A fine sunny spring day often makes humans (and bears) think about getting their gardens looking good ready for summer. I was on a mission to find some flower seeds for our front garden, so off we went to the Riverside Garden Centre in Bristol.

The minute you get inside there are lots of lovely plants and flowers waiting to be bought and taken away.

Custard the slug lives at the garden centre and he warns humans that others much smaller than him like to eat newly planted seedlings.

The herbs all looked very fresh and green, but I wasn’t looking for herbs.

I had a good look around…

There is a beautiful selection of Acers that are kept in a special shelter. Our Acer at home is kept out of the wind as once a cold wind damaged all its leaves and we had to wait a year for lovely new leaves to appear again!

Not surprisingly Riverside Garden Centre is next to the river, which is the river Avon.

There was a splendid collection of pots in suitable sizes for bears to hide in.

My human said this garden ornament had a face a bit like an Easter Island statue.

I had a quick look in the mirror, as you do!

I felt as though I could have been in the Mediterranean sitting under the olive tree.

Finally I found a suitable plant for a gap in the front garden. The Salvia ticked all the boxes for something that would grow in the intended place.

I also wanted some seeds that would produce lots and lots of flowers and would be easy to grow. I soon found some…

I opted for the ‘Summer in a Box’ seed mix.

I paid for the plant and the seeds at the checkout.

We were going to get refreshments at the Garden Centre but it was very busy so we returned home where I enjoyed a bun in the garden. You may notice that we bought a foxglove too; the humans wanted that for the back garden!

After putting on my gardening clothes I raked over the flower bed and sprinkled over the seed mix.

Even though the soil wasn’t dry I gave the seeds a little water to ‘settle them in’. I am very much looking forward to seeing them germinate.

A big hole needed to be dug for the salvia.

Once planted that was also watered in. I have a very special watering can that used to belong to my human’s daughter that is just the right size for a small bear!

Now we just have to wait for the seeds to germinate, and hopefully become a patch of lovely flowers. I will update this blog as they grow.

Update June 27th: the seeds that I put in are all in flower.

The garden centre we visited is https://riversidegardencentre.com/

Horace the Alresford Bear 12/4/2024