Growing Iris siberica

Growing Iris siberica

Iris

Iris sibirica is a clump forming member or the Iris family. In this walled garden the clump has been left undivided for several years and looks good in early summer with its blue flowers held above the foliage.

Growing Siberian Iris

  • Iris siberica is widely and easily grown in gardens with moist sunny conditions.
  • This Iris is the parent plant of many hybrids that vary widely in flower colour.
  • The roots grow and spread with the foliage, neither bulbs, rhizomes nor stolonesque.
  • The flower stems usually carry three buds which open to 3″ wide flowers.
  • The leaves look deep brown in Autumn.

Siberian Iris Botany

  • Iris siberica is one of eleven species of Siberian iris split into two groups.
  • 28 Chromosome group are the easiest to grow  comprising Iris siberica, closely related Iris typhifolia and Iris sanguinea .
  • Iris siberica has been cultivated since Carolus Clusius 1526-1609 and there are numerous hybrids.
  • 40 Chromosome species include I. bulleyana, I. chryographes, I. clarkie, plus the later flowering I. delavayi, I. dykesii, I. forrestii and I. wilsonii.
  • In another series Tripetalae there are 2 more species the easy grown Iris setosa, 2-3′ tall with six or more flowers and Iris tridentata.

Iris

Growing Mesembryanthemum

Growing Mesembryanthemum

IMG_7526

Description of Mesembryanthemum criniflorum

  • Often called the Livingstone daisy, Fig Marigold or the Ice Plant.
  • The leaves are juicy & succulent with a furry texture.
  • Flowers are single in a wide range of gaudy colours from white through shocking pink to orange.
  • Many flowers have light coloured centres and there are now more self colour seed packets available.
  • Plants are from the Aizoaceae family that contains a130 genera and over 1200 species that also includes Lithops

Cultivation Tips for Mesembryanthemum criniflorum

  • Sow seed February to April at 60-70F in John Innes Seed Compost.
  • Sow on surface of compost and gently firm down compost. Keep soil damp but not wet. Do not exclude light which helps germination.
  • Sealing in a polythene bag after sowing is also helpful. Germination usually takes 15-21 days.
  • When seedlings are large enough to handle, transplant and grow on in cooler conditions for 10-15 days before planting out in a sunny frost free spot on light well drained soil.
  • Plants are low growing and spread 6-10″.
  • Ideal for poor soil conditions in full sun.
  • Flowers remain shut in dull weather

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Perfect Parsley

Perfect Parsley

Parsley Tips

  • I have grown this parsley from spring sown seed. Germination can be a bit erratic as warm temperatures are needed.
  • After a summer in the herb bed I have potted a clump up in the greenhouse.
  • Before the worst frosts I will bring a pot into the house for snipping onto potatoes and garnishing fish.
  • The flat leaved variety is one of my favourite herbs but I am not very successful at growing it. Fortunately there are many varieties that seem to be within my compass.
  • Parsley is a hungry feeder so if growing in a container add some bone meal

The curly herb Parsley crispum is naturally slow to germinate. If the soil dries out it may never germinate.

DSC03927 - parsley

Germination Tips

    • Try watering the drill then sow the seed in the drill covering with dry soil. This covering will dramatically reduce evaporation so the seed will be in contact with moisture for longer.

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Allotments on Knight’s Hill London

Allotments on Knight’s Hill London

Back garden, spring 2008

I was caught by the headline ‘On the Eighth day God Created Allotments

With new interest in researching allotments I came across this fantastic picture with lots of detail. ‘Back garden, spring 2008 by Darkroom Daze’ has been made available under a creative commons license CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Here is some of the supporting detail but you can find more by clicking the picture thanks to Darkroom Daze.

