Colour for adventurous Gardeners by Christopher LLoyd

Colour to Attract Book Worms

• My personal favourite plants for colour tend towards the bright, brash and bold of Dahlias, Roses, Gladioli and even Gerbera.
• I do not have much of an eye for harmony or hazy, pastel shades but go for in your face hot colours that form part of my Shock and Awe campaign.
• Christopher Lloyd may educate me with his book on adventurous gardeners use of colour but we will see.
• In the meantime I will keep growing my brash coloured Dahlias.

Books on colour in your garden emphasise the design and planing aspects.
I am of the plonk it in and hope for the best type gardener. When I get a combination right I am surprised to bits. When I get it garishly wrong I am less surprised but not fazed by the colour riot.

Credit
Pink dahlias by robynejay mosaic CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Colour in the Garden by Val Bourne
‘A colourful garden has the extraordinary power to lift the spirits no matter the time of year.
Many people struggle to create their own colour combinations that are suitable to site and soil.’

Comment on Primula Books

The internet can’t give you all the knowledge and joy that a book can provide. I am biased as I collect gardening books but am drawing the line at buying books that are digital publications of the Wiki content (sorry I have included one book in this list of books on the Primula family.)
Books and records on the history of plants and how they have been grown, bred and developed can add extra interest for the gardening amateur, professional or obsessional alike.
This is just a list of some of the books in English about Primulas and related species that are available, even if currently out of print.
Part of the fun is adding to a collection via secondhand book shops and I hope to add to this list as I realise other books are in publication.

Primula by John Richards

Primula The Complete Guide by Mary A Robinson shares a fount of knowledge from her nursery in Lincolnshire.

Generic Primula Books

Primulas by Sidney Clapham (1973)
Primulas by A. G Puttock (1957)
Primulas Old and New by Jack Wemyss-Cooke
The Genus Primula In Cultivation And The Wild. by J. J. Halda (1992)
Hardy primulas by H.G Lyall (1959)
Primrose and Polyanthus by Peter Ward
Synoptic Guide to the Genus Primula by G. K. Fenderson
A Plantsman’s Guide to Primulas (Plantsman’s Guide Series) by Philip Swindells (23 Mar 1989)
Primulas of the British Isles (Shire natural history) by John Richards (Jun 1989)
Primulas Of Europe & America. by Smith GF & Burrow B & Lowe D B an Alpine Garden Society Guide
Asiatic Primulas Gardeners’ Guide by Roy Green
‘Primula’ Wikipedia consolidated articles

Auricula and Polyanthus Books

Primroses and Auriculas Wisley Handbook by Peter Ward
The Auricula: History, Cultivation and Varieties by Allan Guest
Auriculas Through the Ages: Bear’s… by Patricia Cleveland-Peck
Auriculas for Everyone: How to Grow and Show Perfect Plants by Mary A. Robinson
Auriculas and Primroses by W.R. Hecker (22 Apr 1971)
Auriculas: Their Care and Cultivation (Illustrated Monographs S) by Brenda Hyatt (22 Jun 1989)
Auriculas by Roy Genders (1958)
Auriculas by Gwen Baker and Peter Ward (5 May 1995)
Alpine Auriculas. by Telford Derek (1993)
Florists’ auriculas and gold-laced polyanthus by C.G Haysom (1957)
The auricula its culture and history. yr. 1898 by George William Johnson (1 Jan 1847)

Auriculas: An Essential Guide (Crowood Essential Guides) by Paul Dorey

Primroses and polyanthus by Harold Charles Taylor (1954)
The polyanthus for garden exhibition and market (Foyle’s Handbooks) by Roy Genders (1958)
The POLYANTHUS : Its History and Culture. by Genders Roy (1963)

I am happy to receive any additions or corrections to this list via the comments section.

There is a romantic red flower for virtually every month of the year. Even if your husband or partner fails to deliver the romantic bunch on St Valentines day you can grow your own and pretend.

Christmas time produces red flowers or at least sepals on the Poinsettia and following that in January, Cyclamen persicum are available in strong red colours.

