FLOWER FIX

Elly West explains how to keep your garden bursting with colour without breaking the bank...

Rising costs are making us all think twice about spending money, but you can still have a fantastic garden overflowing with plants without breaking the bank and it doesn’t have to be our gardens that take the hit. If major changes involve new hard landscaping, I would always recommend enlisting the help of a professional landscaper, and perhaps a designer as well. However, if you’re looking to give your borders a boost, and don’t want to spend a fortune at the garden centre, then free plants are the way forwards.

It’s easy to make mistakes when plant shopping, and filling even a relatively small space can be surprisingly expensive, especially if you don’t have a plan and are just picking things out because they’re on display and looking good that particular week. We’re probably all guilty of coming home with a boot full of plants, and no clear idea about where to put them or how to grow them. But if you’re prepared to spend a bit of time and be patient, then there are plenty of plants that will multiply and make more plants with the minimum of assistance.

The simplest way to fill a border with colour is to plant self-seeders. Either invest in a few plants to get you started, or grow them from seed yourself. There’s something very satisfying about knowing that some plants will reliably multiply year on year. Foxgloves, nigella, forget-me-nots and Alchemilla mollis will all spring up and produce a whole new generation of plants with no help whatsoever.

If you want to sow the seeds a little less indiscriminately then leave the seedheads on the plant to ripen for as long as possible, before cutting them off or shaking them into a paper envelope. Unripe seeds won’t germinate, so look for seed pods that have turned from green to brown. Now is a great time to collect seeds when you’re out and about, or in friends’ gardens. As well as those already mentioned, look out for hollyhocks, poppies, sweet peas, sunflowers, astrantia, nasturtiums, cosmos and zinnia. Choose a warm, dry day and remember to label your envelopes, then store them somewhere cool and dry in an airtight container until you’re ready to sow them. For many plants, you’ll have better results waiting until spring when the seeds have matured further and the soil warms up. Sow them in trays or pots and you’ll easily end up with enough seedlings to swap or maybe sell on your gate or at a local fair.

Taking cuttings is another great way to produce new plants for free. Softwood cuttings are taken in spring and early summer from fresh new growth. Take off a side stem around 5-10cm long that doesn’t have any flower buds on it and remove a few of the bottom leaves. Cut the bottom end just below a leaf joint. Poke it into a pot of compost, water gently and cover with a plastic bag to keep conditions moist, then leave on a well-lit window sill for best results, as they need some warmth to stimulate the root growth.

Softwood cuttings are suitable for propagating a wide range of perennials such as penstemon, pelargonium, verbena, salvia and osteospermum, as well as some deciduous shrubs including buddleja, fuchsia, viburnum, sambucus and hydrangea.

Semi-ripe cuttings are taken slightly later in the year and are more woody – the base of the cutting is hard, while the tip is still soft. These type of cuttings tend to root better if taken with a ‘heel’, where a sliver of the main stem is pulled away with the cutting. They can be slightly longer than softwood cuttings, up to 15cm, then treated the same way as your softwood cuttings. Shrubby plants such as lavender, ceanothus, box, escallonia, rosemary, Convolvulus cneorum, fatsia, camellia, choisya and hebe are all good contenders. It’s also a reliable way to propagate climbers such as passion flower and trachelospermum.

Hardwood cuttings should be taken in autumn or winter, and work well for deciduous trees and shrubs. These should be taken after the

leaves have fallen and can go straight into the garden, so are probably the most straightforward, although they do take longer to root. Make a V-shape trench in the border somewhere sheltered and sprinkle some horticultural sand in the bottom for good drainage. Choose vigorous healthy shoots from the current year’s growth and remove the soft tip. Cut the stem into sections around 20cm long, cutting cleanly above a bud at the top, and below a bud at the bottom. Insert the cuttings the right way up into the ground with two-thirds below the surface and firm them in. This method is suitable for most deciduous shrubs including roses, dogwood, abelia, forsythia and philadelphus. Roots should develop in the spring, so leave them until the following autumn before you attempt to move your new (free!) plants.

If your garden is established already and you have spreading perennials that have outgrown their space or become overly dominant, then now is the perfect time to think about dividing them up to make more plants that you can put elsewhere in the garden, or swap with friends. It will also improve the performance of the parent plant, reinvigorating it and stopping it becoming congested. Start by using a fork to dig up the whole clump, then take off pieces from the edge using either a trowel or spade, as these will be the youngest and most strongly growing. Replant the new pieces directly into their new position, watering them in well and continuing to keep them watered until they become established. Agapanthus, delphiniums, Japanese anemones, geraniums, salvias, ornamental grasses, sedums and day lilies are all good candidates for propagation by division.

