Let’s Get Growing!

We want to make sure you get the most out of your plants. Every month we pick a new ‘Plant of the Month’ to give you some inspiration and we have lots of guides on how to care for your garden.

Plant of the Month

Hello October!

The autumn garden is full of bright foliage and Liquidambar is a particular favourite of ours. Its stunning red foliage makes it a real feature and, if you’re looking for a smaller tree, there’s always Liquidambar ‘Gumball’.

Loyalty Card holders will receive 10% on Liquidambar throughout the month of October.

Bulb Lasagne

Here’s a perfect rainy day, greenhouse project for you. A ‘Bulb Lasagne’ is a planting method in which different bulbs are layered in one container to produce a consecutive display of spring colour.

If you’re thinking of planting tulips within your bulb lasagne it’s best to hold off until November.

You can pick up everything you’ll need for your Bulb Lasagne in our shop today.

  • How to grow indoor hyacinths

  • For your indoor hyacinths to flower at Christmas, you'll need to be planting them from the middle to the end of September

  • For indoor hyacinths, we recommend using bulb fibre as it's sweeter and benefits indoor bulbs.

  • Bulbs can be planted close together in your pot but should not touch, and 1cm of the bulb should be peeping out of the top of the soil. The planted bulbs should be watered in and then placed in a cool, dark place for around 10 weeks.

  • Once the buds are approximately 3cm tall, bring them into a warm room and water a little every day.

  • If all goes to plan, they should flower in time for Christmas! Once they're in flower, move them to a cooler part of the room to extend the flowering period.

  • Narcissus 'Paper White Ziva' can be forced in a similar manner. Plant the bulbs with their tips just below the surface in bulb fibre. Water the pot well and leave on a warm, sunny windowsill.

  • For more information like this, sign up to our monthly newsletter in store or on our 'contact us' page

Planting trees and shrubs this season? Here are some top tips from the SO Plants team to help ensure your plant gets the best start in its new home. For more specific planting advice, please pop in and have a chat with our team.

We stock all the tools and sundries that you’ll need to get planting, including well rotted manure, mycorrhizal fungi, tree ties and stakes.

Planting Trees & Shrubs

How to: Cottage Garden

Looking to achieve that classic ‘cottage garden’ feeling? Check out our ‘How to: Cottage Garden’ Guide. It includes planting suggestions as well as a planting plan, meaning you could ‘copy and paste’ the whole thing into your own garden! Similarly, it can be easily adapted to both larger and smaller spaces by changing the quantities of plants.

Chipping Show 2026

We returned to Chipping Show this year with a new garden design: “A Country Garden Comes to Town”. This garden combined structural elements (such as topiary and standard Bays) with cottage garden style planting (lots of lovely herbaceous perennials) to create a garden with year round interest.

  • Clematis

  • Rhododendron

  • Rhododendron

  • Alpines

  • Alpines

  • Wisteria Pruning

  • Wisteria Training

  • Roses

  • Hydrangeas

  • Hydrangeas

  • Lavender

  • Rudbeckia

Prairie Meadow Planting

I think Rudbeckias are a prairie garden classic! I’ve picked two different Rudbeckias, ‘Cappuccino’ and ‘Goldsturm’, these will mirror each other in shape but vary in colour.

Then I’ve added to that warm colour palette with Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’, which has that gorgeous varied colour. I’ve also added Cosmos ‘Chocamocha’ which might be a slightly more unusual choice but I think the deep red colour balances out some of the brighter perennials.

Stachys ‘Hummelo’ adds a pop of purple with its pom pom flowers. You could choose to skip this plant if you want to keep a more homogenous colour palette but I really enjoy that unexpected pop of purple.

Sanguisorba ‘Tanna’ looks so stunning when planted among the grasses and addes even more movement to the scheme.

Then there’s out three grasses: Carex ‘Prairie Fire’ for its wispy form and orange colour; Pennisetum ‘Rubrum’ for a thicker form and rich red colour; and finally Molina ‘Moorhexe’ for those lovely seed heads.

Head over to our Instagram or Facebook to see a video of this planting scheme

All Creatures Great and Small

SO Plants’ 2025 Chipping Show Garden

We created this show garden to highlight ways in which we can make our outdoor spaces more inviting to wildlife and more accommodating to our four legged friends. Whether you’re looking to help save the bees or just keep the dog from trampling your borders, this garden has something for you.

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