Gardening is one of the most popular pastimes; everyone knows we are supposed to enjoy our garden; but, do we enjoy gardening or at times does it just feel like hard work?

These are some tips for enjoying gardening.

Don’t Expect Perfection

Some people are never happy until every weed is removed and every plant is in the right place. This means that, even in a small garden, you will always be facing an uphill struggle to keep on top of the garden. A good gardener places emphasis on getting the important structure right, but then allows nature to have her own say as well. Don’t feel guilty just because some weeds are creeping through your borders. Don’t expect plants to behave exactly as you want. If you look at nature, you rarely see plants in a nice neat rows. (see: definition of a weed)

80 / 20 Principle

The 80 / 20 principle says that you can achieve 80% of your improvement with 20% of your effort. When gardening start with the jobs that make the biggest difference to the look of the garden. Don’t start with weeding an area out of sight by the compost heap. Start with making small changes in your main border which will make a big difference.

Take Time To Enjoy

A garden isn’t just a place of work, but somewhere to enjoy. You will always be able to find jobs to do in a garden; but, sometimes you need to say that you are just going to enjoy the garden - the weeds can wait for another day. Similarly, when you work, be focused. In one hour of concentrated weeding, you can probably do more than several odd 5-10 minutes sessions.

Garden is Living Entity.

Don’t just think about plants. Try to encourage wildlife such as birds; they help to create a feeling that the garden is being lived in rather just something to admire like a museum.

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Camellias are by nature evergreen woodland shrubs or small trees. They prefer an acid, leafy soil and some shade and protection from early morning sun for the flower buds.

The flowers are classed in various forms including single, semi double, Peony form, Anemone form, Rose form or Formal double. Camellia Japonica and Reticulata Camellias are the most common base for many hybrids but the large family of Camellias includes plants that produce Tea, Charcoal and Oils for cosmetics.

Camellia Cultivation Tips

• Do not plant too near a wall or hedge and deprive the plant of a normal ration of rain and flower buds will drop
• Fertilizer suitable for ericacious plants such as Rhododendrons and Azalea will help the plant take up nutrients and stop yellow leaves.
• Try a foliar feed of Sequestrene if leaves are showing yellow or poor quality
• Keep roots protected from a deep frost by mulch or wrap a pot in sacking
• pH soil of 5.5- 6.5 is sufficiently acid and aluminium sulphate or ferrous sulpahte will help reduce soils pH. If your soil is unsuitable plant camellias in a large pot with special compost
• Do not plant in a draft but Camellias will stand in a wind
• Prune to get strong lateral growth and cut flowers back to a side shoot

A delightful pink poppy.

There are a variety of garden poppies, which are generally quite easy to cultivate. They are annual plants offering an easy growing season from March/ April to flower in June and July. Poppies are generally quite easy to maintain and resistant to most kinds of pest and disease.

Some of the more common poppy varieties (Papaver somniferum) Papaver rhoeas - (annual corn poppy), P. orientale Oriental poppy can start to become weeds and once they set seed they can be difficult to eradicate.

Sowing Poppies

Sow outside where they are to flower in april / march. Alternatively, they can be sown in Autumn (September) for an earlier flowering the next year

Growing Poppies

• Do best in full sun
• Well drained soil
• Do Not need feeding or manure
• They are extremely good at self sowing

A wonderful photo of New York, Botanic Gardens, Queens by Unmesh Swanson. Notice how the bright apple blossom contrasts with the dark stone and roof. It provides a fascinating window in the garden beyond.

It is over 300 years since the birth of a Swede Carl Linnaeus(1707-1778).  His father’s garden ‘inflamed his mind from infancy with an unquenchable love of plants’ that led to a nickname ‘Little Botanicus’.

In 1735 he published his first edition of ‘Systema Naturae’ a classification system for all living things followed by ‘Species Plantarum’ dealing with plants and horticulture. He authored many botanical books and his library was used as the basis to found the Linnaean Society of London which is still going strong and recently published:

‘Order out of Chaos’ Linnaean Plant Names and their Types

By Dr Charlie Jarvis

‘A major new work from the Linnean Plant Name Typification Project.’