‘NOTE ON THE GARDEN
The garden was very plain and bare when we arrived in 1985. We have been developing the design gradually since then, but not from a single pre-planned conception. Eventually we developed the overall shape, with a ‘winding river’ effect made by the lawns and path. The shapes of the rockeries, planting and other features are based on the way a small stream winds between ‘interlocking spurs’ in hilly terrain. We did all the planting, and I built many of the features. For further history of our garden, see set description for ‘OUR BACK GARDEN’
FEATURES (also noted on photo if viewed with flickr)
– Arbour – R foreground, only slat-roof visible, assembled from flat-pack.
– Garden railway – L foreground, on Water Rockery, G-scale 45mm gauge.
– Path – of reclaimed York stone laid in ‘crazy’ style by local landscaper, late Mr. Rogers, to our own winding design, shortly after we arrived in 1985.
– Temple of Juno garden shed – centre L, with white portico and shingled roof, built by me in sections out of reclaimed timber (“Rosen Wanted”) at a previous house, brought here and extended with portico, and finished by joiner Steve Cruse.
– Upper Rockery (Railway Rockery) – lower centre, with evergreen and alpine planting, and Upper Loop ofGarden Railway (not visible here), built myself of various kinds of stone in simulated geological structure.
– Valrosa Cabin workshop – centre background, brown, fully insulated, completed earlier in the year by Acer Landscapes.
– Water Rockery – centre L, with pumped water course, upper pools, cascades, and lower loop of garden railway, though only the railway is visible here. Almost all built myself.
PLANTS (also noted on photo)
– Buxus sempervirens – jelly-mould box-hedge, centre L foreground.
– Chamaecyparis, columnar, not sure what species or form – in neighbour’s garden to L, along the fence.
– Chamaecyparis – probably C. lawsoniana, Lawson’s cypress, ‘Stewartii’ or ‘Westermannii’ – neighbours’ tall bright conifer, R centre.
– Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Squarrosa’ – Sawara cypress, centre L immediately in front of Temple of Juno portico.
– Clematis armandii – evergreen climber on fence behind arbour, lower R. Looks reddish because this is colour of new spring shoots.
– Clematis cirrhosa var. balearica – growing over old apple tree stumps. centre L foreground.
– Cotoneaster frigidus – centre L in front of Temple of Juno.
– Escallonia macrantha – two shrubs shaped into an arch over side path, L side only visible here, centre R.
– Juniperus scopulorum ‘Skyrocket’ – pillar juniper, centre R.
– Lonicera japonica – Japanese honeysuckle, evergreen, closest part of R hedge.
– Lonicera nitida ‘Baggesen’s Gold’ – lower centre R, between path and arbour.
– Origanum vulgare ‘Aureum’ – golden marjoram, at front of Upper Rockery along the path, lower centre.
– Phormium tenax probably ‘Rainbow Queen’ – New Zealand flax, the spiky plant just R of centre foreground.
– Picea glauca var. albertiana ‘Conica’ – dwarf white spruce, two of them, one behind the other, lower centre by path.
– Picea glauca var. albertiana ‘Conica’ – dwarf white spruce, two trees one behind the other, lower centre on Upper Rockery.
– Picea mariana ‘Nana’ – dwarf black spruce, lower centre by path.
– Platycladus orientalis ‘Beverleyensis’ – golden form of Eastern Thuja, in shade, L foreground.
– Prunus domesticus (presumably) – the neighbours’ plum tree, upper centre L, to L of Valrosa Cabin.
– Pyracantha, probably P. x watereri – in neighbours’ garden, growing against fence, lower R.
– Pyrus probably P. communis – common pear tree, in neighbours’ garden, top L.
– Quercus – probably Q. robur L., pedunculate oak, growing along fence behind a neighbouring garden, top R.
– Taxus baccata – yew, golden fastigiate form, probably ‘Standishii’ – front L in neighbour’s garden.’

