Browsed by
Month: August 2009

Tips for growing Magnolia x soulangeana

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 up to 5 years for Magnolias to start flowering.

Growing Tips

  • Blooms may fall during spells of warm weather so avoid planting in very sunny parts of the garden. Also avoid early morning sun and wind which can damage young growth. Other than that magnolias are hardy shrubs and trees.
  • You can under plant Magnolias as their structure is open but avoid damaging the shallow, delicate roots. I suggest you try Muscari (grape hyacinth) or other small bulbs.
  • You can layer your existing magnolia in August using current year shoots but rooting may take a couple of years.
  • Pruning should not be needed except crossing branches and reshaping. hard pruning can set back flowering for several years.

Varieties to Grow

…

Read More Read More

Knapweed Garden Gem or Invasive Weed?

Knapweed Garden Gem or Invasive Weed?

Centaurea macrocephala also called Knapweed is a tall perennial plant in the cornflower family. Even wikipedia can’t decide about the scale and desirability of the Centaurea family.  As with many families there are good and bad and this species seems fine in my garden.

Growing Centaurea macrocephala

  • At 3′ to 5′ high this bold plant is ideal for providing vertical interest in a sunny, well-drained herbaceous border.
  • The golden-yellow thistle like flowers are on stiff stems from July to late summer and  mid-green, lance-shaped leaves are followed by attractive seed heads.
  • The flowers are attractive to butterflies bees and many insects as you can see. This and the attractive seed heads make this variety an eco-friendly plant to grow.
  • When dried the seed heads are excellent for use in flower arrangements.
  • Other Centaureas are blue and purple and can make fine cottage garden plants.
  • Avoid Spotted Knapweed that are invasive and ugly cousins  Centaurea biebersteinii , Centaurea maculosa and Centaurea maculosa subsp. micranthos


    • More insects on a Purple Centaurea that flowered in June.

Heather Moors and Gardens

Heather Moors and Gardens

On Ilkley Moor the heather is blooming and smelling a treat. Certainly the horseflies seemed to think so until we got to the top of the moor where the heather really made a statement.
In your garden heaths and heathers can be very useful perennial plants. They have all year round interest and are generally low maintenance plants (and being hardy they take a bit of killing).

There is a Heather Society for the enthusiast which can be found on this link

…

Read More Read More

Carpet Bedding Tribute to Girl Guides

Carpet Bedding Tribute to Girl Guides

100 years of Girl Guiding is being celebrated in September 2009 by Girl Guides around the country with a range of appropriate events.

This floral tribute is in the grounds of Carlisle Cathedral and has been created from just 4 types of carefully chosen ‘carpet bedding plants’. Contrasting shades of leaf and low, slow growing, uniform habit are more important than flowers. In fact flowers can distort such a display.

Carpet Bedding Plants

  • For leaf colour and regular form Alternanthera lehmannii varieties take some beating like ‘Dark Purple Black’ Alternanthera lehmannii ‘Rosy Glow’ and Alternanthera lehmannii ‘Yellow Green Betty’
  • For grey foliage Lavender or Cerastium species with compact silver foliage and a white flower in summer.
  • Sempervivum arach’ ‘Rubin’ or Sedum spathulifolium ‘Purpureum’ for reds
  • Echeveria elegans for grey or the Glauca for a blue tinge
  • Sedums are probably the easiest for your first efforts with the wide selection available

    • …

    Read More Read More

Making Cut Flowers Last Longer

Making Cut Flowers Last Longer

Generic Tips

  • For perfect freshness pick flowers when halfway between bud and opening. Gather early in the morning when they have had a chance to drink over night or later in the evening never in the middle of the day. Plunge into water as you pick. Always use tepid water and keep vases and buckets clean.
  • Condition flowers by soaking in deep water. Cut off the bottom of stems under water to prevent and airlock in the stem.
  • Sugar or lemonade can extend the life of cut flowers like Roses. Bleach and salt can also help some flowers.
  • Woody stemmed flowers should have the ends crushed. If they show signs of wilting try standing them in hot water for a short time.
  • Strip off leaves that would be below the water line and change the water frequently.
  • Spring bulb flowers do not need water changes but a pinch of salt should revive them.
  • Higher the temperature the faster cut flowers will deteriorate so place arrangements where they won’t be exposed to direct sun, heat from appliances, electric lights, or hot or cold draft.