The bulbs of Amaryllis that you planted at Christmas will be flowering by February and March is my favourite time for Primulas which are available in red with a catchy yellow eye.

Also an early flower for indoors why not seek out an April flowering red Orchid variety Nelly Isler. May will have seen Camellia japonica ‘Adolphe Audusson’ come and go. With June reserved for Peonies we are half way through the romantic red flower year.

Strange but early summer is a tough time for finding flowers so for July I have opted for Oriental Poppies with less than romantic blousy red petals. August will have Sweet peas at their finest with several red varieties including Air Warden or Winston Churchill.

September I saved for the Rose (did you think I had forgotten). HT Roses produce two flushes of flowers in June and September although some varieties do not follow this pattern. There are numerous red rose varieties. October will see the end of the fiery red Crocosmia Lucifer one of the best red flowers to grow.

Chrysanthemums will last until November with some spray varieties coming into their own in time for Christmas. We have rushed through our romatic red flowers that you can grow for yourself but send this page link to a friend and drop a hint.

Sorry if you feel cheated by the photographs wich are of red flowers I couldn’t weave into my romatic grow your own selection. From the top they are Anthurium, Fringed Tulip, Hibiscus, Petunia, Dahlia, Gerbera and for fun a red runner bean.

All the weathermen seem to be forecasting further drought conditions for the summer of 2012. Gardeners should therefore be prepared for flood!

Drought Preparations

• There is a flood of advice from government and the government in exile ie. newspapers and media. eg. plant trees for shade and wait 100 years for them to grow.
• Val Bourne at the Daily Telegraph suggests ‘puddling in’ when planting out your brassicas and leeks and this strikes me as a good use of water. It just means filling the planting hole with water just before you pop your plant in.
• Another Val tip is to stand watering cans of tap water around the garden until the sun’s warmth has evaporated the chlorine away.
• Carrots and parsnips naturally grow in drier sandy soil and grow longer in seeking out water. Try several varieties if you like these vegetables.

Flood Preparations

• Be prepared to catch what water you may need in butts, barrels and ponds.
• If your ground is liable to waterlogging either restrict the plants you grow or improve the drainage.
• Minor drainage improvements can be achieved with added grit, sand and gravel
• Major drainage improvements may include a deep soak-away or a perforated drainage system.

The Low-water No-water Garden: Gardening for Drought and Heat the Mediterranean Way – A Practical Guide with 500 Stunning Colour Photographs by Pattie Barron available from amazon

Managing the Wet Garden: Plants That Flourish in Problem Places by John Simmons available from Amazon
Credits
Dry garden by foliosus CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Flood by itspaulkelly CC BY-NC 2.0

One of the first iconic gardeners Percy was involved with most forms of media. Best remembered for his BBC appearances he was one of the first ‘personality gardeners’. He started on radio ‘Gardening Club’ in 1956 then TV’s ‘Gardening World’ through the 1970’s. As a regular contributor to the magazine ‘Amateur Gardening’ in the 1970’s and the Daily Mail he gave tips and information to a new generation of hobby gardeners. These gardeners were less interested in self sufficiency but had started to consider style colour and the aesthetics of gardening.

Percy started one of the first garden centres which was in Shrewsbury and is still open today. In addition to a range of plants he sold garden furniture, plastic pond liners and the like. At the time he said ‘You come in for a packet of seeds and something else catches your eye’. The centre was one of the first to develop container grown roses that could be sold out of season. Orthodox planting was November to March but growing roses in large tin cans enabled the roses to be offered through early summer for immediate planting and effect. His tips live on in his garden centre web site an example of which is given below

Garden Tips by Percy Thrower

‘If you fancy planting a magnolia, now is the time to do it. Choose its position with great care. Allow the plant plenty of space and prepare the soil well by digging in plenty of good quality ericaceous compost such as Miracle Gro Azalea, Camellia and Rhododendron compost or John Innes ericaceous compost. Water regularly over the coming months while the plant roots get established. Firm the soil, and support.’

