Reasons to consider ground cover for your garden

• Ground cover can be designed to be low maintenance
• Good cover will soften edges and sides of paths
• Soil on slopes or banking can be held in place
• Difficult areas with access problems can be covered in style
• Bare soil can be unsightly unless covered
• Good plant selection can make a feature of ground cover
• Ground cover can add balance and harmony within the garden

Plants for Ground Cover Situations

• Auga reptans blue flower spikes aka Bugle ‘burgundy glow’
• Vinca major and minor - both evergreen periwinkles
• Pachysandra terminalis - whirling evergreen leaves
• Read the rest of this entry »

I was very pleased with my picture of Coreopsis from my garden without any comprehension of the variety available. That was before I came across another blog Transatlantic Plantsman with the picture below by the Dutch perennials wizard Luc Klinkhamer

Anyway back to my small observations.

• I purchased one good plant from a nursery last Autumn and split it into 3 before planting. Two plants are now larger than the original and all are flowering in a nice group.
• My plants are flowering very well.
• They are great additions to my garden design of bright yellow and oranges that will bloom most of the summer. They fit in well with most plants and have a good compact habit.
• Coreopsis makes a neat 14 inch tall edging plant as well as nice cut flowers.
• Check the habit of the more exotic types as they may not be as compact or floriferous
• Coreopsis is attracting a lot of attention from breeders and will be a perennial plant to be reconed with over the next few years. Watch this space or the one at your garden center.

1.  Battersea Park

Festival Gardens, Peace Pagoda, Henry Moore sculpture, Exotic trees and 200 acres of lively park and amenities. All these features and more are to be found on the southside of the Thames opposite Chelsea.

2.  Hampstead Heath

Heather and heathland plants attract birds including flamingos and parakeets. The Pergola and Mawson Hill garden planting are worth a visit in this ‘green lung’ of London that has (or suffers) 10 million visits a year.

3.  Regents Park

John Nash created a formal circular design containing Queen Mary’s gardens at the centre. Regents canal, London Zoo (for garden compost no doubt), Primrose Hill, sports facilities and lots of green space are available for exploration.

4.  St. James’s Park

Despite its central location it has an intimacy and accessibility that can be squeezed into a 15 minute short cut to Buckingham Palace or used for a half day picnic and rest of weary legs.

5.  Horniman Museum Gardens

Despite the 5 acre nature trail this is a smaller well maintained garden park with herbaceous borders roses, sunken gardens and floral displays through summer.

Other Parks that missed my top 5

Green Park. Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens (although I should have made space for this).
Plant nursery at West Ham Park, 1810 garden at Holland Park, and Victoria & Mile End Park both close to Mile end tube station.

Further out I would include Richmond Park, Eastbrookend Country Park and Chiswick House

Dahlia Types

• Cactus or semi-cactus like this Dana, Super (red) or Morley Lass a pale yellow
• Single flowered dahlias are open centred flowers up to 4 inches in diameter with a single ring of florets around a central disc. There are self colours or some bicolours.
• Collarette similar to singles with a extra ring of shorter florets around the middle
• Ball dahlias or the smaller pompon have tight spherical flowerheads
• Decorative dahlias are classified for shows in large (over 10 inch blooms), medium, small and miniature sizes
• Other miscellaneous dahlias that don’t fall into another category often linked to the flower formations of other plants like Chrysanthemeum, Anemone, Paeony, Orchid or Water-Lily forms.
• Annual bedding dahlias from seed

Cultivation tips for Dahlias

• Start tubers into growth in March in a frost free environment
• Thin to 3 shoots and stop them if they get to 6 inches. Spare shoots can be rooted as cuttings.
• Read the rest of this entry »

The Daily Telegraph report that a new range of Organic Seeds are to be available from Duchy Originals. This announcement coincides with Prince Charles visit to Ryton the Garden Organic establishment (HDRA).

It amuses me to see amongst the range of tools on sale at Duchy Originals a Dutch Hoe but may be I am confused somewhere with the Prince of Orange.

From July to September you may see some giant sunflowers and they may be from the variety ‘Titan’ which is advertised as up to 12 foot tall. Other large varieties include Giant Yellow, Paul Bunyon and variations on Russian Giant sunflowers.

Guinness Book of Records categories for giant sunflowers

• Biggest flower measured from the petal tip to the opposite side petal tip - 32 inches
  
• Tallest Sunflower measured from the ground to the highest petal on the flower - 25 feet unless you grow better
  
• Most flowers counting all flower heads on the sunflower - 837 on one plant in America

Tips for growing Giants

• Avoid planting in a windy site or too near a wall. A north facing area may help the plant grow tall. Plant in sun for branching and lots of flower.
• Stake the plants for support. Put in a thicker stake as needed.
• Mound up soil around the base of the plant
• Water regularly
• Feed at least weekly with balanced feed and more frequently with a high potash feed when the flower develops.
• Watch out for insects, wind damage and other problems that need quick treatment.

