Archive | August, 2009

Grow your Own Rocks

Artificial rocks can be created cheaply and easily if you make your own from Hypertufa. Make a batch of rocks by digging several holes in the ground the size and rough shape you want the rocks to be. Line the holes roughly with thick polythene, do not worry about the odd crease and fold as [...]

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Two Top Ten Flowers

Gardeners World ran a series looking for Britains favourite top ten flowers. The BBC didn’t name specific varieties so I have added Gardeners Tips Lilies -  Soak in water water for an hour lay sideways on a bed of grit and shade the root run. Roses – Encourage growth from the ground by planting deeper [...]

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Autumn Flower Choice.

Golden colours are prominent amongst Autumn flowers and leaves.  These Heleniums are supported by a lighter cream coloured Kniphofia (I can’t call this colour a Red Hot Poker but that is the common name). Kniphofia Rooperi varieties are a bit later flowering than other red hot pokers. Good Autumn Doers Chrysanthemums are coming into there [...]

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Grow Acanthus Varieties

A large clump of Acanthus can produce many flowers on the 2-3 foot stems and you get the architectural leaves thrown in as an extra. The sturdy stems carry a whorl of 30 or so flowers, each producing a shiny, rich-brown, elliptical seed capsule. Acanthus common name Bears Breeches is a genus of flowering plant [...]

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Top Ten Tree Bark to Grow

Bark is the outer covering of main trunks, woody stems, branches and roots of trees and other woody plants, as distinguished from the cambium and inner wood. Many trees grown for bark look better as the tree matures and need to be grown in enough space to develop. Some of the following varieties are best [...]

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A Healing Garden

Gardening is good for you not just physically but mentally and emotionally acting as a stress buster and promoting optimistic activity. Meditation A garden can and should be an oasis of calm so a specific quiet area is worth creating. Make paths long and curving  to extend the journey through the garden. If paths are  [...]

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Garden Specimen Eucryphia

Eucryphia can be amongst the highlights of  summer flowering trees and shrubs. Performing in late summer the profusion of scented white flowers on a conical tree can be exceptional. The flowers also have a further profusion of interesting stamens, distinctly coloured pink or yellow. Specimen Varieties Eucryphia Nymansay has cup-shaped, fragrant white flowers 3inches across, [...]

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Tips for growing Magnolia x soulangeana

Spring flowering Magnolia x soulangeana can be planted now. Container grown plants from grafts or cuttings will flower sooner than bare rooted shrubs. Check the container is not pot bound and older, grafted plants will perform quicker. It is a case of paying a bit more to get what you want as it can take [...]

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Garden & Allotment Safety

This allotment goes someway towards safety for the gardener, the allotment and the plants. For personal safety the canes can poke out your eyes so the upturned bottles offer ugly protection. In a garden you can buy designer cane tops and if you spend a lot on the garden this may be a worthwhile finishing [...]

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Growing Ghosts – Eryngium giganteum

Mrs Willmott a formidable gardener is said to have secretly sown seeds in other peoples garden, an idea that appeals to me as a guerrilla gardener. Growing Eryngiums that look spooky in the moonlight is how they got the name Mrs Willmott’s ghost plants. Growing Tips Sea Holly or Eryngium giganteum is an odd looking [...]

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