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Author: hortoris

Growing Year Around Pansies

Growing Year Around Pansies

purple pansy

The smiling face of a pansy greets the gardener during most season of the year.
Pansy is a thoughtful flower as thoughtful is what the name Pansee means in French. In the wild form it is tricoloured and often called Heartsease and is a member of the Viola family.
There are many varieties to choose from including 46 on our T&M list below.

Growing Pansy

  • Great and quick results can be achieved from plug plants or seedlings.
  • Treat as annuals or biennials even though they may survive longer.
  • From seed, sow late winter/spring or mid-late summer 1.5mm deep in good seed compost excluding light as darkness helps them germinate.
  • Germination usually takes 14-21 days at 19-24C no warmer or germination suffers.
  • When seedlings are large enough to handle, transplant and grow cool.
  • Gradually acclimatise to outdoor conditions for 10-15 days before planting out after all risk of frost.
  • Prefers sun or part shade in borders or containers .
  • The flowers are edible and useful to colour a salad.
  • Summer sowings of winter flowering pansies should be  planted out in autumn or early spring.

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Growing Peony or Peonies

Growing Peony or Peonies

double peony

For centuries Peonies have been great favourites of the Chinese and are one of their national flowers. Peonies are easy to care for once established.

Peonies are shrubby herbaceous plants that will come back perennially (year after year). They can live 75 years and still produce a brilliant profusion of flowers. Herbaceous means the leaves and stems die back at the end of the season and new growth will start again in Spring.

Growing Peonies

  • Flowers are often strongly scented to attract bees and have double or single blooms.
  • The colours are deep red through pink to white.
  • Peonies do not like to be disturbed or moved once they are planted.
  • Because they will live in the same spot for many years add some bone meal and good compost at the bottom of the planting hole.
  • Peonies are best grow from plants bought at a nursery
  • Plants are hardy but may make take some time to flower.
  • Only plant Peonies at the same depth as they were grown, never deeper.
  • Peonies and special fertilizer from Thompson & Morgan

Tree Peonies are harder to grow successfully and cost more to buy but can have show stopping displays of flowers once they mature.

peonie

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Tips for Growing Nasturtiums

Tips for Growing Nasturtiums


photo by Photofarmer

Even young children can manage to plant the large seeds of nasturtiums and watch them grow into Triffid like flowering plants in reds, yellows and oranges.

Tips for Growing Nasturtiums

  • Plant the seeds individually in a sunny spot in poor soil straight in to the garden.
  • Climbing nasturtiums will spread for several feet or clamber up a near-by support. These are the sort to amuse the kids.
  • The dwarf nasturtiums are better behaved and will flower well without any fertilizer.
  • Handle the stems with care as they are brittle and easily snapped.
  • Nasturtiums are no use as cut flowers but you can pick and eat flowers and leaves.
  • Collect the fallen seed for next year. You get 3 big seeds per flower.
  • Plants are loved by black fly that may colonise the underside of leaves. Wash off with soapy water or use an insecticide if you are not going to eat them.

One variety you can plant in a hanging basket is Jewel Mixed which adds fragrance to the dwarf trailing habit. Alaska has variegated leaves and two tone flowers. Black velvet is very deep purple that it looks as it says on the packet, black.

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Tips for Growing Gazania

Tips for Growing Gazania

Gazina mixed colours


Gazanas are brightly coloured flowers that are easy to grow on dry sunny sites. Many of the plants flower with a striped effect on the petals that open to resemble a 6 inch daisy. The leaves are a narrow grey-green or silvery and the plants grow 6-10 inches tall.

Choose the right variety. Seed is available in a range of varieties like Mini-star White, Tiger Stripes and the Kiss seriessuch as the ‘Kiss Rose’.
Harlequin are slightly larger, growing to 15” tall spreading 18” and come in a mix of colours.

How to Grow Gazania. If buying plants choose healthy well formed clumps of lower leaves. You can buy when at least one flower is open so you have an idea of the colour you are buying but a mix of hot oranges, yellows and reds is quite popular. If you grow from seed, sow 8 weeks before the last frost is expected and keep in the warm, then gradually acclimatise them outdoors.
Whilst the plants may survive British winters, you could take cuttings in Autumn and protect from frost, however, I would treat them as annuals. The plants produce lots of flowers but you can deadhead (cut off faded flowers) to encourage more blooms.

Where to Grow. Gazania is a bright filler plant for in between shrubs or any hot dry part of the garden. They grow happily at the seaside as they are not affected by salty air. Sandy, well drained soil, that Gazanias get in there native South Africa, is best. They are  also fine for window boxes, tubs or planters and can survive if you occasionally forget to water them.
The flowers are borne on short stems making them excellent for windy sites.
Aka the Treasure Flower, Gazania have delicately cut, silvery-white foliage which makes the plant a pleasure  with the bright blooms, opening in the sun and closing at night.

 

I have cheated for 2015. I have just bought a pot of germinated seedlings from our local garden centre. For £2.99 I got and pricked out 40 plants which I will grow on until May before planting out.

