Growing Cistus Rock Rose

Growing Cistus Rock Rose

rock rose

Cistus or Rock Rose are evergreen and provide a blast of colour in early summer. The flowers of rock rose are short lived, but, a healthy plant can provide a multitude of new flowers every day throughout high summer.

Growing Requirements for Cistus

  • Well Drained soil. Rock roses are susceptible to root rot. If necessary add grit or sand to the base.
  • Full Sun (Rock roses originate from the Mediterranean.
  • Poor to moderately fertile soil. It is not necessary to feed rock roses, in fact, they can give better performances in average soil. Over fertilising them will encourage lush green growth at the expense of flowers. The new growth may be more susceptible to winter frosts

Cistus
Optional requirements

Dead head after flowering (although this will be a lot of work and isn’t essential for a long display)

Pinch out growing stems after flowering to encourage bushy growth

Easy to propagate from cuttings

Wentworth Castle Cistus

A national collection and authority on the species is Bob Page who gives talks on his passion for the Cistaceae family. http://www.cistuspage.org.uk/

Helianthemum – a Splash of strong colour

Helianthemum – a Splash of strong colour

Rock Rose Helianthemum

Helianthemum are related to Cistus and Halimium as part of the Cistaceae family.

At only four inches tall they are ideal for growing in rockeries or on the top of walls. They provide masses of colourful blossom through summer.

Originating from the Mediterranean they love sun and thrive in poor soil.

Plants flower profusely in strong colours of red, pink, yellow and orange.

They generally have an appealing golden center.

I grow from seed but the plants are perennial and you could propagate a good variety from cuttings.

The orange variety tend to have a lusher foliage but the number of flowers can still cover an 18 inch wide plant.

Rock Rose

Rock Rose Helianthemum canum

F1 Seeds and Hybrids

F1 Seeds and Hybrids

seed packet

What is F 1 Seed

F1 seeds are the result of crossing two pure lines to create the desired result. If one plant has good habit and poor flower and another has good flower and poor habit they can be cross fertilised so that resulting seed may produce plants with good habit and good flowers (the opposite may be true with all the worst features but they are weeded out in the F1 process). A pure strain of each parent is first selected by pollinating the best examples with themselves. When a good pure strain is achieved the resulting plants will be cross fertilized by hand to produce F1 seed. This is one reason F1 seed is more expensive than other hybrids.

Benefits of F1

Cranesbill Geraniums

Cranesbill Geraniums

geranium

The hardy perennial geranium is a good ground cover plant with many varieties to choose from. Many varieties are derivatives of Geranium sanguineum or Geranium cinereum. They all have seed heads that look hooked like a Crane’s bill hence the common name.
…

Read More Read More

Stonking Stinking Plants

Stonking Stinking Plants

Stinkers are not the sort of plants you want to grow in a normal garden. So here are a few to avoid unless your adenoids stop you getting even the faintest whiff.
Lysimachia punctata

Proper Stinkers

  • Stinking Hellebore gives off the smell of rotting meat to earn the Latin name Helleborus foetidis and warn us that the plant is poisonous. It’s flowers native are beautiful but the whole plant niffs.
  • Stinking Henbane or Hyoscyamus niger has a sickly evil smell that Culpepper says’ the whole plant hath a very ill soderiferous smell’.
  • Stinking Meadow rue has a sticky covering on its leaves that also smell like dead fish
  • Stinkhorn fungus has putrid, spore-laden, phallus-like fruiting bodies that appear almost overnight and to many people it is ‘Top of the Pongs’.
  • Carnivorous plants attract flesh and fecal-loving insects to visit their stinking blossoms but they won’t attract me.
  • The Skunk Cabbage takes some beating as you may expect with a name like that aka Lysimachia punctata

All this without farmyard smells, rotting vegetation, over wet sour compost, garlic breath in the wrong place, animal waste, the list of pet hates is endless. Thankfully there are even more good smelling plants than bad so just watch how you sniff

    Grow and Collect Euphorbia – The Spurges

    Grow and Collect Euphorbia – The Spurges

    Euphorbia

    These acid green flowers provide a strong compliment to the bright greens of spring. This E. cyparissias will spread by root and through seed dispersal

    With over 2000 species in the genera there are many types of Euphorbia from which to build an interesting collection. There are succulents, cacti and spurges from all continents. Try the tall woody thick leaved E. characias to the orange flowered E. griffithii ‘Fireglow’ or ‘Dixter’. That is not to ignore the most popular houseplant Euphorbia pulcherrima the Poinsettias but save those for Christmas.
    …

    Read More Read More

    Top Ten Flowers and Fragrance

    Top Ten Flowers and Fragrance

    It has been difficult to finalise a list of the top 10 fragrant plants. So I have elected to chose my ten favourite flowers with a selected variety. I have cheated by including two roses but could easily have 10 or 100 roses in a list.
    Scented Peony
    Your personal choice will vary based on your own appreciation of scent. The result from flowers will depend on the location, culture and selections you make.

