A gardener's guide to beautiful plants & flowers

Plants add beauty to our homes and gardens, but they can seem like a challenge. Here's how to keep your home bursting with colour and fragrance without sucking your wallet dry.

• The best bargain flowers are homegrown, so plant them in your garden if you can.
• Depending on what region of the country you are in, you could have free blooms six months of the year.
• Cut flowers from the garden just before they're in full bloom. That way they will open indoors and you will need to replace them less frequently.
• Pansies are easy to grow and come in a glorious choice of colours. Plus, the more you cut, the more they flower.

• Local fruit and vegetable stores often have a large selection of fresh-cut flowers and the prices are better than at a florist, but there is less selection.
• Supermarkets are a good source of well-priced flowers, but check carefully — they're often past their prime.

• Buy flowers that last a long time, such as chrysanthemums and carnations.
• Lilies are expensive but last for two weeks and have an intense fragrance (not to everyone's taste) that will fill the whole house.
• Ensure that you change their water every three days.
• Not all colours are strongly scented, so before you buy you may want to sort through and select the most fragrant.
• Freesias are a good choice for a fragrant flower.

• Buy from a reputable source, and ensure flowers are wrapped for protection before leaving the store.
• Flowers with firm petals or coloured buds have absorbed enough food to develop fully.
• Put them in lukewarm water — it has less oxygen, which prevents air bubbles in the stem blocking water uptake.
• Clean vases thoroughly after use — bacteria kills flowers.
• Snip stems at an angle under running water to increase the area that can absorb water.
• Strip off all leaves that would be below the waterline to help keep the water clean.
• Use flower food as instructed. It contains flower-friendly sugars that encourages buds to open, and preservatives to prolong their life.

• Add a couple of aspirin tablets to the vase.
• Pop a few drops of lemonade into the water.
• Add a few drops of bleach to disinfect the water, but don't overdo it or you will kill the flowers.
• Add a couple of coins — the dissolving minerals are believed to extend the life of flowers.

• Move a potted plant around until you find a spot where the plant is happy.
• Don't be tempted to water your plant more if it isn't blooming. It may just need a spot in stronger sunlight.
• Give plants a boost by watering occasionally with leftover cold tea.
• Cooled water that was used for boiling eggs is full of nutrients.
• Mix a few tea leaves or coffee grounds into the plant soil to aerate it.

Plants and flowers add much-needed colour and scents to our homes and gardens. Taking care of them may seem like a challenge, but by picking the right plants, and giving them the right diet, your home and garden can have the look and smell you want.