Garden thugs: brilliant plants or a big mistake?

When I first started making this video about garden thugs and good doers, I worried that I had accidentally filled my garden with thugs - would I have to dig them out and start again? But after talking to award-winning professional growers Rosy Hardy of Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants and ‪@RosyHardyGardening‬ , Paul Seaborne of Pelham Plants and Steve Edney and Louise Dowle from the No Name Nursery, I realised that thugs were not only saving me time, but creating some beautiful effects...and they can be ridiculously easy plants to grow. A garden thug isn’t always a bad plant. Sometimes it’s exactly the plant you need — a tough survivor that suppresses weeds, fills difficult spaces, supports pollinators and keeps your garden looking good with very little effort. And a “good doer” isn’t just a plant that survives. It’s a plant that earns its place year after year without taking over everything around it. I’ve learned an amazing amount about my own garden while making this video — why certain plants are thriving, why others struggle, and which plants perhaps need a little more watching. And I hope that by the end of this video, you’ll look at your own garden differently too. Because once you understand how plants behave — whether they clump, run, self-seed or quietly settle in — gardening becomes much easier, and much more enjoyable. 00:00 Welcome 00:54 Rosy Hardy https://www.hardysplants.co.uk/ and Straightforward Gardening club: https://rosy-hardy.teachable.com/p/ro... 01:21 What are garden thugs? 02:30 Top thug to avoid 03:10 Garden thugs can keep weeds under control 04:05 Paul Seaborne of Pelham Plants: https://pelhamplants.co.uk/ 04:35 The Plant Fairs Roadshow: https://www.plantfairsroadshow.co.uk/ 05:29 Another top thug to avoid 06:10 Paul's favourite garden thug 07:14 Techniques for controlling garden thugs 08:37 Steve Edney and Louise Dowle, The No Name Nursery: https://www.thenonamenursery.co.uk/ 09:30 Third top thug to avoid 09:41 Don't move a thug round the garden 10:54 Do Steve and Lou agree that you should never plant bamboo? 11:20 Why thugs are good for gardens 11:56 Video on Veddw - A Beautiful Garden Doesn't Have to Be Hard Work:    • A Beautiful Garden Doesn't Have to Be Hard...   12:02 What to beware of if you have a 'thugs' border 12:15 Good doers: what are they and which ones to pick? 14:10 The best ground cover plants to suppress weeds 14:52 Use thugs to suppress weeds 15:00 Rosy's favourite good doer 15:30 Paul's favourite good doer 17:31 Keeping an eye on thugs 19:43 Best self seeding plants video:    • 20+ Self-Seeding Plants That Do All The Wo...   For garden ideas, gardening advice, garden design and landscaping ideas for your garden or backyard, subscribe to the Middlesized Garden YouTube channel here:    / themiddlesizedgardencouk   Whether you love English garden style, cottage gardens or contemporary urban gardening, The Middlesized Garden has gardening advice and garden ideas for you. Weekly videos cover gardening advice and garden design - from small space gardens to middle-sized garden landscaping - plus garden tours and tips for container gardening. The Middlesized Garden practices sustainability, wildlife gardening and no till methods. If your garden backyard is smaller than an acre, join us and enjoy your garden even more! The Middlesized Garden Complete Guide to Garden Privacy is available in Kindle or paperback in 13 countries (in English only). If you'd like your garden to feel more private, click here for availability in your country: https://www.themiddlesizedgarden.co.u... #gardening #gardendesign #backyardgarden For small and middlesized backyards and gardens.... See The Middlesized Garden blog: http://www.themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk/ For Amazon storefront see: https://www.amazon.com/shop/themiddle... Note: links to Amazon are affiliate which means I get a small fee for qualifying purchases. It doesn't affect the price you pay and I only recommend things I use myself or really think you'd like! More garden ideas on Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.co.uk/midsizega... Twitter:   / midsizegarden   Facebook:   / themiddlesizedgarden