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RHS Summer Shows /in , /by

Summer Flower Festivals 2022

 

Following on from a successful Chelsea Flower Show, the RHS hosted two events in July, which also featured Practical Instant Hedge™ at Hampton Court Garden Festival and Flower Show Tatton Park.

RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival

This event is the world’s largest flower show, full of colour and wonderful summer gardens of inspiration. It is set in the stunning grounds of the Historic Royal Palace in Richmond upon Thames

Award-winning garden designer, Dave Green created a beautiful Feature Garden at this year’s show. The RHS Forest Bathing Garden drew on a purposeful practice of spending time under the canopy of trees surrounded by nature to relax and de-stress, which can decrease both anxiety and depression.

Forest bathing often takes place with a guide and focuses on exploring the natural environment using the senses (sight, sound, touch and smell) to create mindfulness awareness. The garden was designed to for all the sense, including sight, sound and aroma.

We are delighted to have supplied Practical Native Mix Instant Hedge for this beautiful, restful garden.

You can find out more on the RHS website, and watch highlights of Hampton Court Garden Festival in a BBC Gardeners’ World special programme.

RHS Flower Show Tatton Park

Celebrating colour, creativity, community and the positive power of plants and flowers, RHS Flower Show brings the joy of gardening to the historic grounds of Tatton Park.

Crowned at the show, RHS Young Designer of the Year Will Scholey created the Working From Home Garden which was a perfect working environment, while reducing the homeowner’s carbon footprint. The ‘daily commute’ was a winding gravel path through native meadow planting with multi-stemmed trees. There was plenty of native wildlife-friendly planting including our Practical Native Mix Instant Hedge, from our range of Deciduous Instant Hedges. Will received a Silver-Gilt award for this garden, as well as his title.

Talk to our Horticultural team about how Practical Instant Hedge™ could be right for your own garden.

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RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022 /in , , /by

Practical Instant Hedge At Chelsea Flower Show

The Container Garden category at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show create positive green spaces for health, wellbeing and the environment. The aim is to show that any space, no matter how small, can be turned into a gardening haven. These small gardens offer plenty of inspiration for making the most of limited space and resources.

We are delighted to be working with multi award-winning garden designer Paul Hervey-Brookes again at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. As well as creating his own show garden, Paul is mentoring five newly qualified designers for the Container Garden category.

Each of the five gardens is enclosed by our Practical Instant Hedge™.

Container Gardens

The Still Garden

Designed by Jane Porter Gold Medal and Best in Category Winner

This is inspired by the plants that thrive across the Highlands and Islands. The plants reference native species and the climate to evoke an atmosphere that is immersive, secluded and still.

Wild Kitchen Garden

Designed by Ann Treneman Silver Gilt Medal and People’s Choice Winner

Wild edible plants and trees are brought into a small urban setting. The planting is informal colourful, airy, natural, and tasty too. It would work perfectly in the back garden of a city terrace.

The Enchanted Rain Garden

Designed by Bea Tann Silver Gilt Medal

Inspired by a rainy garden in Manchester, this container garden is designed to thrive in wet conditions, influenced by UK forests

Mandala, Meditation and Mindfulness Garden

Designed by Nikki Hollier Silver Medal

This garden offers a safe haven to spend time sitting and meditating, listening to the tranquil water, bees humming and birds singing – a calm and restful but rejuvenating space.

Mediterranean Reflection

Designed by Tanya K Wilson and Johanna Norlin – Mallorca Garden Design Silver Medal

Inspired by the Mallorcan landscape, this container garden utilises the colours and stone textures of the Mediterranean through artisan elements.

 

Gallery



More Information

You can see these gardens, and much more of the Chelsea Flower Show, in the BBC’s comprehensive TV coverage on the BBC iPlayer.

Talk to our Horticultural team about how Practical Instant Hedge™ could be right for your own garden.

Flowering Cherry Blossom tree
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Flowering Trees /in /by

Spring into Blossom

One of the joys of walking through our tree nursery in spring is the delightful blossom that graces the cherry trees, with their abundant pink or white flowers. Crab apple and Magnolias are in full bloom too.