Flowers needing Special Treatment

  • Hydrangeas will last longer if water is taken in through the absorbent head so sink the whole flower into water first then spray the flower heads daily.
  • Forsythia should be picked when in tight bud and it will open of its own accord.
  • Poppies need to have the end sealed by singeing the cut.
  • Daffodils should not be mixed with other flowers as they poison the water.
  • Carnations need cutting between nodes as they can’t take up water if cut on a node.
  • Remember foliage needs to drink as well so condition foliage too.
Soft Garden Colours

Soft Garden Colours

Planning colour schemes can be an interesting exercise for summer when the garden needs less attention. You can sit and admire your current efforts and plan from the new catalogues that are arriving.  Observe what has worked well in your local gardens this year and do not be afraid to copy or improve on someones idea. I have been take by soft colour schemes that forswear reds oranges and purples in favour of a more pastle approach.

Pastel Pink Colours

  • Soft pink rather than shocking pink is restful and ‘the very essence of the traditional garden’ (Lance Hattatt Gardening with Colour)
  • The combination of this low growing Dahlia ‘Rosea’ has worked well with the continuous flowers of the hardy Geranium Anna Folkard. The strappy leaves of a pink Schizostylis will come in to flower in autumn hopefully before the dahlia has finished.
  • An off white or cream flower can also be used with pink to lighten up the general effect.
  • Phlox paniculata ‘Fairy’s Petticoat’ is a personal favourite with a pink eye and a lighter outer to the petals.
  • Pink can vary from the white with a pale blush through warm and cool shades to orangey pinks or blue tinged pink. This is seen in a range of single Roses   including    ‘Pink Bassino’ with a prominent white eye, the magenta ‘Pink Meidiland’ or the distinctive apricot pink of ‘Irish Elegance’.

…

Read More Read More

A Good Year for Lilies

A Good Year for Lilies

‘My dustbins absolutely fully of Lilies’. ‘Well throw them away then’. ‘I can’t Lilly’s wearing them’. so sang Lonnie Donnegan when his old man was a dustman.

Where to Grow Sweet Peas

Where to Grow Sweet Peas

Where best to plant Sweet Peas? I have grown Sweet Peas in 3 locations this year and got very different results.

Best Growing Location

The best location by a country mile has been in a new bed which had plenty of garden compost incorporated last back-end. The roots are shaded from the sun so do not dry out whilst the plants get into the sun when about 18 inches tall.
2″ high seedlings were planted out in April from modules where 3 seeds had been germinated together. I did not split the seedlings leaving them in a clump. I guess this had the same effect of pinching out to get branching a task that I never got around too. I was given a tip to pinch out the tendrils that take energy and distort the lengthy stems of the Sweet Peas and I have done this where the support and my inclination allows.
I planted garlic cloves at the back of the bed but they have not done nearly as well. Other than that and some night scented stock at the front of the peas there has been no competition from other plants. I have lost count of the large bunches of sweet peas we have had in the house and given away. As long as I keep picking them I hope the floral display will last.

Worst Location
From the same batch of seedlings, treated in the same way I planted several near an obelisk that also has a Climbing Rose and Honeysuckle already established. I top dressed with compost but didn’t get it too the roots. Despite Growmore and liquid feed top ups, the plants have looked starved and are only now beginning to provide enough flowers for a vase. The summer has been wet so it is not down to moisture but the lack of humus and competition from other hungry feeders.

Middling Location
In a large terracotta pot some spare plants were supported by 5′ canes. The conditions could be controlled but flowers didn’t start until the plants were at the top of the support and now have nowhere to grow. Next year I will try one of the dwarf varieties of Sweet Pea in pots.


…

Read More Read More

Stump Removal

Stump Removal


Redneck Gardening USA Style

When you have cut down a tree but can’t dig out the roots what do you do? You can hire a chipper or grinder that will take way some of the root wood by chipping away. If it is a large old tree you may have hired someone to do the job for you but make sure they have agreed to remove the stump.
Some trees are treated by drilling holes and pouring in sodium chlorate or special treatments to encourage rapid rotting but I find them less effective. Cross cuts and chemical treatment may stop regrowth but rotting still takes ages.

Tree Stump Killer Chemicals

Book Cover

Lawn Mowers from Qualcast or Atco

Lawn Mowers from Qualcast or Atco

Lawn mowers by Royal appointment come from Atco who were selling the above mower in 1924. You will now pay more than £95 for a 30 inch cut without the suit, pipe or hat. With models named Royale and Balmoral you can see how little effort the marketing people take by letting the grass grow under their feet. (Turf out the sod who is making these grasstuitous comments).

Qualcast made my first push pull mower and it may still be in use on some postage stamp sized lawn. New machines from Amazon cost about £32, are retro chic, environmentally very friendly and they help you keep fit. Cylinder mowers give you the stripes in the grass that are the hall mark of a manicured Lawn.

Book Cover