Latest news with #Peonies
CNET
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
Today's NYT Mini Crossword Answers for May 24
Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today's Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles. No matter how many NYT Mini Crossword puzzles I've done, those double-meaning clues always trip me up. So I see 8-Across, "army shirt," and am trying to make "khaki" or "camo" fit. And I see 10-across, "wand-waving org," and my mind goes to Harry Potter. I was wrong on both. Need some help with today's Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips. The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times' games collection. If you're looking for today's Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET's NYT puzzle hints page. Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword Let's get at those Mini Crossword clues and answers. The completed NYT Mini Crossword puzzle for May 24, 2025. NYT/Screenshot by CNET Mini across clues and answers 1A clue: "Get a load of ___!" Answer: THIS 5A clue: Ability to keep one's balance on a ship Answer: SEALEGS 8A clue: Army shirt? Answer: TANKTOP 9A clue: Chicago trains Answer: ELS 10A clue: Wand-waving org. Answer: TSA 11A clue: Flowers depicted in classical Chinese art Answer: PEONIES 13A clue: By oneself Answer: ALONE 14A clue: Phileas ___, "Around the World in Eighty Days" protagonist Answer: FOGG Mini down clues and answers 1D clue: Something "read" in the divination method of tasseography Answer: TEALEAF 2D clue: Sci-fi hero with the line "Never tell me the odds" Answer: HANSOLO 3D clue: Kind Answer: ILK 4D clue: Where a story takes place Answer: SETTING 5D clue: Lather, rinse or repeat Answer: STEP 6D clue: "Take a look for yourself!" Answer: GOSEE 7D clue: Places to get pampered Answer: SPAS 12D clue: Eggy holiday drink Answer: NOG How to play more Mini Crosswords The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day's Mini Crossword for free, but you'll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.
The Sun
11-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Sun
Cheapest plants to buy now to get your garden ready for summer including Ikea, Lidl and The Range
DOING up your garden makes it better for relaxing, entertaining and can even make your property more valuable. Pretty plants can make all the difference giving colour, attracting wildlife and adding interest to your green areas. 7 If you get carried away, you can end up spending a small fortune on shrubs and plants. However, there are bargains to be had too. So we've looked across the high street shops to find the best priced plants to upgrade your outdoor area this summer... Flamingo trees - The Range, £3.99 7 Flamingo trees are the garden must-have. The striking tree with beautiful pink leaves blooms into colour every year. It's officially known as the Salix Flamingo or the Hakuro-Nishiki willow tree. The Range has the 60cm trees for £14.99 each or you can pick up two for £20. There's also a mini version for £3.99 each or you can get three for £10. Peonies A lovely romantic flower, peonies are a beautiful addition to the garden. When cared for properly, they'll bloom each year. Standby as Lidl is stocking the flowers for a fab price of £7.99. But you'll need to hurry as the plants are only avilable for a limited period. Olive tree - Lidl, £16.99 Olive trees can look fab potted by front doors or on patios. These can be quite pricey and you'd usually be looking at spending £30-40 a pop. However, Lidl currenly has the plants for £16.99 making them a bit of a steal. You'll need to be quick though as the trees aren't a permamnent offering. Once they're gone, they're gone. Bedding plants - GardeningExpress, £1 Add some colour to borders, planters or hanging baskets with cheap and cheerful bedding plants. Online retailer is a fab place to find cheap and cheerful plants often for as little as £1. The retailer does daily deals so keep checking in to see what's available if you don't fancy the offers when you first look. Hydrangeas - Ikea, £8 Hydrangeas are really pretty and will change colour depending on the soil they are in. The plants don't always come cheap, however, if you head to Ikea you can get top value shrubs. A 15cm potted version of the plant is available for £8 or you can get 23cm for £13. Strawberry and tomato plants - B&M, £1.50 7 If you want to try your hand at growing some strawberries this year, B&M is a great place to get your hands on the plants at a decent price. You can buy the plants for £1.50 each or get five for £5. The same deal is also available on tomato plants if you want to branch out and grow more food types. How to find gardening bargains Doing up your garden to enjoy on warm and sunny days needn't cost the earth. Sun Savers Editor Lana Clements explains how to get a top deal on items for the garden… You can bag big savings on plants, shrubs and flowers, as well as gardening tools and furniture. Many retailers have flash sales across entire seasonal ranges – often these promotions tie into payday at the end of the month or Bank Holiday weekends, so keep a lookout. Sign up to mailing lists of your favourite brands and you'll be first to know of special offers. It can be worth following retailers on social media too. Use a price comparison site to search out the best value items. And keep a close eye on the specialbuys at Aldi and middle of Lidl drops which drop a couple of times a week and usually mean great value seasonal items for your outdoor areas. If you are not in a hurry to buy an item, try adding it to the shopping cart online and leaving it for a couple of days. Sometimes big brands will try to tempt you into the sale by offering you a discount. And always check if you can get cashback before paying. It's especially worth using sites such as Topcashback, Quidco and app Jamdoughnut when buying bigger ticket items such as garden furniture as you'll get a nice kickback.