Orchard Blossom

The National Trust recently conducted a survey, and found that more than half of the orchards in England and Wales have been lost since 1900. The Trust is encouraging people to plant more blossoming trees and believe that planting native and historic varieties, and other trees such as blackthorn and hawthorn, are vital to supporting nature. They are committed to planting and establishing 20 million trees across England, Wales and Northern Ireland by 2030, including four million blossom trees.

Bring Back The Blossom

The colourful display of springtime blossom has been part of British folklore and culture for centuries, with fruit trees in orchards among the first to bloom.

Traditional orchards can support wildlife, such as flies, bees, bats and birds. The knotted trunks and branches of trees provide a home for patrolling bats; while flowers are a food source for pollinating insects.

You can help to bring back the blossom by planting flowering trees in your garden. There are trees to sort all sizes of gardens, from small family gardens to larger plots that could accommodate an orchard.

Top Blossom Trees

If you are looking for some spring colour in your gardens, we can recommend the following Flowering Trees to consider.

Prunus x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’

This ornamental winter flowering cherry tree produces semi-double white flowers intermittently from November to March when the weather is mild. It also has good orange/yellow autumn colour.

Prunus Accolade (Flowering Cherry)

The Accolade Cherry is a gorgeous deciduous tree that takes a spreading habit. It’s one of the earliest cherry trees to blossom its semi-double flowers. Beginning with a beautiful pale pink, then fading to a much lighter colour of pink mid autumn.

Prunus cerasifera Nigra (Purple Plum)

This Purple Plum tree has distinctively dark brown bark and pretty single pink flowers that appear early in the spring and remain on the tree whilst the dark foliage begins to emerge, gradually fading to white and contrasting fantastically with the dark leaves.

Malus evereste (Crab apple ‘Evereste’)

Malus Everesteis a conical apple tree with delightful spring blossom. The flowers are red in bud but open up into a profusion of white flowers. In autumn it bears masses of red-flushed, orange-yellow fruits.

Magnolia stellata (Star magnolia)

The Star magnolia is a charming, slow growing tree. The buds open up to spreading white flowers in March to April before giving way to lush, mid-green leaves.

Magnolia kobus (Northern Japanese magnolia)

This hardy magnolia that has a profusion of large, white flowers which can grow as early as March on bare stems and can reach up to 10cm across.

Hedging Alternatives

If you are looking for a hedge alternative to a tree, then our Practical Native Mix Instant Hedge has plants that are native to the UK and as such emulate traditional country hedgerows found throughout Britain. A typical composition would include five of the following seven species: Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Viburnum opulus (Guelder Rose),  Hornbeam, Hazel, Dogwood, and Field Maple – many of which produce blossom and/or fruits.

 

Look out for #BlossomWatch on social media – and if you would like to add some flowering trees to your garden, please email us hedge@pracbrown.co.uk

Large trees newly planted in a garden
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After The Storm Trees /in , , , /by

After the Storm!

If your garden is looking a little worse for wear after the recent storms, we may be able to help!

We have a range of mature specimen trees that may be a perfect replacement for any of yours that have been damaged or blown over. Also, if your fence panels have taken a battering, you could consider replacing them with our Practical Instant Hedge™.

 

Semi-Mature Trees

We have a range of trees available at our nursery in Iver, both evergreen and deciduous. We also source top quality trees from across Europe, so our customers have the best trees available.

Our trees are supplied in a range of sizes:

  • Girth measurement of 18cm to 100cm i.e. measurement around the tree stem at 1m high, for clear stemmed trees
  • Heights of 2-12m for feathered evergreen trees

Instant Hedges

We have over 20 years’ experience in developing, maintaining, and planting instant hedging, including own Practical Instant Hedge™ which is grown in 1m long pieces here at our nursery in Iver, Buckinghamshire. This hedging provides immediate impact and maturity to many private gardens and landscaping projects.

Our Instant Hedges are:

  • pre grown and sold by the linear metre, rather than as individual plants
  • available to plant all year round
  • supplied between 0.8m to 2m high

The Complete Service

We offer a truly comprehensive service, from planning, preparation, and planting to aftercare.