Winners at the Beijing Olympics will receive a bunch of flowers as well as their gold medal. This is a Flame Nettle Coleus one of the top ten plants to be used at the Olympics but there are said to be 1500 different plants and flowers going to be used. The Chinese have even built a special flower market to support the Olympic effort.

Official Olympic Flowers

• Chrysanthemums are a symbol of dignity in Chinese culture and will feature strongly. How about the golden colour of Golden Standard, Golden Charm or the aptly named Golden Rival’s Rival.
• Chinese roses are on the top ten list of the Beijing Olympic flowers thanks to their status as ‘flowers of the city’.
• Gerbera will be used for the Paralympics with mascots fashioned out of the flowers.
• Add to this list the Peony a flower well associated with China and you are building up a picture of the floral colour that will be on display.
• In olden Greece it would have been a Laurel wreath for the winner and a long walk home for the loosers

Olympic Fun to Try

• Name your favourite flower for each main event - the triple jump would be some weed I guess but my Wisteria may be for the High Jump
• Plants that you have grown from home grown seed can be given a family name like the Paula Radcliffe in the same way that Roses are often named after celebrities. Water Lilys would be reserved for swimming winners I guess
• Give the A.O.P. to anyone you think has won unfairly. A.O.P. is my Award of Opium Poppy.
• Let us have your suggestions for Olympic plants or flowers

Not everything in the garden is lovely. Consider this hosta with snail damage that has ravaged the leaves so that they are just a mass of ribbons and holes. Slugs and snails are a pest at the best of times but this plant was in a wet spot and has suffered accordingly. See our slug and snail tips for help to prevent this in your garden (if you can trust someone who has a plant like this)

This is a picture of a Holyhock with an early stage of rust. Rust is yellow spots and grains starting on the reverse of the leaf that stop leaves functioning. This is a regular problem with most Holyhocks in our area and is exacerbated by wet conditions. By later on in the season leaves will be falling off and the plant will be in a sorry state. Even plants that are said to be resistant have shown signs of rust the progress of which can be slowed by fungicides.

This isn’t frost damage on the Hydrangea so I assume it is wind burn on some of the early opening flower heads. Normally my hydrangeas don’t suffer from pests and problems but very young plants need some protection from slugs.

Most of the infected leaves have already denuded this rose tree. The last few spotted leaves will be cut off and burnt. It isn’t safe to compost such infected leaves as the spores will persist and return via the compost when it is spread. The rose will be pruned heavily and given a fungicide treatment now and again in spring in the hope that the problem wont recur. the roses next to this tree are fit and healthy so it is worth looking for resilient varieties when you buy new ones. The cost is normally low enough that I should oust the spotted plant right now.

This variegated hydrangea had white and pale pink flowers. It was on display from a garden centre and I didn’t buy one because they looked a bit over bred, over the top and the flowers were weak stemmed.

For larger leaved Hydrangeas some shade is essential. Variegated plants often like shade but without sun they can loose colouring.

However my neigbours variegated Holly (Ilex aquifolium) catches the late evening sun and the yellow is quite strong. The glossy leaves and the three foot of growth make this a grand evergreen to have in the garden. If you get green shoots on a variegated shrub cut it at the branch. Young Holly bushes do not have as  many spikes to the leaves until they mature

I am also a fan of the Euonymus and the japonicus varieties. They have many colour schemes for their leaves and brighten a shady area at the back of my house. Silver Queen and Harlequin have whit and green foliage. Emerald ‘n’ Gold speaks for itself when it comes to colour schemes.

• I was pointed to these tools by a comment from a visitor too our site - thanks Zoe
• Get the key tools right to make your garden easier and more pleasurable.
  • A Spade that is light enough for your physique and a stainless steel blade will not get claggy with soil.
  • Secateurs for snipping, pruning and cutting. Have one good pair for important work and another for the ‘grunt’ jobs that are a bit tougher. I have a good bypass (scissor type) pair for pruing and an anvil pair for hard work
  • Lawn mower electric or petrol depending on the lawn size. As the adverts said ‘its much less bovver with a hovver’.
  • Trowel made from forged steel will stand hard work and cut into soil easily
  • Wheel barrow with a pneumatic tyre carries heavy loads and I prefer it too the ball type wheel
• Buy the best quality you can afford if you are going to make a lot of use of the tool. It is surprising how many tools don’t get used all that often so plan out what you need. Over 80% of the work will be done by the items in the list above.
• Pay a tree surgeon to cut hedges, prune and trim trees. They will have the right equipment andwill side away the waste.
• Maintain the tools you have:
  • Put linseed oil on wooden handles to keep them smooth and in good condition
  • Store metal wheel barrows upside down to help slow rusting from the rain
  • Keep blades clean and honed I use a wet stone to remove dried sap and keep sharp
  • Power tools need a cutout and an extension lead if your garden is large
  • Spray tools with WD40 or similar to keep rust free and moving