

Christmas cactus care for UK homes: how to water it, where to put it, how cool, dark autumn nights trigger buds, and how to stop the buds dropping.

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