Contact our horticultural team for more details hedge@pracbrown.co.uk

Evergreen screening tree
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Pleached Trees In Stock NOW /in , /by

Evergreen Pleached Trees

We have just taken delivery of the following evergreen pleached trees our nursery in Iver, Bucks:

  • Cupressocyparis leylandii
  • Elaeagnus ebbingei
  • Ilex Nellie R Stevens
  • Ligustrum Japonicum
  • Magnolia Grandiflora
  • Photinia fraseri ‘Red Robin’
  • Viburnum lucidum

Contact us for details

Please email trees@pracbrown.co.uk or call 01753 652022 for more information

 

Stock

Pleached trees can create effective screening or simply to improve privacy in your garden, without taking up very much space due to their slim canopy.  Pleached trees are created by training trees to a square frame, tying in and interlacing flexible young shoots along a supporting framework, creating an attractive slender tree.

 

Cupressocyparis leylandii

Commonly referred to as Leylandii, this is a very large and extremely vigorous species hybrid. Valued for its fast growth habit and dense, this evergreen tree provides an effective screen. Usually used in open spaces or as a windbreak, Leylandii can also be used effectively for screening in smaller spaces, such as these pleached trees but it must be regularly maintained and clipped to ensure it is contained for shape and space.

 

Elaeagnus ebbingei

Pleached Elaeagnus is an outstanding hardy evergreen with tough silvery grey leaves that are frost, wind and salt resistant. Elaeagnus is highly regarded for its sweet fragrance and tiny bell-shaped white flowers in late summer, followed by small orange berries in the winter. A species which positively thrives in coastal environments and all soil types, this makes an attractive pleached tree.

 

Ilex Nellie R Stevens (Holly)

Ideal for screening due to its symmetrical habit, density and lack of pruning requirements. The glossy green leaves are smooth rather than spikey. The autumn berries provide colour and food for birds. Grows well in well-drained soil, is drought tolerant, needs sun-partial sun.

 

Ligustrum Japonicum (Japanese Privet)

A compact, small sized evergreen tree with camellia-like olive-green leaves that looks attractive in pleached form. It bears large clusters of white flowers in late summer. A tough performing species that will thrive on most soils, but avoid waterlogged areas.

 

Magnolia Grandiflora

With large dark green leaves, this evergreen produces beautiful, large, white flowers in the summer, which can be up to 25 cm in diameter. As well as decorating this stunning tree, they also create a sweet-citrus smelling aroma, and makes a stunning pleached tree. Magnolia grows well in most soils, but it must be sheltered and not north-facing.

 

Photinia fraseri ‘Red Robin’

This is a versatile evergreen, that has vibrant red new shoots in spring, which contrast with the white blossom – unusual in an evergreen.  The bright new leaves change to a deep, glossy green as they mature. This tree is a colourful pleached tree.

 

Viburnum lucidum

This tree has dark green, shiny oval leaves that grow into a dense, busy habit. It produces cymes of small white, fragrant flowers in late winter, which stay in bloom until mid-spring. This tree also produces small, bluish-black berries in autumn.

 

Contact to us about your requirements for screening or privacy in your garden; we can supply and plant many types of attractive trees in both evergreen and deciduous species.

 

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Screening Trees Available NOW! /in , /by

Evergreen Screening Trees

We have just restocked our nursery in Iver, Bucks with evergreen screening trees. These large trees are perfect for creating privacy.

Screening Trees

Please note that the prices below are for each tree, excluding VAT and are ex nursery, Iver.

Holly (Ilex Nellie R. Stevens) 14/16cm girth £822
Chestnut Leaved Holly (Ilex Castaneifolia) 14/16cm girth £822
Japanese Privet (Ligustrum japonicum) 20/25cm girth £671
Magnolia Grandiflora ‘Gallisoniensis’ 14/16cm girth £772
Magnolia Grandiflora ‘Gallisoniensis’ 20/25cm girth £1073
Osmanthus aquifolium 14/16cm girth £687
Osmanthus aquifolium 18/20cm girth £989
Osmanthus armatus 16/18cm girth £838
Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) 18/20cm girth £469

Special Offer

A 20% discount will be applied to ex VAT orders of trees worth a total of £3000 or more.

The discount applies to the tree stock value of the order only, not to delivery and planting etc.

Contact us for details

Please email trees@pracbrown.co.uk or call 01753 652022 for more information

 

Stock

Ilex aquifolium Nellie R Stevens (Holly Nellie R Stevens)

Ideal for screening due to its symmetrical habit, density and lack of pruning requirements. The glossy green leaves are smooth rather than spikey. The autumn berries provide colour and food for birds. Grows well in well-drained soil, is drought tolerant, needs sun-partial sun.