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Old-Fashioned and David Austin Roses

Old-Fashioned and David Austin Roses

Book Cover

Old-Fashioned and David Austin Roses by “Barbara Lee Taylor

Instead of the usual division into Gallicas, Damasks, Albas, Centifolias, Moss roses etc. the chapters are divided into History, once-flowering old-fashioned roses, Repeat-flowering old-fashioned roses, David Austin roses, Cultivation, Landscaping with old roses and the book contains over 160 rose varieties. As you read this book you can virtually smell the scent of your successful roses as though it were a warm June evening.

‘Discovering old-fashioned roses is often the beginning of a love affair that lasts a lifetime. These beautiful plants offer you not only fragrance and beauty, but also a fascinating link with the past. In this beautiful yet practical book, some of the most popular old-fashioned roses are described in detail and illustrated in full colour. There is a complete chapter on the work done by David Austin in the 1950s and 1960s to create new English roses. Topics include species roses; Gallicas; Damasks; Albas; Centifolas; Moss roses; Ramblers; China roses; Portlands; Noisettes; Bourbons; Hybrid perpetuals; Teas and early hybrid teas; Hybrid musks; Climbers; Shrub roses & ramblers; Rugosas; David Austin roses; Cultivation; Pruning; and Landscaping ideas.

Gardeners Tip

Plant an Old Fashioned Rose or two as near to your bedroom window as practical. Enjoy the evening scent.

Try Just Joey HT Rose

Eating Nasturtium a Peppery Food Crop

Eating Nasturtium a Peppery Food Crop

Nasturtium

I think of Nasturtium as an ornamental, annual, flowering plant but my vegetarian children take a different view. For many vegetarians ‘Nasturtiums make a salad’. In the case of Watercress they also make a soup and a vegetable.

Growing Nasturtium Leaves, Flowers and Seed Pods

  • Grow Nasturtiums from seed in your vegetable patch.
  • Rich soil will encourage leaves at the expense of flowers. Nasturtiums grown for decoration need a poor soil.
  • Nasturtium seeds from Thompson & Morgan
  • Before planting Nasturtiums in containers make sure they are well rooted in smaller pots started under cover.
  • Watercress Nasturtium Microphyllum or Nasturtium Officionale are best grown from rooted cuttings. Rooting in water is relatively easy.

Salad: Watercress, spinach and apple.

Eating Nasturtium Leaves and Pods

  • The leaves of the nasturtium plant are edible, with a peppery flavour. They can be tossed into salads mixed with sweeter varieties of lettuce.
  • The flowers make a unique garnish to fresh foods and add a splash of colour.
  • The seed pods can be treated like Capers and pickled or used as a crunchy addition to salads.
  • For tastiest nasturtium leaves, keep the plants well watered, which helps to moderate the spiciness of the leaves and flowers. Keep a bit drier to add a sharper tangy flavour to your summer salads

nasturtiums

Growing Watercress Nasturtium Officinale

  • Watercress is called Nasturtium Officinale or Nasturtium Microphyllum
  • Watercress is traditionally grown in gardens with chalk streams or a good supply of water as a semi-aquatic plant
  • Buy watercress with roots on at your local supermarket
  • An ordinary bunch placed in a bowl of fresh clean water will develop roots. Discard any that turn yellow or do not root and plant the rest.
  • You can grow watercress in a container but keep it exceptionally well watered.

chicken watercress salad

Tip
Growing Nasturtiums near Brassicas can deflect greenfly and white fly on to the nasturtiums to protect your other crops.
Pickling the seed pods of Nasturtium produces a crop similar to Capers.

Nasturtium-FowlersVacola-Num10-9108

Credits
Nasturtium by Dvortygirl CC BY-SA 2.0
Salad: Watercress, spinach and apple. by ulterior epicure CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
nasturtiums by artolog CC BY-NC 2.0
chicken watercress salad by aquino.paolo CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Nasturtium-FowlersVacola-Num10-9108 by graibeard CC BY-SA 2.0 Pickled Nasturtium seeds look like and taste similar to capers.
Nasturtiums by robynejay CC BY-SA 2.0

Nasturtiums

National Plant Collections Scheme Tips

National Plant Collections Scheme Tips

x-alstroemeria-mix

National Plant Collections have a membership scheme costing £25 p.a. They now have 650 collections in private gardens, allotments, nurseries, parks and botanic gardens throughout the country.

Collection holders undertake to document, develop and preserve a comprehensive collection of one group of plants in trust for the future.

A Heuchera collection is now at The University of Essex in Colchester. I couldn’t track down a national collection of Alstroemeria (above) but that must be an opportunity for someone.

‘The National Plant Collections Scheme is the flagship of Plant Heritage and is the prime mechanism for ensuring the survival of cultivated plant species and cultivars. Because of the involvement of botanic gardens, universities and expert horticulturists (both amateur and professional alike), the National Plant Collections Scheme has earned the respect of the horticultural world. This prestige helps the NCCPG as a whole. Reputation is important. It follows that prospective collections and their holders need to be carefully assessed, and existing collections properly monitored to maintain the standard of custodianship.’

