Who doesn’t love a garden bargain?

Everybody likes a plant bargain so keep an eye open for them springing up. Remain in touch with what’s happening on your patch by walking around it daily.

Each year as autumn turns to winter and spent plant growth is removed, we get a first sighting of any newcomers to the border.

Some biennials such as foxglove have by then formed a rosette of leaves that will support tall flower spikes the next calendar year.

In early springtime a wider variety of smaller, self-sown plants start to appear and they’re also free.

Lifting and rounding them up into groups for visual impact in flower is a pleasure. This can begin in late autumn and continue through mild winter days right up to early spring. I call it the sheepdog method!

Bird activity is responsible for many of the freebee shrubs we harvest from this garden annually.

The presence of cotoneaster, berberis, rose, crataegus, holly, is directly linked to their feasting on crops of berries and depositing the residue.

This said, the young broom (cytisus) plants continually springing up en mass on a raised bed with poor soil were not introduced by the birds. They are the result of nature’s mechanism. Stand near the shrub on a hot summer day when it’s dripping with ripe seed capsules. Look and listen. There’s a mini explosion as they twist inside out and propel the seeds.

Occasionally it pays to go with nature. Rather than save the seed of cowslip (Primula veris) with the intention of sowing it later to create more delightful groups of May flowers, sprinkle them there and then near the parent plants. We did this one year ago and now have more seedlings than you could shake a stick at.

How many free plants can you find in your garden?