Ilex castaneifolia (Sweet Chestnut Holly)

This tree has a distinctively pyramidal shaped crown, with large, thick green leaves which are marginally spiky at the edges. Like many other Hollies, this tree is tolerant of shade and will thrive on most soils, providing they are well drained.

Ligustrum japonicum (Japanese Privet)

A compact, small sized evergreen tree with camellia-like olive-green leaves. It bears large clusters of  white flowers in late summer. A tough performing species that will thrive on most soils, but avoid waterlogged areas.

Ligustrum japonicum (Japanese Privet)

A compact, small sized evergreen tree with camellia-like olive-green leaves. It bears large clusters of white flowers in late summer. A tough performing species that will thrive on most soils, but avoid wa-terlogged areas.

Magnolia grandiflora Gallisoniensis

With large dark green leaves, this evergreen produces beautiful, large, white flowers in the summer, which can be up to 25 cm in diameter. As well as decorating this stunning tree they also create a sweet-citrus smelling aroma. Grows well in most soils, must be sheltered and not north-facing.

Osmanthus aquifolium – Holly Olive

A small multi-stemmed tree with sharply serrated, deep green, glossy leaves.  Fragrant white flowers appear in autumn amongst the leaves and branches. Slow growing and hardy down to -15c, preferring a sheltered position.

Osmanthus armathus – Devilwood

The oval crown gives privacy, and the glossy leaves and fragrant white autumn flowers gives year round interest. It thrives on free draining soils but may lose leaves in the severest of winters so it is best grown in a sunny aspect with protection against biting winter winds.

Eriobotrya japonica (Loquat Tree)

With its distinctive large evergreen leaves, this tree grows to a broad rounded shape.  It produces small, white petals with white leaves that last from winter through to spring. Thrives in full sun or partial shade, with well-drained soil. Choose a sheltered spot to avoid wind damage to the leaves.

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RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021 /in , /by

Chelsea Flower Show

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show was back, with an unfamiliar September date, and we were delighted be work with a number of designers at the world’s most prestigious flower show.

Artisan Gardens

Guide Dogs’ 90th Anniversary Garden

Adam Woolcott and Jonathan Smith (The Grey Gardeners) have created a garden to celebrate 90 years of British guide dog partnerships with an emotive, wildflower garden. Ferns and dark foliage plants feature and are contrasted with colourful meadow planting, predominantly of British native species, including our Practical Native Mix Instant Hedge. With its dog-friendly planting, this is a simple but striking and memorable garden.

Container Gardens

Multi award-winning garden designer Paul Hervey Brookes mentored five newly qualified designers for this new category. Targeting the increasing number of people choosing to use containers to maximise their outdoor space at home, and those who rent and want to take their gardens with them when they move home. Each garden is just 4m x 3m, enclosed by Practical Beech Instant Hedge, a gravel or slate floor and include repurposed IBC containers.

The Hot Tin Roof Garden designed by Ellie Edkins was inspired by a life lived by the beach, but designed for an urban area.

Pop Street Garden by John McPherson created a vibrant, playful garden, inspired by pop art and jump-starting the transition from ‘lockdown to on-the-town’.

The IBC Pocket Forest designed by Sara Edwards was reminiscent of Milan’s Bosco Verticale, an urban pocket forest and haven for wildlife.

A Tranquil Space in the City by Japanese designer Mika Misawa evoked a sense of tranquillity, an autumn seasonal celebration and a way of contemplating life.

The Stolen Soul Garden from Anna Dabrowska-Jaudi where human emotions were given form in this garden, which seeks to draw attention to ‘invisible’ mental health issues.

Great Pavilion

Dave Green created the Mains2Rains installation in the discovery zone inside the Great Pavilion about water management in gardens.  We have supplied Practical Native Mix Instant Hedge plus individual Thuja plants.

You can see these gardens, and much more of the Chelsea Flower Show, in the BBC’s comprehensive TV coverage on the BBC iPlayer.

Talk to our Horticultural team about how Practical Instant Hedge™ could be right for your own garden.

Simply email us on hedge@pracbrown.co.uk

Sculpture with Practical Instant Hedge behind
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RHS Shows July 2021 /in , /by

RHS Shows made a welcome return in July. Visitors were treated to wonderful show gardens and trade displays at both the Hampton Court Garden Festival and the Tatton Park Flower Show.

