Author: Van Meuwen

Horticultural mail order specialists. Working hard to bring you the best quality well-established plants as well as exciting new varieties.

Join the Big Butterfly Count 2020

The Big Butterfly Count

Peacock Butterflies
©Van Meuwen – Peacock Butterflies are a common sight in UK gardens.

Have you spotted any butterflies lately? If your garden is a haven for them then why not take part in the Big Butterfly Count? This annual event runs from Friday 17 July and Sunday 9 August this year, so you still have plenty of time to get involved.

It’s a simple but effective way of testing the state of the UK’s butterfly populations. People up and down the UK will be stepping outside for 15 minutes with a cuppa and an identification sheet, downloaded from Butterfly Conservation’s website https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/ .  Choose a sunny spot to sit and record how many of each different species you can spot in your garden.
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Win a beautiful date palm!

We’ve got 5 stunning Canary Island Date Palms to giveaway
Featured: Phoenix Palm

Want the chance to win this beautiful Canary Island Date Palm? Tell us what you think about Van Meuwen and we’ll enter you into a prize draw to win one of these magnificent trees.*

We value your opinion

Happy customers make our day. We work hard to offer quality plants and bulbs and provide excellent customer service, all at an affordable price.

With your help we can do better. Complete the short customer survey at the bottom of the page, telling us what you like about Van Meuwen and what you think we could improve on.

And to show our thanks, we’ll enter you into our prize draw to win one of five Canary Island Date Palms.

The survey

The survey will take around ten minutes to complete and is further down this page. To be eligible for the prize draw, please complete the survey by Sunday 14th October 2018

Thank you for your help and good luck!

* Customers who complete Van Meuwen’s online customer survey before 14th October 2018 will be entered into a prize draw for the chance to win one of five Canary Island Date Palms. Entries are limited to one per customer.

How to grow blueberries

Here’s everything you need to know to grow brilliant blueberries
Image source: Anna Subbotina

Packed with antioxidants and vitamin C, blueberries are not only delicious, they make beautiful garden plants too! White flowers in spring are followed by blue-grey fruits in mid-summer and fiery red foliage in autumn. Read our blueberry growing guide to learn how to grow and care for blueberry plants in your garden.

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How to grow orchids

With both indoor and outdoor varieties, you can’t go wrong with growing orchids.
Image source: Sornram Yamtanom

Orchids are a massive family of plants consisting of hundreds of different species. They’re popular for their exquisite flowers which often last for months indoors.

Most indoor orchids are epiphytic or lithophytic, meaning they grow on trees or rocks in their natural habitat. Outdoor orchids are terrestrial meaning they grow in the ground and many can be successfully overwintered outdoors in the UK.

Read on to learn how to grow these exotic plants successfully in your home and garden!

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