The Sun
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
I'm a Peony Expert – my 10 essential tips will keep them flourishing for months
FLAMBOYANT, frilly and utterly fantastic - Peonies are the secret weapon to filling your outside space with stunning colour right now. But how much do you know about the blowsy blooms? 3 Were you aware they can live for 100 years? Or that they get better with age? Alec White from Primrose Hall Nursery in Bedfordshire loves them so much, he gave up his job as a lawyer 15 years ago to grow them full time. Since then he's won a Chelsea Gold Medal and holds the Plant Heritage National Collection for unusual Peony Varieties. He told Sun Gardening: 'One of the things I love most, is that they're so easy to grow. They've got a reputation for being funny as they don't like being picked up and moved. 'But actually they're tough as old boots. They've been around for 100,000 years, they're all over the Northern Hemisphere. 'They've really adapted to all sorts of conditions, whether it's mountainous, prairies, woodland, wherever- there's peonies for everything. 'And there's lots of different foliage, lots of different colours and types. 'They flower from April in the UK until the end of June, or July depending on where you are. 'And they're really not that fussy. 'If you're a beginner gardener, they're perfect, because you plant them and the more you leave them, the more they thrive. The Sun's Veronica Lorraine visits the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 'I call them an 'inheritance plant' because they can last for a hundred years - and every year you leave them - they flower more. 'It's is astonishing how they die down completely - then the next year, they quickly go from this little jewel sticking out the top of the soil in February, to a bit more by March and by April, they've shot up. 'That's down to the quality of the roots - that enables them to shoot up so suddenly." He added: "You just need to watch out for Peony Wilt. "You'll know this fungal airborne disease by the stem turning black and wilting - normally in the UK around July time. "There's nothing you can do apart from cut it out and dispose of it Any material infected material touches will die as well. 'Peonies don't generally flower until they're five years old. Because they're such a long lived plant, they've very slow, they're very steady and they're very measured. 'They may look delicate and fragile, and each plant may only flower for a few weeks each year, but they are incredibly robust and long-lived and require very little care and maintenance.' Alec's Top Peony Tips If you want to feed them, then maybe just do it once a year - a couple of teaspoons of growmore - no more - otherwise you'll tire them out. Water them - even in the summer. They're really drought tolerant and will take a lot of punishment - but if they don't get looked after two or three years on the trot, they will start to suffer. They don't like to sit in water, they have quite a fat tuberous root - and if they're in water over the winter they'll rot. Buy a well established plant - some take 7-8 years before they flower reliably. Full sun or part shade, as long as it's not heavy shade. Any soil will do - they're not fussed - as long as it doesn't get waterlogged over the winter. They mustn't have wet feet over winter. The biggest thing with planting peonies is depth. The top of the peony doesn't want to be more than inch or two under the surface. If you're a novice and you're not quite sure, I'd say keep it on the surface. If they're any deeper - they will never flower. Don't mulch them - the more you bury them, the more you stop the flowering. Give them space for airflow. 3 3 Alec's Favourites EARLY Clair de Lune - pale lemon, single, birds and bees love it, doesn't mind a bit of shade. Foliage has a slight blue hue, really big flowers, beautifully scented. Flowers Mid to Late April. MID SEASON Catherina Fontijn - Herbacious, double, big flowers, blush pink, very delicate, very highly scented. LATE Paul M. Wild - nice strong red, flowers towards the end of June. Shirley Temple is a bit more subtle with slightly smaller flowers, double, white, with a raspberry fringe on them. Open pink but turn white and beautifully scented. Win a £200 Wildlife Community Voucher The Wildlife Community is an online community and shop dedicated to connecting people with nature Win a £200 Voucher to Spend on Wildlife & Gardening Products! Fancy giving your garden a wildlife-friendly makeover? Enter our giveaway for a chance to win a £200 voucher to spend on The Wildlife Community website! Or use the code SUNTWC10 on the Wildlife Communuty Website to get 10 per cent off all products. Explore a fantastic range of eco-friendly wildlife and gardening products, including beautifully handcrafted bird feeders and nest boxes, pollinator-friendly bee hotels, fair trade planters, sustainably sourced hedgehog house and Plastic Free Gardening seed trays. To enter, visit or write to Sun Wildlife Community Competition, PO Box 3190, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8GP. Include your name, age, email or phone. UK residents 18+ only. Ends 23.59GMT 24.05.25 T&Cs apply.