RHS Shows July 2021

RHS Shows made a welcome return in July. Visitors were treated to wonderful show gardens and trade displays at both the Hampton Court Garden Festival and the Tatton Park Flower Show.

Every year, we work with leading garden designers who choose our instant hedge and plants as an integral part of their show garden concepts, either forming an important green backdrop or as part of the structure within the design itself.

Hampton Court Garden Festival Review

The first major show in quite some time, this year’s Hampton Court Garden Festival enjoyed BBC coverage and many visitors to the stunning grounds of the Historic Royal Palace in Richmond upon Thames.

We worked with two designers at this year’s show:

Global Impact Garden: Message in a Bottle

Award winning design from Tracy Foster at Hampton Court Garden Festival featuring a giant metal framed bottle containing a beautiful garden

Designed by Tracy Foster Built by Firstlight Landscaping Ltd Sponsored by Canal & River Trust

Tracy Foster won a Silver Medal for her Global Impact Garden designed for Canal & River Trust’s Plastics Challenge.

The message from this garden is that we can all take action to help prevent plastic pollution, in our own gardens, urban green spaces and around our canals and rivers. We supplied several specimen shrubs as part of the innovative bottle garden.

Lifestyle Garden: The Communication Garden

Communications Garden by Amelia Bouquet featuring our Practical Instant Hedge

Designed by Amelia Bouquet Built by Urban Meadows Sponsored by London Stone Practicality Brown and Urbis Design

Amelia Bouquet’s Lifestyle Garden, in support of Mental Health UK, is a place to meet, talk, listen and to highlight the importance of face-to-face communication for our mental wellbeing. Practical Instant Native Mix Hedge was used as a backdrop to the design, which won a Silver medal and Best Construction (Global Impact and Lifestyle Garden).

In addition the two show gardens, we also supplied Practical Portuguese Laurel Instant Hedge for sculptor Matt Maddocks and John O’Connor’s trade stand.

RHS Tatton Park Flower Show Review

The Tatton Park Garden Show is in Knutsford, Cheshire is lovely event full of “colourful gardening inspiration”.

Once again, PBL supported Young Designer Gardens at the show. This is a category for those hoping to launch their careers in design, and showcases some of the promising college graduates.

Young Designers Gardens: It’s Okay Not To Be Okay

Designed by James Smith Built by Topoforma Landscape

James Smith has created a garden that draws attention to the stigma associated with mental ill health and the difficulties that men face in coping with such issues. This garden represents that ’it’s ok not to be ok’ and was awarded a Silver Medal. The Hornbeam Practical Instant Hedge forms an integral part of James’s design.

Young Designers Gardens: Rehearse Garden


Emilie Bausager designed the Rehearse Garden for the Shooting Star Children’s Hospices. It’s for a family and provides a green oasis that supports wildlife and provide space for the family to enjoy. Emilie chose Beech Practical Instant Hedge to enhance the courtyard effect of the design. The garden won a Silver Medal and the public vote ie People’s Choice Award for Best Large Garden (Tatton Garden/Young Designer Garden).

We also work with established garden designers and at Tatton Park this year we worked with Leon Davis on his design for the Back to Back Garden category.

Back to Back Garden Garden of Resilience

Leon Davis created the Garden of Resilience for United Utilities, with climate resilience in mind. The garden provides practical and creative ideas on how water can be managed, conserved and reused.  Carpinus betulus (Hornbeam) Practical Instant Hedge was used as a boundary. Leon’s design was awarded a Gold Medal plus Best Back to Back Garden and Best Construction Award (Back to Back Garden and Tatton Garden).

Congratulations to all the designers and their teams on the RHS medals and awards.

We’re now looking forward to an unseasonably late Chelsea Flower Show later in September and will share news of our involvement nearer the time.

Talk to our Horticultural team about how Practical Instant Hedge™ could be right for your own garden.

Simply email us on hedge@pracbrown.co.uk

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RHS Tatton Park July 2021 /in , /by

RHS Flower Shows The RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival was a welcome return to garden shows for the first time this year. Our attentions now turn to Tatton Park in Knutsford, Cheshire. This Garden Show promises to be “a fabulous day out bursting with colourful gardening inspiration, fun family activities, have-a-go workshops and shopping” RHS […]

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