Rosendale Allotments Association

  • Established in 1880 the Rosendale Allotments Association RAA has 480 plots on the site with plot holders and sharers from South London.
  • RAA is looking for votes in a competition to find a name for their periodic newsletter.
    • The Plot Thickens
    • Green Stuff
    • Hot Off The Plot
    • Green News Digest
  • In common with many other allotment sites RAA has had to suspend the waiting list as at current rate of turnover waiting time for an allotment on the site is estimated at twenty years.

Shed view
Other credits Shed view by coconinoco CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 with London skyline.

Hydrangeas Gardeners Tips

Hydrangeas Gardeners Tips

Hydra may be a monster but Hydrangeas can be stunningly beautiful.
Hydrangea

Hydrangea are easy to grow, voluminous shrubs with long lasting flower-heads. They can grow to be handsome 6 foot high and wide shrubs.

Growing Hydrangea Early autumn is the best time to plant new Hydrangeas. If planting in spring take more care with watering and mulch the plants to keep the soil damp. Hydrangeas grow best in semi shade in rich moist soil. Trim off old flower heads and dead stems in spring. Give them a balanced fertilizer in spring.

Choose the Right Variety Mophead or Hortensia hydrangeas are the type that have pompom like heads that open into a globe shape such as ‘Blue Bonnet’ or ‘Forever Pink’. Lacecap varieties have flat heads whose flowers do not open at the same time.
Quercifolias often have pyramid shaped white flowers and oak shaped leaves. Annabelle is the best known and well liked variety of Hydrangea arborescens.

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Help Change the Colour of Hydrangeas

Help Change the Colour of Hydrangeas

Hydrangea

What Causes and Changes Hydrangea Colour

  • Hydrangeas grown in the presence of metal salts, particularly Iron or Aluminium sulphates, will turn blue.
  • Plants growing in acid soil will turn the best form of blue but acid soil on its own is no guarantee of a blue Hydrangea.
  • Pale pink varieties tend to change to the deepest blue.
  • Dark pink varieties tend to turn mauve or muddy purple when treated with metal salts.
  • Blue varieties will seldom turn pink unless all the metal salts are washed out and withheld. Even then it may be a naturally pink variety.
  • You can buy a bluing agent or colourant from a garden centerelp change the colour from pink to blue. You can introduce metal salts in other ways like us to hing rusty nails or even tealeaves in the soil.

Hydrangea

Pot and Container Grown Hydrangeas

  • Hydrangeas need plenty of water – just a reminder. However they can be grown in pots both outdoors and as a houseplant.
  • Mix blueing agent if required with the soil when potting a hydrangea. Water weekly with a solution of water and colourant dissolved in a little hot water then diluted per the instructions on the packet.

thorpe perow hydrangea

Help White Hydrangeas

  • White varieties of Hydrangea will stay white despite the gardener.
  • As white flowers age they may take on a pink tinge to the outer-side of the petals.
  • White flowers will last longer with some shade before turning brown.
  • The Hydrangea panniculata Limelight pictured has a natural green tinge that looks very attractive under larger trees.

Coloured Hydrangeas

  • Mophead Hydrangea Macrophylla ayesha shown above is purple on this neutral London soil and flowers on previous seasons wood.
  • Most neutral and alkaline soils produce pink Hydrangeas whilst an acid soil will have a blue flower.
  • White Hydrangeas remain white or the bracts get tinged pink as they age.
  • These colour rules apply to Lacecap hydrangeas where the bract-petals don’t all open and have a looser more subtle effect.
  • To turn a pink Hydrangea blue add aluminium salts or iron salts. You can add by powder or colourant mixes.
  • A Pink hydrangea needs no aluminium and lime is used to restrict its uptake of metal salts.

Hydrangea

Other Hydrangeas

  • Hydrangea arborescens is smaller than many hydrangeas, they are around 3ft  height and spread. One of the best varieties is ‘Annabelle’ which is a mound forming shrub which is compact and requires little pruning. The flowers are a very showy, large and white.
  • Hydrangea paniculata are generally larger and have a large cone or pantical of flowers
  • Hydrangea quercifolia has large lobed leaves like oak leaves
  • Hydrangea anomala is a climbing plant that has attractive mahogany brown stems and lush, bright green, deciduous foliage. The lacecap flowers last just a few weeks in summer.