So, if you are aiming to save some money, it doesn’t have to be at the expense of a beautiful garden. You just need a bit more patience, and even on the tightest of budgets, bare soil doesn’t have to feel empty and daunting, but can soon be bursting with colour. n • ellyswellies.co.uk

The beautiful cascading flowers of fuchsias are a familiar sight to many people, selling well year after year in garden centres, and there's a good reason for their persistent popularity. Hardy fuchsias – the varieties that will survive our British winters outdoors mostly originate from mountainous South America, with a few species from New Zealand, which gives them their exotic look, but also their resilience. They appreciate sunshine and are happy in most soil types, particularly if it's fairly free draining, as they don't like cold, soggy winter roots. Those in the border will appreciate a mulch of extra compost or other organic matter in winter, to ensure they come back with healthy vigour in spring. Once flowering is over it's a good idea to cut plants back to about half their size to keep them compact and encourage a bushy shape. Hardy fuchsias are ideal for creating backbone and structure in a modern border, along with attractive flowers for months on end, providing much-needed colour through summer and into November and even December in mild years. Good plant partners are late-summer grasses and any silvertoned foliage, such as Senecio or Artemisia, which acts as a fantastic foil for the ruby-toned fuchsia flowers.

Rupert Oliver of Rupert Oliver Property Agents looks at how minor home improvements can potentially add thousands to your property price...

According to data gathered by real estate website Rightmove, spring of 2022 attracted the highest number of enquiries, with the early summer season seeing the most competition between buyers. Though some predict that the UK property market may shift towards the end of the year, sales are, at the moment, red hot, which means it’s still an ideal time to sell.

With or without the demand, however, it can always be beneficial to spruce up your space before putting it on the market. According to market research, minor tweaks and some careful dressing can add tens of thousands to an initial valuation.

So, what exactly could you do to help sell your home, and fast? Here are some tips…

First impressions count and it’s important to look smart, clean and inviting. According to an analysis on Zoopla, blue front doors can inspire offers £4,000 higher than average, white adds £3,400, but brown will reduce a home’s value by £700. Give your door a lick of paint or pay someone to spray it for a few hundred pounds.

Most importantly, however, when it comes to your front door, make sure that your home’s name or number is clearly visible from the road – you don’t want to stress out your potential buyers before they’ve made it to the front door.

Those selling flats are also advised to give the communal front door a wipe down, tidy common areas and, if possible, ask neighbours to keep the hallways clear.

Since the first lockdown, buyer behaviour has changed to reflect a love of greenery. People are looking for brighter, greener areas to call their home. Consider planting some colourful flowers. Hydrangeas are often voted as the most attractive of front garden flowers in surveys. Sweetly fragrant lavender also looks great in neat rows and its scent will draw buyers in on their way to the front door.

Make sure to also mend fences and gates, rake up any leaves and mow the grass – if you can add stripes to your lawn, you’re in for a winner.

More costly but equally important interventions include ensuring window frames have been painted, roof tiles are in place, and driveways are in good order.

As buyers may like to drive by your property in the evening, or may even view your home in the darker winter months, outdoor lights make your property feel grand.

For bedrooms, always stage rooms so that they look their best from the doorway. You want to be able to walk into the room without navigating furniture. Top tip: make sure you’ve got bedside tables –people often look for where they’re going to book their phones and drinks at night. If you can fit in a chair, it will make the room look nicer and photograph well.

Think about focal points and key features. According to Spec, a virtual home tour service for properties, kitchens are the most viewed rooms in a house, accounting for 23 per cent of all views on the site, so it might be a good idea to start there.

In general, the advice is to angle the furniture towards a focal point, but in the living room, beware of the false focal point. Avoid angling your furniture towards the television. For instance, it’s better to position furniture towards a nice view of the garden or a fireplace.

Get some freshly cut flowers for viewings. You don’t need to spend a lot and you don’t even need to go wild, just buy one big bunch and move it around the rooms for each photograph.

Rennison’s Yard, BS6 FOR SALE – Separately or combined - POA

A unique opportunity to purchase within this thriving new development. There are 6 commercial units available totalling approx. 3,000 sq ft, which can be purchased separately or combined.

Queen Square, BS1 TO LET – POA 1,651 sq ft A modern, open plan office extensively refurbished to provide high quality accommodation, benefiting communal gym, shower/ changing facilities, and secure indoor bike storage.

Sheene Road, BS3 TO LET – POA 3,758 sq ft The accomodation comprises well-presented first floor offices with air conditioning. There is excellent on-site car parking, and the property is situated within 1 mile of Temple Meads Station.

Unit 2A Quedgeley, GL2 TO LET - POA 1,870 sq ft A ground floor retail unit in a popular retail park, with neighbouring occupiers to include Aldi, Boots, and Dominos. The property benefits a predominantly glazed frontage, and customer parking.

