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Every year, I get caught up in some kind of madness - I become obsessed with something and won’t rest until I make it happen. This year, I decided to create an entire peony bed. I already had a few peonies in the garden, but I wondered what it would be like to have them all grouped together. So I gave it a try. And the result? They’re SO gorgeous! You might think peonies only come in white, pink, or red, but there are so many shades and flower shapes - I fell in love head over heels. With peonies. So here they are - love them with me! 😀🥰🌸

A fantastic cascade of light green leaves and tiny, pea-like yellow flowers. The delicate foliage forms airy drapes, and I wouldn’t be surprised if decorators used their shape as a pattern for elegant curtains. This a weeping form of pea tree called Walker (not Johnny!).😊🌿

It doesn’t grow very fast, and its height is determined by the trunk size at the time of purchase because after that, it only grows downward. It can be pruned after blooming, but it’s not necessary. Trimming makes sense when the branches touch the ground and start creeping along. It can become inconvenient and less visually appealing. The most beautiful shape is a cascading form that doesn’t reach the ground. Pruning will encourage denser growth to the sides. 

By coincidence, two TV reports featuring our plants aired today. The second one was on Nova TV, in Vaše kouzelná zahrada (Your Magical Garden), and it focused on the evergreen shrub Portugal laurel.

This sturdy plant is used for hedges, both formal and informa mixed with differently coloured shrubs, as a specimen shrub, or even as a standard tree with a low or high trunk, providing a stunning piece while also serving as a screen from neighbouring windows.

There are only a few species and varieties, all of which are beautiful and hardy. It's one of my favourites - I’ve been growing it for over 20 years, and I’m truly impressed by both its beauty and utility. Check out the report either in the archive of your smart TV or on Oneplay.

Camellias have been considered aristocratic shrubs in modern history. This is due to their noble beauty, their difficulty to obtain and high price, which made them affordable only to wealthy nobility willing to pay a substantial sum for imports from the Orient, and also because of their former sensitivity as far as cultivation. But that's history. Fortunately, times have changed. 🥳

Today, camellias are popular evergreen shrubs in many gardens, not only in cooler subtropical climates but also in temperate regions, including ours. Thanks to changing weather patterns, it has become possible to select sufficiently hardy varieties and species suitable for Central Europe. I have been growing them for over 15 years, and today we have around 40 hardy camellias, with new additions every year.

This was also the topic of today’s feature in the Polopatě magazine on Czech Television, which you can watch online or view it in the history of your smart TV (ČT1 - 18.5.2025, 8:55). Come take a look at some of these beauties that were in bloom when it was filmed and pick your favourite. I’m offering more photos here, including those of camellias that bloom in autumn and winter. 😉💪❄

The foxglove tree (Paulownia tomentosa) is, without exaggeration, one of the most stunning trees in our climate. At this time of year, it blooms with upright panicles up to 50 cm tall, composed of large, purple flowers with a sweet, honey-like fragrance. Catching their scent in the afternoon and early evening is just as mesmerizing as the sight of the tree in full purple bloom. Just stand there and gaze in awe. And this year, they're blooming spectacularly!

Adriana from Bratislava sent us some stunning photos of her swamp hibiscus, saying she got them as if they had just fallen into her lap 😆😂. She claims she doesn’t really know how to care for them, but I think the exact opposite! What do you reckon?

We received a wonderful email from a customer in Břeclav who has been growing a Mexican orange blossom from us for six years now. With her permission, we're delighted to share her joy with you:

"This morning, I stepped into my garden, and the fragrance was incredible. I’ve already ordered three more. The first one has been fully pruned twice and always grows back beautifully. It’s a stunning shrub—evergreen and wonderfully fragrant when in bloom, even around the house. It thrives in dry conditions on the southern side, and the chickens enjoy dust bathing in its shade. Thank you so much—I absolutely recommend it. I’m glad I saw it on TV and decided to order it back then. I wish you lots of happy customers, and I doubt these three will be my last—I’m sure I’ll find space for more!"

We're beyond thrilled and can confidently say—Mexican orange blossom is simply amazing! 👍😍

Today on Breakfast with Nova, we talked about early spring plant shopping, and I took the opportunity to make my point. What about? About impulsive shopping for everything that blooms and looks nice, without knowing if the plant has a chance to live longer than just the 2-3 months when it is pretty.

When you shop with us, you have the absolute certainty that EVERYTHING we sell is PERENNIAL. No "consumable goods" to be thrown away shortly after. Our plants can be grown in the garden and some even in containers for a lifetime or at least for many years. I strongly advocate against unnecessarily feeding the producers of "single-use" plants and creating new waste, but rather choosing what has a chance to live long.

I showed plants which make gardens beautiful right now. Naturally, this brought up evergreen shrubs and then hellebores, which are already blooming in gardens and look fantastic. Take a look at them 💚🌸

In today's episode of the Polopatě magazine (last report - around 41:54), we introduced the Mediterranean shrub of the Argenteovariegata Italian buckthorn with variegated leaves and the unique evergreen hybrid Oregon grape, which blooms in the middle of winter.

So, let's see - do you know it? Someone is surely shouting yes! yes! I know it, I have it, and it's beautiful!

But there are still many who have never heard of it, and that's a real shame. This beauty doesn't just belong in collection gardens and for hydrangea lovers. It's a reliable and useful shrub for semi-shaded and moist to wet areas with such attractive leaves that it even puts the fig tree to shame. Don't believe it? Come and see for yourself😁.

Hydrangea quercifolia

This morning, I was woken up by an unexpected sound - my neighbour was mowing the lawn. Seriously. In January. And I don't blame him, because the grass grows even in winter and the lawnmower not only trims the green but also collects fallen leaves. Today's beautiful and sunny weather brought not only gardeners outside. The sidewalks and parks were full of walkers, and it looked like everyone was enjoying the warmer weather after the recent cold spell.

I went out as well, and true to my professional quirks, I was thrilled to have my camera with me at the end of the day. 🤩 Do you like the photo? I love the winter sky; it has the most beautiful and intense colours. I watched it for several minutes until the sun completely disappeared. And I thought I'd show you some more colors. Something from the last season that may either bring back memories or show you some inspiration to look forward to, because I know that as soon as the first rays of the sun tickle you, you'll be planning what and where to plant in the spring 💚🍀🌹 So throw yourselves into the sea of colours and shapes and enjoy! 😇

Czech Television excelled! As opposed to the debacle of the Christmas Eve’s fairy tale as well as the New Year’s Eve “joyful” estrade on Channel One, the lineup of New Year's programmes on Channel Two was a delight one after another. It's probably no surprise, because while commercial production (anywhere) aimed at entertaining at all costs is increasingly heading into dead ends with overdone, exhausted, and shallow topics lie, production aimed at uplifting the mind and spirit has horizons that are perpetually open and inexhaustible, because its themes have depth, content, and relevance in any era.

I want to focus on one program, a fascinating French documentary called Legacy from 2023, directed by the world-renowned creator of Home (2009), the 78-year-old photographer, filmmaker, balloonist and ecologist Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Since 1976, he has lived as a photographer in Kenya, where he observed and documented the life of a lion family and discovered his passion for photography from a hot air balloon. The higher and farther he travelled, the more he learned about the state of our Earth and how people treat it. His work went so far that, after he returned to France, in 1994 he launched a study on the state of the Earth, sponsored by UNESCO, showing how far we have come in its devastation in less than 100 years. In 2005, he founded the GoodPlanet organization, which aims to truthfully and comprehensively inform about the importance of reducing greenhouse gases and the impact of current energy policies on the ecosystem.