The Irish Sun
10-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Irish Sun
I'm a Peony Expert – my 10 essential tips will keep them flourishing for months
FLAMBOYANT, frilly and utterly fantastic - Peonies are the secret weapon to filling your outside space with stunning colour right now. But how much do you know about the blowsy blooms? 3 Peonies come in all shapes and sizes - and there's a trick to make them flourish Were you aware they can live for 100 years? Or that they get better with age? Alec White from Since then he's won a Chelsea Gold Medal and holds the Plant Heritage National Collection for unusual Peony Varieties. He told Sun Gardening: 'One of the things I love most, is that they're so easy to grow. They've got a reputation for being funny as they don't like being picked up and moved. Read More Gardening 'But actually they're tough as old boots. They've been around for 100,000 years, they're all over the Northern Hemisphere. 'They've really adapted to all sorts of conditions, whether it's mountainous, prairies, woodland, wherever- there's peonies for everything. 'And there's lots of different foliage, lots of different colours and types. 'They Most read in Fabulous 'And they're really not that fussy. 'If you're a beginner gardener, they're perfect, because you plant them and the more you leave them, the more they thrive. The Sun's Veronica Lorraine visits the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 'I call them an 'inheritance plant' because they can last for a hundred years - and every year you leave them - they flower more. 'It's is astonishing how they die down completely - then the next year, they quickly go from this little jewel sticking out the top of the soil in February, to a bit more by March and by April, they've shot up. 'That's down to the quality of the roots - that enables them to shoot up so suddenly." He added: "You just need to watch out for Peony Wilt. "You'll know this fungal airborne disease by the stem turning black and wilting - normally in the UK around July time. "There's nothing you can do apart from cut it out and dispose of it Any material infected material touches will die as well. 'Peonies don't generally flower until they're five years old. Because they're such a long lived plant, they've very slow, they're very steady and they're very measured. 'They may look delicate and fragile, and each plant may only flower for a few weeks each year, but they are incredibly robust and long-lived and require very little care and maintenance.' Alec's Top Peony Tips If you want to feed them, then maybe just do it once a year - a couple of teaspoons of growmore - no more - otherwise you'll tire them out. Water them - even in the summer. They're really drought tolerant and will take a lot of punishment - but if they don't get looked after two or three years on the trot, they will start to suffer. They don't like to sit in water, they have quite a fat tuberous root - and if they're in water over the winter they'll rot. Buy a well established plant - some take 7-8 years before they flower reliably. Full sun or part shade, as long as it's not heavy shade. Any soil will do - they're not fussed - as long as it doesn't get waterlogged over the winter. They mustn't have wet feet over winter. The biggest thing with planting peonies is depth. The top of the peony doesn't want to be more than inch or two under the surface. If you're a novice and you're not quite sure, I'd say keep it on the surface. If they're any deeper - they will never flower. Don't mulch them - the more you bury them, the more you stop the flowering. Give them space for airflow. 3 Peony Festiva Maxima 3 Peony Clair de Lune Alec's Favourites EARLY MID SEASON LATE Win a £200 Wildlife Community Voucher The Wildlife Community is an online community and shop dedicated to connecting people with nature Win a £200 Voucher to Spend on Wildlife & Gardening Products! Fancy giving your garden a wildlife-friendly makeover? Enter our giveaway for a chance to win a £200 voucher to spend on The Or use the code SUNTWC10 on the Wildlife Communuty Website to get 10 per cent off all products. Explore a fantastic range of eco-friendly wildlife and gardening products, including beautifully handcrafted bird feeders and nest boxes, pollinator-friendly bee hotels, fair trade planters, sustainably sourced hedgehog house and Plastic Free Gardening seed trays. To enter, visit or write to Sun Wildlife Community Competition, PO Box 3190, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8GP. Include your name, age, email or phone. UK residents 18+ only. Ends 23.59GMT 24.05.25 T&Cs apply.