Listings of Open Days appear in the National Collections Directory.

The Natural History and Gardening Book fair is at Caple Manor Gardens . I will try add to my collection of circa 500 books at the next fair. For more information on book fairs.

Garden After the Flower Arranger

Garden After the Flower Arranger

 

After the flower arranger has taken the scissors and snippers to the plants in the garden I recommend you give your plants a thankyou! Flowers and shrubs will respond again if they are treated properly.

Help Plants After the Flower Arrangers Visit

  • Tidy up the plants from a gardeners point of view. Prune again to reshape shrubs and encourage new young growth. Open up the centre of plants to let in air and light.
  • Water, mulch and feed the woody plants.
  • Water in a liquid feed and or foliar feed after flowers have been cropped to perk up the plants for a further flush.
  • If the plant is exhausted or unlikely to provide a second crop, dig it out and turn it into compost asap.
  • Propagate new plants of favoured selections, the flower arranger is bound to return.
  • Consider deadheading all the flowers that were not up to the job for the flower arranger.

Flower Arrangement

Tips for Selecting Woody Plants

  • Chose plants everlasting plants or thoses that grow rapidly and regrow even after severe and frequent pruning.
  • Select plants that are harvestable early in life.
  • Pick plants that grow numerous stems borne over a long period of time.
  • Desirable features include stems at least 18″ long, retention of flowers, berries and foliage with a good vase life.
  • Boxwood, dogwood, forsythia, Eucalyptus, holly, hydrangea, jasmine, lilac, pussy willow, and corkscrew willow have long been popular in the floral trade.
  • For woody stemmed flowers increase the surface in contact with the water by cutting on a slant or crushing with a hammer.

Flower Arrangement

Credits
Flower Arrangement by lrargerich CC BY 2.0
Flower Arrangement by theclyde CC BY-NC 2.0
Flower Arrangement by dannnnnnny CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

 

Gardening with Water Features

Gardening with Water Features

Water water every where and not a drop to drink unless you are an aquatic or part of garden wildlife.

Water feature

February may be a bit cold to think about water features in your garden. Be ready as soon as the hard frosts are over to redesign your garden with an appropriate fountain or continuous flow of water like the powered globe above. Water features in this context are the prefabricated devices you can buy ready made, ponds streams and your own designs come under DIY
.

Benefits of Water Features

  • Water plays with the light and can enhance any visual appearance. Water often reflects the changing colours and light temperature in your garden.
  • Running or trickling water can add the dimension of sound to a landscape and as long as it keeps running it wont smell stagnant.
  • Landscaping and water features can improve property values make it stand out from the rest.
  • Water is restful and a feature can create a place for contemplation or a focal point in the garden.
  • Some water features are designed to successfully attract wild life.

Book Cover

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Tips Growing Scented Lilacs Species and Hybrids

Tips Growing Scented Lilacs Species and Hybrids

lilac

Lilacs (Syringa vulgaris ) are one of the most rewarding spring or early summer flowering shrubs. It rewards us with the most delicate fragrance and beautiful flowers. Even when not in flower, the lilac makes a nice attractive deciduous, green leaved shrub, that can form part of a hedge or shelter the garden.

Tips for Growing Lilacs

  • Lilacs do not like waterlogged soil. It is important to plant in a relatively free draining soil.
  • They can tolerate hot sun and heat (and can provide a nice dappled shade for the rest of the garden.
  • In long periods of drought, it may be necessary to water. Make sure the water gets deep down.
  • Lilacs are not heavy feeders. In good soil, a general purpose fertilizer once a year, will be adequate. Be wary of too much nitrogen as this can lead to green growth at the expense of blooms.
  • Lilacs send suckers from the base. These are vigorous growers and can be separated from the main bush to create new plants. A cheap and easy way to propagate.

Lilac

Lilacs Pests Problems and Diseases

  • Lilacs remain relative pest free. I have never had any aphids with my lilacs.
  • Lilacs can be subject to powdery mildew, especially when hot and humid. The best treatment for powdery mildew is removing affected leaves and burning, and treating with suitable fungicide.
  • Do not prune at the wrong time or you will stop the flowering. Lilacs should be cut after blooming.

What Lilacs to Grow

  • Common Lilac or French lilac grow about fifteen feet tall with a spread of 8-10 feet.
  • Lilacs have large clusters of flowers in a pointed cone shape. They are available in varieties with pink, white, blue, purple, flowers.
  • Korean lilacs are shorter more rounded with small leaves and extremely fragrant flowers.
  • Japanese Lilacs called Syringia reticulata generally have cream coloured flowers and grow into small treesLilac
  • Related

    Book Cover
    Lilacs: A Gardener’s Encyclopedia by John L. Fiala and Freek Vrugtman
    ‘The new book provides up-to-date information on the 21 known lilac species and 10 natural hybrids, as well as hundreds of the 2000 named cultivars.’

    Lilacs from Thompson & Morgan

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