Quayside, BS8 TO LET - POA 2,375 sq ft An open plan, newly refurbished office suite in a waterfront location benefitting stunning views across Bristol Harbourside. On-site shower, secure car parking and bike storage. Westfield Park, BS6 TO LET – 824 sq ft £24,000 PAX A lower ground floor office suite arranged over a range of office rooms and finished to a high standard to include a newly fitted contemporary kitchen and WC facilities. Excellent parking provision.

Serbert Road, BS20 TO LET / FOR SALE - POA 8,727 sq ft GIA A fantastic opportunity to acquire a detached, modern building on a secure site of 0.52 acres. Suitable for a variety of uses STP. The property is available to let or for sale and enquiries should be made for further details.

Whiteladies Road, Clifton TO LET £21.00 PSF PAX 495 – 1,072 sq ft An attractive, Georgian office building with accommodation available on hall floor and first floor levels. The suites are due to be refurbished and offer excellent natural light and high ceilings.

Lower Park Row, BS1 TO LET - POA 600 – 3,170 sq ft A refurbished office providing attractive accomodation in an excellent location fronting Lower Park Row. There are currently two suites remaining which can be available together or separately.

Marsh Street, BS1 TO LET - POA 3,535 sq ft The property comprises a stunning period property which has been fully fitted to a high standard with benefit of a premises license and is ready to trade! There is accomodation over ground and basement.

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When it comes to buying a new home in Bristol, there’s often a clear trade-off to make.

On the one hand are the glamorous city centre development projects, where eye-catching design is frequently matched by eye-popping price tags.

On the other hand, outside of the urban core, prices may be more reasonable, but high-quality homes can become much harder to come by.

But one place in Bristol is breaking the mould. Brabazon is a thriving new neighbourhood, and looks set to become the most exciting new city district in the South West.

This is no ordinary project. On the site of the historic former Filton Airfield – where every UK Concorde was built – Brabazon is being designed to live up to the legacy of that pioneering past.

At Brabazon, you’ll be able to wander around independent stores, discover new restaurants or relax in leafy parks and open public squares. There will be iconic events, the latest amazing exhibitions and the best in live music at the supersonic new YTL Arena Bristol.

The Hangar District is the first phase of homes in the new neighbourhood to take shape. And not only is the design quality and craftsmanship clearly on a different level, it is also available at a far more reasonable price point than any other comparable new homes in Bristol.

It’s little surprise therefore that all the houses and apartments released for sale so far have sold incredibly quickly.

Now, in response to demand, YTL Developments has brought forward the release of a new collection of apartments, known as The Dials. The recent launch event was booked out in no time, so, what is it about the homes here that is capturing the imagination of buyers who might otherwise have bought within the city centre?

The answer is that The Dials is designed to be different.

Created by the internationally renowned, locally-based architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, the apartments are tailor-made for how people live today. The open-plan layouts are flexible and notably spacious, with footprints that are up to 25 per cent larger than national space standards. Elevated ceiling heights add to the sense of space, while large picture windows flood the properties with natural light.

The sophisticated design is complemented by an impressive specification that sets a new standard for modern city living. Underfloor heating, premium Siemens appliances, fully-tiled bathrooms and fitted wardrobes in principal bedrooms all come as standard features, as does all flooring, including engineered oak in the openplan living spaces, and softwoven carpets to bedrooms.

Apartments at The Dials all feature allocated parking in the gated underground car park, as well as secure cycle storage. Residents will also have exclusive access to the building’s private fitness centre, as well as a beautifully-landscaped communal garden.

The collection of one, two and three bedroom apartments at The Dials is selling very quickly, so if you are after a fantastic first-time buy, a practical pied-a-terre or an ideal investment property, contact the sales team today by calling 0330 1234 207 or via

Howard Homes are delighted to market High Croft an imposing house set within the hillside location on the edge of Chew Valley and Mendip Hills. Boasting seven bedrooms and six bathrooms, the house lends itself to a lovely family home, small hotel, B&B or shared living with relatives. Having been completely refurbished throughout, the grounds extend to 2.2 acres with formal gardens, paddocks and a ménage along with heated outdoor swimming pool. Redhill offers excellent links via the A38 to Bristol and major motorway links, along with easy access to Bath, Bristol International Airport and Chew Valley and Blagdon lakes. The area boasts extremely good farm shops, outdoor sporting activities, along with a choice of good Primary and Secondary Schools within the location. Wrington village with its mix of art galleries, restaurants, cafes has a great sense of community along with small independent shops. Accommodation consists of a detached seven bedroom house which is currently arranged as two dwellings and far reaching views across the surrounding countryside. The main house has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, three reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room. The annexe has two en-suite bedrooms on the ground floor, sitting room on the first floor and kitchen/dining room. We would recommend early viewing of this versatile house as any interested party would need to see how best it works for their needs.