Percy Throwers early training was at Leeds Parks and Gardens department before eventually moving to ‘The Magnolias’ in Shrewsbury. He was the gardening advisor to Blue Peter. The BBC dropped Thrower in 1975 when he agreed to a contract with ICI, for a series of commercials. He did this in the full knowledge of what the repercussions would be with the BBC. He had a good commercial sense and used his celebrity status to good effect.

He also wrote many books, which were published by Collingbridge and later Hamlyn including his memoirs ‘My Lifetime of Gardening’. Check them out on Amazon.

Did you learn to garden when digital meant green fingered? When a web was created by spiders to trap unsuspecting green fly and birds flew inter’net that protected fruit crops?
If you answered yes to any of these questions then welcome to ‘the cyber age club’. You are old enough to qualify for one of the Cybermen to help you in your garden, just let us know and we will get Doctor Who to arrange a visit.

Cyber Gardening Knowledge

• Apples are not fruit.
• Palm pilots do not grow in tropical climates with large frondy leaves.
• Tweets are not what you hear from around your bird feeders.
• i-pads are not for the protection of blind gardeners.
• Spam is not found in a gardeners sandwich lunch.
• Microsoft is not a brand of horticultural fleece.
• Digg has nothing to do with gardening.

Good News for Cyber Age Gardening

• The more things change the more the therapeutic effects of gardening are recognised.
• You have access to more pictures and information on plants and gardens via a computer, donggled phone or wifi device.
• Best of all there are 1700+ pages on Gardeners Tips that you can peruse when it is too dark and wet to garden

Note
The picture is not a fascinated Gerbera as you might think. It is a digital ‘Avatar’ a graphical representation of the editor or the editor’s alter ego or character used with the Hortoris web pseudonym. (are you still with me or have you gone into the garden?)

John Cushnie the landscape gardener, author and radio pundit has died suddenly from a heart attack on 31 December 2009 at the age of 66.

For the last 17 years John was a regular panelist on Gardeners’ Question Time, the Hedge Man on Radio 2’s Chris Evans Show, and presented Greenmount Garden for BBC One in Northern Ireland. He always used his quick wit when offering tips and guidance to his audiences. As a feature writer with the Daily Telegraph he has a list of New Years Resolutions in the paper that were printed before news of his untimely death was available.

An experienced landscape gardener, who ran his own business, Mark Damazer controller at the BBC Radio 4 said “John Cushnie was a towering figure on Gardeners’ Question Time,” “His trademark acerbic wit was deployed with terrific timing against a wide variety of plants he did not like – and it was always done with an affectionate twinkle in his eye, with an exuberance of voice and with unrelenting sympathy for fellow gardeners.”

John Cushnie Landscapes web site focuses cleverly on ‘About You’ and has useful information for those considering landscape changes. As a good employer in Northern Ireland we hope the business continues in John’s name.
John Cushnie also wrote for the Belfast News Letter, Gardens Illustrated magazine, Gardeners World magazine, Amateur Gardening, Ireland’s Homes Interiors and Living magazine and several books.

Top 100 Gardeners John Cushnie

As a child did you read ‘The Black Tulip’ or try to grow a black rose? Well here are some tips to help you grow black plants in your garden’. Most of my black plants unfortunately are dead but that still leaves 1999 other varieties to choose from.

Foliage

• Certain dark purple leaves look almost black including Cotinus Smoke Tree ‘Royal Purple’, Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ and Purple Beech Fagus Atropurpurea
• New Zealand flax phormium tenax has various purple varieties. There are also black mondo grasses nigrescens.
• If you want black in the fruit and vegetable garden try a grape vine ‘Purpurea’ or bronze fennel. If space permits the Black Walnut tree has black fissured bark.

Flowers

• Hollyhocks have a black variety not surprisingly called ‘Nigra’ latin name  Alcea rosea
• Cosmos atrosanguineus
• Bowles Black violas are very popular and freely available
• Nemophilia menziesii ‘Pennie Black’ is grown from seed and has deep purple to black centres with white edges
• Dianthus ‘Black & White Minstrels‘ is also available as seeds from Thompson Morgan
• Fritillaria persica are dark flowered and provide a contrast with other flowers
• Tulips are still striving to be true black but ‘Queen of the Night’ and Recreado come close.
• Scabious Ace of Spades is virtually black and has fragrant blooms that attract bees and butterflies whilst making impressive cut flowers.

Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden by Paul Bonine

They are not making ‘Carbon’ anymore nor is carbon ever totally destroyed. Carbon is one of natures greatest recycling projects. Carbon is present in gaseous form like Methane(CH4), Carbon dioxide(CO2) and Carbon monoxide(CO). Carbon is also dissolved in water particularly the oceans but is naturally present most notably as a solid in rocks such as limestone, minerals like oil and coal plus trees and plant matter.

Do you think about the carbon cycle?

Is your garden carbon neutral?

Are you offsetting your own carbon emissions?

Environmental Benefits of Planting Trees

Common Sense Carbon Neutral

Do you think about the carbon cycle?

As a conservationist or concerned gardener you probably don’t burn trees, twigs and garden waste any longer. – Burning creates greenhouse gases by converting solid carbon into gaseous carbon. This is done by releasing as heat all the years of sun that have been soaked up by the trees and plants changing the solid carbon into a gas. Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide help create the greenhouse effect and global warming. However burning only changes the carbon from a solid to a gas it is always there in one form or another.

As solid carbon can help control global warming grow longer lived hardwood trees if you have the space. Hardwood trees are usually deciduous such as Oak, Ash and Beech. They lock up the carbon in solid form for a long time and create wood that can be used for furniture, construction and other environmentally friendly purposes.

Is your garden carbon neutral?

Carbon in the forms of fossil fuels such as coal, gas, oil and wood are converted into energy and CO2 by consumption at the point of use, say in a petrol driven mower or via electricity. To be carbon neutral you need to convert CO2 back into a solid in equal quantities to that you have consumed.

Transport is one of the big fuel consumers. Consider the import of plants, from say Holland, which are grown in hot houses, shipped and trucked to a garden center for you to visit in a car. Worse still may be the flowers grown in Columbia or South Africa that are airfreighted.

Packaging uses energy in its production and often in its destruction. I am not totally against plastic in the garden as the carbon is locked in but I detest the disposable nature of thin plastic pots that can’t be reused. Reuse and recycling are two of the best ways to contribute to a friendlier environment in the garden. I buy fresh seed usually in paper packets without a glossy printed picture on the front and a foil wrapped internal packet. Both these later two items the foil and the print are to help retailers sell more and increase the shelf life rather than help the gardener or the environment.

Energy use directly in the garden is not normallyso heavy but a heated greenhouse will have a large carbon footprint. Insulate the greenhouse with bubble wrap in winter and keep the heated area to a minimum by partition or division. You may be able to move plants indoors where it is already frost proof and maintain a cool greenhouse. Where practical locate the greenhouse so maximise solar gain and minimise winter heat loss. Old greenhouses were often against north facing walls or had a solid rear wall. Consider heat pumps or reusing heat from composting or sub soil heat.

Water use if from a mains supply has to be pumped filtered and treated so it is more effective to conserve your water in a rain butt. Hard landscape creates water run off and cement costs energy in production whereas soft landscaping can be carbon footprint reducing.

Are you offsetting your own carbon emissions?

So you have reduced your carbon emissions. You have recycled, composted and reused to the best of your ability. Your buying habits have been tuned to local production that is environmentally sensitive. What is left to do? Big companies can ‘trade carbon credits’ a hot air generating scam in my view. We can join pressure groups, support charities and try maintain rain forests and support replanting schemes.

Above all we can plant our own mini forest. There are schemes for those who do not have the space at home but even small gardens should be able to find somewhere for a small tree or shrub.

