Seasonal Colour With Summer Bedding Plants
Summer is on its way and our Bedding House is bursting with colourful bedding plants. With such a huge range to choose from it can be hard to know where to start. Bedding plants can be used in beds, borders, containers and hanging baskets. Some people like to make big displays filling their whole gardens with vibrant blooms while others may choose to plant up a patio pot or two and maybe a hanging basket to provide a splash of colour. Whether you prefer specific colour themes or a riot of mixed colours for a bold effect, you will be sure to find something to inspire you at Poplar.
See our huge range of summer bedding plants including petunias, verbena, geraniums, fuschias, begonias, sweet peas, nemesia, calibrachoa and much more.
Our trained horticulturalists are always on hand if you need any advice with your planting requirements.
You can also read our Planting A Summer Hanging Basket blog here.
If you don’t have time or prefer not to plant up your own summer baskets and containers we will also have plenty of ready made ones available to purchase.
Please note that summer bedding plants will require protection from any late frosts.
Bedding Plant Origins:
The history of carpet bedding can be traced back to formal parterre gardens of the seventeenth century and earlier Tudor knot gardens, although in those days there was a limited range of plants available. Specialist plant hunters travelled far and wide to discover and collect new plants during the Victorian era and this is when carpet bedding became incredibly popular.
The history of bedding plants is a fascinating subject - what was once an ornate symbol of the Victorian era gradually became less fashionable and less formal planting schemes including cottage gardens became more popular after the war. Bedding became popular again the the 1920’s and 1950’s and is being used again now in the early twenty-first century as we adapt their uses in our style of garden planting schemes.
The Wardian Case:
Specialist plant hunters soon discovered that many plants would die on the long sea voyages back to England. Nathanial Bagshaw was a medical doctor who had a passion for botany and discovered a fern growing in a glass case with a cocoon of moths in 1829. After experimenting he realised that these conditions were ideal and could be used to transport plants and recorded his results. The creation of the Wardian case was a huge leap forward as they could be kept on deck so the plants could receive sunlight. Condensed moisture could reach the plants, but they were protected from the salt water.