If you could only have 3 plants in the garden, what would they be, and why would you choose them?

That’s the tricky question we pose toe ach of the guests on the Scotland Grows Show. It is so ahrd for any gardener to narrow their favourite plants to just three! We may say that we would have different favourite plants in different seasons, but when put on the spot and asked to narrow it down, it is very interesting to hear which three plants our podcast guests chose.

This week, we hear from Fiona Thackery, CEO of Trellis and author of ‘Plastic Free Gardening’.

“One would be radicchio, which I love. I have a project to grow different kinds of weird and wonderful Italian vegetables and there’s lots of radicchio. But there’s one, it’s very pale, called ‘Variegata di Castelfranco’ and it’s kind of almost cream coloured with red freckles on the leaves. It’s a beautiful thing and it’s just delicious if you like slightly bitter sweet vegetables.

And then my stripy tomatoes, which I keep in my greenhouse. They’re from saved seeds that I got in a salad one day and I think they’re Italian, but they’re kind of a blend of the kind of ‘Tigerella’, artisan bumblebee types, which are stripy red and green with an out of this world taste.

And I think finally, I would have to have something for the senses to gladden the heart, probably a rose and possibly ‘Crown Princess Margarita’ because it’s a beautiful kind of cabbage-shaped rose, pale pink, with a lovely scent, which I think is crucial in a rose.”

Catch up with the rest of Fiona’s chat in the Scotland Grows Show.