Environmental Benefits of Planting Trees

• Trees are like the lungs of the planet. They breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen.
• Additionally, they provide habitat for birds and other wildlife.
• Trees trap CO2 from the atmosphere and make carbohydrates that are used for plant growth. They give us oxygen in return.
• CO2 is one of the major contributing elements to the greenhouse effect
• Trees also help to reduce ozone levels and pollution
• Trees reduce urban runoff and erosion by storing water and breaking the force of rain as it falls.
• Trees can absorb or deflect sound and reduce noise pollution.
• Planting trees can also help cool your home in the summer avoiding the need for air conditioning (with our summers we should be so lucky).
• In the winter, trees can act as windbreaks and can help you save on heating costs. If enough trees are planted the overall microclimate improves and total energy use for heating and cooling is reduced.

Common Sense Carbon Neutral

• Growing your own vegetables and food crops cuts transport, packaging and often chemical treatments of the crop.
• Read more about the subject and think through the cause and effect particularly of the big issues
• Do what works for you economically and socially
• Do not get too stressed out – the carbon cycle balances out – you should retain your natural balance

Wild Roses

These roses have 5 petals, a mass of stamens and produce large hips. There is a large range of size, scent and flower colour. There are approximately 150 species of wild roses.

Gallicia Roses

Amongst the oldest cultivated roses for the scent and medicinal properties. The plants are suckering with dark green leaves and bristly stems.

Damask Roses

The petals are distilled to make Attar of Roses perfume. Summer Damask flower once whilst autumn damask flower twice a year. The colour is generally purple fading to washy pink. They are grown in Turkey and Bulgaria for commercial perfume manufacture.

Alba Roses

Alba roses may have been cultivated since Roman times to form large shrubs with arching stems. The plants are very tough and can survive in neglected gardens for many years. Large volumes of white flowers show over a short flowering period.

Centifolia Roses

Dutch paintings of the 16th century often features these rounded double pink roses.

Moss Roses

Often depicted on crockery in the 19th century these roses have stems and sepals with a dense mossy cover in green or brown.Little or no pruning is required.

Portland Roses

A small group similar to Gallicias but with repeat flowering in bright red or pink. A tough and hardy rose.

China Roses

China roses have smooth leaves and less scent but the flowers have thick petals and smooth shiny leaves.

Tea Roses

With few thorns and smooth shiny leaves the yellow, apricot and pink flowers are graceful plants in a warm climate.

Noisette Roses

Originating from North America these plants combine the good scent and late flowering of Musk roses with the larger flowers of China and Tea roses.

Bourbon Roses

The rounded flowers in sprays are usually well scented were popular in the 19th century. See also

Hybrid Perpetual Roses

Coarser and leafier than teas these plants are prone to mildew but with strong colours and good scent they are popular for late flowers.

Climbing Roses

These roses are bred for climbing and need plenty of water to excel. Varieties may flower only once or twice per year depending on the parentage. They need support and pruning to get the best flower display.

Ramblers

Distinguished from climbers by the masses of small flowers in one flush. Generally they are originally a cross from a white climbing wild rose.

Ground Cover Roses

Developed to fill the need for trouble free spreading and weed suppressing with long flowering periods. Try Flower Carpet, Grouse or Nozomi.

Hybrid Musk Roses

One of the best small groups producing scented flowers in white, cream or pale pink.

Rugarosa Roses

Grows well and relatively trouble free in poor soil to produce single flowers and large decorative hips.

Shrub Roses

This is a catch-all grouping of wild crosses that do not fit other rose categories.

Hybrid Tea Roses

The traditional and popular type of cultivated rose bred for the tall bud and larger blooms.

Polyantha Roses

Repeat flowering small plants that have been bred to produce the floribunda varieties. They are often confused as miniature hybrid teas.

Floribunda

Masses of coloured flowers throughout the season they became a dominant type of rose through the last century.

English Roses

David Austin inspired old roses crossed with disease resistant modern varieties have produced some stunning plants.

Romantica and Generosa Roses

Meilland branded roses with scented double old fashioned, HT or climbing roses. Generosa are branded from roses developed by Guillot in France

Miniature Roses

All parts of these original roses are small and they are now grown as dwarf pot plants. I am trying several miniature roses in my rockery to add colour and interest.