Gardens: what to do this week

Visit this

If you want to learn how to use grasses successfully, Knoll Gardens is the place to visit. Neil Lucas’s four-acre plot near Wimborne in Dorset tests new varieties and showcases brilliant plant combinations. Take a notebook.

Rosa ‘Pink Fire’: flowers all summer long

Groom this

Gardeners tend to ignore houseplants over summer because they’re too busy outside, but now is the moment to give indoor plants some love. Use a damp cloth gently to wipe clean thick, shiny leaves such as palms, dracaenas and yuccas; a soft brush will remove dust from cacti, succulents and hairy-leaved plants. Trim off dead leaves and mulch the pots with gravel, pebbles or slate chips.

Plant this

Gone are the days of stiff, formal rose gardens. Instead, roses muck in with other plants in modern gardens. It looks better and it’s easier to keep roses disease-free that way, too. Floribunda rose ‘Pink Fire’ will produce flowers all summer long. Height and spread: 90cm x 75cm. Order one 3.5-litre potted plant for £14.99 or two for £24.99 (prices include free p&p). To order, all 0330 333 6856, quoting ref GU363, or go to our Readers’ offers page. Dispatched September to October.