    1. Philadelphus lemoinei ‘innocence’ Mock Orange single creamy white flowers
    2. Hyacynth ‘Bismark’ porcelain blue
    3. Wisteria sinensis the white form if you can find it
    4. Honeysuckle Lonicera americanum with masses of rich spicy flowers
    5. Regal Lily lilium regale
    6. Datura inoxia another white form needing some protection
    7. Dianthus barbatus Sweet Wlliam Dobies ‘All Double’
    8. Old garden Gallica rose ‘Charles de Mills’ raspberry coloured.
    9. Climbing Rose ‘Guinee’
    10. Freesia ‘Gold Coast’, ‘Treasure’ or ‘White Giant’

    …

    Read More Read More

    Tips for Growing Mini Vegetables

    Tips for Growing Mini Vegetables

    Small fresh vegetables taste nice and often have a superior texture. The supermarket versions are expensive and often have lots of food miles attached to them so try growing your own.

    Mini Veg Tips

    • You can plant them close together as they will be picked earlier, –
    • Harvest early and often, even small varieties will get bigger as they bage –
    • Choose seed that is appropriate look for baby, mini or patio in the title-
    • Turnip, fennel andkohl rabi can produce spindly roots if the soil is not kept moist
    • Carrot varieties to try include ‘Nantes’, ‘Amini’, ‘Mignon’, ‘Minicor’
    • Cut courgettes and squash when small at least 3 times per week, to increase yields.

    Onions on show
    …

    Read More Read More

    Dahlias in Limerick

    Dahlias in Limerick

    These are more than your Irish Dahlias. At 12″ high they are not just for the little people.

    Dahlia

    There was a young man from Australia

    On his bottom he painted a Dahlia

    The heat of it all

    Caused the petals to fall

    And the scent was a terrible failure

    Cactus Dahlia

    Single Dahlias for Bees & Butterflies

    Star Wars a 12″ high and wide bush.
    Pretty Woman Pink petals around a pink discette
    Braveheart with bronze foliage.
    See also Bishops Children

    Award of Garden Merit AGM What, Where & Why

    Award of Garden Merit AGM What, Where & Why

    Whorled Tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata) 'Zagreb' RHS/AGM

    Buy AGM plants & varieties they have been tested by the RHS!

    The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is the UK’s leading gardening charity. It conducts a lot of testing and trials of plants. It has key gardens open to the public (free to members) at Harlow Carr, Wisley, Hyde Hall and Rosemore. Plants that pass the trials are awarded AGM (Award of Garden Merit) status and you often see the Trophy Cup mark on plant labels to recognise this.

    Why have an AGM System

    The purpose of the award is to highlight the best plants available to the gardener.

    • It must be of outstanding excellence for ordinary garden decoration or use
    • It must be available
    • It must be of good constitution
    • It must not require highly specialist growing conditions or care
    • It must not be particularly susceptible to any pest or disease
    • It must not be subject to an unreasonable degree of reversion in its vegetative or floral characteristics

    Dianthus - pink
    Dianthus Haytor White AGM

    What is Included in an Award of Garden Merit

    • Plants of all kinds can be considered for the AGM, including fruit and vegetables. An AGM plant may be cultivated for use or decoration. It can be hardy throughout the British Isles, or suitable only for cultivation under heated glass.
    • Every AGM plant has a hardiness rating for example H1 needs a heated greenhouse whilst H4 would be hardy. I like to collect plants with this award as I know the results will be down to me as a gardener not to the breeder of some untested variety.

      • Book Cover

      ‘Plant finder’ is published by the RHS. This book contains over 73,000 plants and where to buy them. Whatever plant you are looking for you should find it in here.
      Handy contact details with maps for over 750 nurseries help you locate your plants and buy them. Plus, having the correct botanical names ensures you find the right one every time.

      There are over 6000 plants with the Award of Garden Merit and they all get recognition in this book.

      At your garden centre or plant retailer look out for the agm symbol on the label.

      Credit
      Whorled Tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata) ‘Zagreb’ RHS/AGM by cliff1066â„¢ CC BY 2.0