Further information on Grow healthy hydrangeas
Tips for Growing Hydrangeas and Hydrangea Aspera

Amazon supply Colourant to change hydrangeas click here

Simple Daffodils

Simple Daffodils

Autumn is a good time to think of planting some more daffodils for cutting or naturalising.

Daffodils
Daffodils near Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire

Daffodils are one of the easiest plants to grow. If basic care is given, the bulbs can flower year after year.

Planting Daffodils.

The best time for planting daffodils is in September and October. They can be planted in the green in late spring. But, usually do fine through planting in autumn.

The most important thing when planting daffodils is to plant them at the correct depth. As a basic guide the depth want to be 3 times the length of the bulb. E.g. if the bulb is 2.5 inches. They should be planted at a depth of 7-8 inches. However, it is better to err on the side of planting more deeply. Planting them more deeply makes it less likely they will dry out.

Feeding Daffodils

After flowering, it is advisable to sprinkle a fertilizer around the base of the leaves. This gives the chance for the bulbs to gain greater strength for future years.

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Get Christmas Cactus Ready to Flower

Get Christmas Cactus Ready to Flower

 ‘A Cactus is not just for Christmas’

Christmas Cactus are succulent  cultivars of Schlumbergera.

Tips For Growing Christmas Cactus

  • As the name suggests in the Northern hemisphere and the UK these plants normally flower between November and February
  • Flower buds are stimulated by shortened day length and need 12 hours  uninterrupted darkness from late summer through autumn.
  • To encourage Christmas flowering, from September, they need 8-10 hours of daily sunshine (don’t we all). A bright windowsill will suffice but cover in darkness the rest of the day.
  • Postion plants to avoid domestic lighting or cover every night with blackout material.
  • Keep temperature below 18c but above 10c
  • Fluctuating temperatures can cause the buds to fall but so can over watering

Christmas Cactus Varieties

  • Schlumbergera x buckleyi  have fleshy stems not leaves.
  • Stems are divided into flattened leaf-like segments with scalloped margins  and they can grow quite long and droop over the edge of a pot.
  • Schlumbergera x bridgesii another Christmas Cactus  do not have spines like many cactus
  • Easter cactus, also known as a spring cactus are not members of the Schlumbergera family. They look similar, bloom in spring but are Rhipsalidopsis gaetneri or Hatiora gaetneri plants.
Oenothera biennis Our Evening Primrose

Oenothera biennis Our Evening Primrose

The Evening Primrose is one of my favourite, limeish yellow, summer, biennial flowers. 2024 is becoming a spectacular year for my plants growing in a wall.

Evening Primrose Oenothera glazioviana

Evening Primrose Growing

  • These plants are capable of seeding profusely
  • The large-flowered evening-primrose Oenothera glazioviana is one of 4 common UK species
  • There are another dozen species and many hybrids and crosses.
  • Evening primrose  flower from June to September. and seeds are produced in mid-August
  • There is a fragrant evening-primrose Oenothera stricta.

Evening Primrose Medical Benefits

The plant is common and popular in the USA and its roots are eaten and used for various purposes. Gardeners Path say it can ‘help a number of conditions including eczema, rheumatoid arthritis, premenstrual syndrome, and osteoporosis  and oil of Evening primrose can be used  to regulate blood pressure and to keep the immune system functioning’.

Gardening with Hellebores

Gardening with Hellebores

Pink & White Hellebore

Hellebores are generally very accommodating plants flowering early in spring and living happily in shade. Avoid Helleborus foetidus the stinking hellebore or setterwort.  If you want coloured rose like flowers with shapely green leaves try  growing them in a dedicated green bed.

As this graphic shows there are a growing number of hybrids offering a range of colours.
See our tips on Growing Helebores

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