Garden inspiration & ideas

November is the perfect month to prepare your garden for winter. With a few smart adjustments, you will not only protect your plants, but also provide a nice shelter for wildlife such as birds, hedgehogs and insects. And plant evergreen and winter flowering shrubs this month, for a garden that brings colour all year round. With these five tips, your garden will stay healthy, colourful and full of life, even in the cold winter months.

It's October. You've scored a beautiful Proven Winners® shrub and now is the best time to put it in your garden. But how do you go about that? Fortunately, we can help you with our 7-step planting plan. Follow these planting basics and you can be sure your new plant will get the best start.

While the days are slowly getting shorter and cooler, we can still fully enjoy all the beauty in the garden. Especially when plants treat us to a dazzling show as autumn approaches. Think of shrubs that turn your garden into a colourful spectacle with their strikingly coloured leaves or flowers or with their brightly coloured fruits. Proven Winners® has beautiful shrubs that will make your autumn garden shine.

With Hydrangea’s, you bring a feast of colour to your garden all summer long. It is a beautiful shrub that flowers very abundantly with fantastic flowers. Hydrangea’s thrive in both sun and shade and require little maintenance. It is a favourite garden plant for a reason! But did you know that there are as many as 20 different species of Hydrangea? Each with lots of cultivars. Five varieties are the most commonly used and will do great in your garden.

Summer is a wonderful time, the sun shines in abundance, it is nice and warm and you can enjoy your garden or balcony until late in the evening. However, your plants often need extra water in those hot and dry summer months to stay beautiful and healthy. And even then, if the plants chosen are not suited to full sun exposure, they may be "lost" to drought and heat. Fortunately, there are plenty of beautiful garden plants that can withstand these conditions just fine. How nice is that! We give you tips on how to best help your garden plants during the dry, hot summer months and introduce you to the drought-resistant plants from Proven Winners' collection.

Do you also enjoy the fluttering of butterflies and the cosy hum of bees in your garden? They are not only beautiful to see but also essential for biodiversity. To make your garden bee- and butterfly-friendly there are well-known shrubs like the butterfly bush, ivy and lavender. But there are also beautiful, lesser-known shrubs that attract many butterflies, bees and other insects. We introduce you to our five favourite, lesser-known gems.

We get so happy with spring! Especially now that early flowering shrubs announce spring with their floral splendor. One of the first spring flowering shrubs is Chaenomeles, also known as flowering quince Already in early spring, this shrub brings an explosion of colour to your garden. With its spectacular flowers, Chaenomeles is a true eye-catcher. Be surprised by this versatile beauty!

It is perhaps the most frequently described chore in the garden: pruning. Many gardeners are quite reluctant to do it because they are unsure about the approach. What is the best time, how much should be taken off? Pruning stress lurks. But relax! Many Proven Winners© shrubs don't need pruning to stay healthy and beautiful. And if you do want to prune, think about the reason.