Linnaeus devised his class system for plants based on the number and arrangement of the male and female parts of a flower, his so called ’sexual system.’ For example the ‘Sweet William’ - Dianthus barbatus has 10 stamens per flower and is in the Linnaeus class Decandria. The name Dianthus barbatus comes from Greek Di the god Zeus and anthos meaning a flower. barbaratus means bearded and refers to the hairs in the mouth of the flowers. The Sweet William was widely cultivated in the mid 18th Century and had a number of garden form of which Linnaeus lists at least 10 including albo white, roseo pink and flore multiplici a double flowered variety.

• Let Linnaeus encourage you to look closely at plants and Flowers in particular

• Consider what is behind the name of your plant and how and why it has been chosen

Iris flowers are named after the Greek Goddess of the rainbow, which is appropriate for their extensive range of colours.

There are many different varieties of Iris The most common is the German Bearded Iris’ which include a range of different cultivatars.

• Provided they are grown in a suitable location, Iris provide a good low maintenance display.
• The main thing is to ensure the soil has good drainage. If the bulbs become waterlogged there is a risk of the bulb rotting. (apart from the varieties which are grown on pond edges.
• Iris enjoy full sun or partial sun.
• The Iriz rhizomes should be planted at or just above soil level.
• Iris bulb varieties should be planted 2-3 times the depth of the bulb size.
• I. unguicularis is a good variety for offering flowers in early winter when flowers are rare. These need a sheltered, sunny and free draining spot.

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Zonal geraniums are more accurately called ‘Pelargoniums’. In the North of England there can be frosts late in May. In Scotland and on high ground keep your thermometer handy whenever frost is threatened.

After a few good years I got over keen this weekend and lost some good growth and suffered several set backs after an air frost last night.

The zonal is named for the distict ands of colour around the leaf. On this example 3 distinct shades are obvious even though it is a black and white image. These distinctive colours and patterns are quite sought after and some varieties are grown for the leaf shade alone.

Sometimes as gardeners, we place all the emphasis on plants. However, a few well positioned ornaments and focal points can heighten the interest and drama within a garden.

The above photo is from Lady Margaret Hall Gardens, Oxford. This is a sunken garden with a mixture of lavenders, verbena and ornamental grasses. The two earthenware pots and sun dial in the middle of the garden provide a perfect foil and complement to the understated planting.

Box Symmetry

In this photo, the eye is steered towards the gap in the end fence. There is a neat symmetry, which helps to provide a relaxing feel to the garden. Notice how, the gardener has encouraged the eye to follow a certain path.

Focal Point With Plants

Verbascum ‘Banana Custard’ provides a focal point in this mixed border

Photos from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and garden in Yorkshire; copyright gardeners tips.

Dandelion - Weed or Plant of beauty?

A weed is a plant that you don’t want to have in the garden.

The question is, what kind of plants fall into the category? As gardeners we sometimes fall into the trap of aiming for perfection and feel guilty about a dandelion growing in the herbaceous border. However, a dandelion has a certain natural beauty. Even its seed heads are beautiful. The problem is we have been conditioned to think that the dandelion is a ‘weed’ and therefore needs to be always removed. Sometimes it is a matter of changing our perspective. Rather than feel guilty about the dandelions in the grass, why not appreciate its simple beauty?

There are many so called ‘weeds’ which actually are quite attractive. - Daisy’s, Poppy’s, Thistles

This does not mean we want dandelions everywhere, but, we can learn to be more tolerant of plants often considered as weeds

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There is great power through planting in drifts. Sometimes as gardeners we are a bit tentative and plant in ones and twos and so our garden becomes a bit of a hotch potch. However, if we can be bold and plant in large groups and drifts, the effect can be very impressive.
Even in small gardens don’t be shy to plant in large drifts. The above photo is taken from Oxford Botanic Gardens and shows some purple ornamental onions flowering in May. This is a herbaceous border which focuses on large drifts of plants. At any one time, there may only be 1 or 2 plants in flower; but the theme creates an impressive display.

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