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Author: hortoris

Miniature Daffodils and Narcissi Tips

Miniature Daffodils and Narcissi Tips

Good things come in small packages and that applies to Daffodils for house and rockery.
canaliculatus

Miniature daffodils grow from 4 inches to just short of a foot. Varieties Minnow, Toto and Canaliculatus have several flowers on the one stem and are particular favourites of mine. Try growing some in pots in the cold greenhouse as welcome additions to your alpine plants.

Tips on Minature Daffoldils

  • Look in spring for successful varieties that you may want to buy for planting this Autumn.
  • Buy pots in bloom this spring so you know what you are getting. Deadhead before the seedheads start to develop and feed the bulbs with a high phosphate feed.
  • One of the smaller varieties is Bulbocodium Conspicuous, yellow hooped petticoat at 4 inches tall with golden yellow flowers.

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Pinch these Pinching Out Tips

Pinch these Pinching Out Tips

Annuals, shrubs, fruit and flowers can all benefit from a bit of pinching out.
may12-049

Pinch out for Shape

I am still nervous about pinching out the growing tips of plants but I am getting better. You want your plants too look good and perform well and sometimes nature benefits from a bit of help. Your aim is to channel energy where and when you want it. So try it by using your fingers to pinch out the growing tip(s) or stalks and branches you don’t need.
One idea behind pinching out is to get the shape of a plant right – we are happy to prune a shrub to get the right shape . In extreme cases we pollard or pleach trees to control unwanted growth and encourage growth where we want it. So why not shape a soft plant like a Pelargonium (Geranium) or wallflower that you want to be bushy.

Pinch out for Flowers or Fruit

Colourful Coleus Tips

Colourful Coleus Tips

Get with the Coleus plan for colour and texture. Keep frost free this winter and enjoy vibrantly coloured leaves.

coleus-1

An astonishing range of brilliant foliage colours and forms are available from Coleus plants. The red leaved ‘Scarlet Poncho’ has a thin green outer edge or there is the Fiery Red of ‘Molten Lava’. Textured leaves are an added attraction.

Top Ten Tips for Great Coleus

  • Sow from seed annually and plant outside when all frost has gone. Coleus are not hardy.
  • For bold effects when planting look for Coleus varieties in separate colours but if you use a seed mix look out for a form and colour you like and want to keep.
  • When plants are 5 inches high pinch out tips to encourage side branches to develop. Then pinch out again when branches reach a similar length.
  • Coleus make good house plants like the specimen above and can be kept over winter. Cut plants back to half size to encourage new growth several weeks before potting up to bring indoors.

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Crocus Tommasinianus Ruby Giant

Crocus Tommasinianus Ruby Giant

Look around this autumn for Crocus bulbs/corms but include smaller species varieties in your search

Species Crocus

  • Crocus tommasinianus (‘Ruby Giant’) is virtually a species Crocus. The bulbs tend to be smaller than many other Crocus varieties, especially from £1 shops!
  • Specie Crocus are available in a vast range of varieties and colours. From pastel shades to vibrant blues, violets, yellows or creams.
  • Chrysanthus are one of the more popular and prolific species.
  • Sieberi includes the triple coloured Tricolour in Yellow, white and lilac blue.
  • The sophisticated little flowers open wide wherever they receive full light in late winter and early spring.
  • They are popular for naturalising and with early pollinating insects as they have an earlier flowering time.

Ruby Giant Growing Tips

  • Ruby Giant crocus is a large flowered variety producing elongated purple flowers in March/April.
  • Plant from August until December.
  • Bulbs or corms should be planted 5-8cm deep and 10 cm apart.
  • Ruby Giant grows a bit taller than many Crocus to around 10-15cm tall.
  • Flowers are purple with a lighter center when the petals are open.
  • This variety is not too attractive to squirrels but nothing is certain.
  • Ruby Giant is a great naturaliser that spreads gently and even grows well in open woodland sites.

Pollination crocus
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Roots and Root Care

Roots and Root Care

Get to he root of the problems of growing great plants.

Root bound

Basic Roots  Knowhow

  • Roots grow below the soil to anchor and feed your plants.
  • The root only grows longer at the tip. This is where root hairs develop.
  • Root hairs take in water and nutrients through a permeable membrane.
  • Root hairs are usually fragile and short lived but as one dies one or more grows in its place.
  • Generally the root system thickens with age and anchors the plant as well as conveying nutrients to the stems and leaves.
  • Active growth tissue called pholem and xylem carry nutients up the plant and sugars back to the roots after photosynthesis.

Water Logging the Roots

Ten Tips to Deter Carrot Root Fly

Ten Tips to Deter Carrot Root Fly

Psila rosea or carrot root has larvae that feed on your root veg by burrowing into the flesh ‘ugh!’

Carrots

Five Tips to Deter Root Fly

    1. Select varieties to grow that have been bred for resistance to carrot root fly.

    2. Cover carrot crops with fleece to prevent low flying female flies from laying eggs on your crop.

    3. Follow good crop rotation to avoid overwintering pupae hatching in the middle of your crop.

    4. Grow in narrow beds with 18″ high polythene or fine mesh barriers to keep female flies at bay or in raised beds.

    5. Use biological controls such as nemotodes, Carrot root fly killer or sticky traps.

Five Scent Deterrents for Root Fly

    6. Sow seeds thinly to avoid thinning out which releases the scent of the carrots thus attracting flies.

    7. Grow carrots alongside strong smelling plants like alliums chives and garlic.

    8. Sow carrots in June after thee first generation of pest have gone.

    9. Do not grow your carrots with similar root veg like parsnips and celery as they too can harbour root flies.

    10. Sow carrots mixed in with other crops to make them harder for pests to single out for destruction.

Five Varieties Resistant to Root Fly

More carrot seeds at Thompson & Morgan

Photo = Carrots by Steve Wilhelm CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Planning to Grow Fruit Trees

Planning to Grow Fruit Trees

So you want to grow Apples, Plums, Pears and some orchard type fruit trees. Well stone me these are right pips fresh from our garden tips.

Novice gardeners can expect to get fair crops from Fruit trees and bushes without too much effort. With extra care a great deal more can be achieved.

Beginners Tips
Go for well know fruit types do not start off with the exotic.
Buy good quality plants from a local nursery. Ask nurserymen what varieties grow well locally and do they need other trees as pollinators.
Give them enough space to grow in fair soil with some sunshine. Do not just cram them into a small corner space.
Trees need time to establish themselves but get better with time so do not rush the crops.
Bushes and canes will produce a crop quicker.

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Growing Autumn Raspberries

Growing Autumn Raspberries

Autumn raspberries provide fresh fruit from August to October.
Raspberries can be planted as bare-root plants in the autumn. For late summer and autumn fruiting varieties you can leave it until late autumn to plant but a bit of soil warmth will help them get established.

Primocane varieties are cut down to the ground each year and grow a new cane which fruits later that summer or autumn.
Floricane varieties that we grow for summer raspberries fruit on the canes produced the previous year and we think of them as summer varieties.

Tending Tips for Autumn Raspberries.

Lewisia Trendy, Bright and Breezy

Lewisia Trendy, Bright and Breezy

What is not to like about Lewisia? Not a lot in my view but I like brash colours.

lewisia-cotylodion

Lewisia are very showy plants that are currently popular as availability and resiliance increases. This is a Lewisia cotyledon which makes a rosette of flat fleshy leaves and sprays of flowers from white through to reds and mauves.

Tips for Growing Lewisia

  • Whilst Lewisia are perennial plants are very susceptible to winter wet rot. Over winter under glass if needs be.
  • As Lewisia are very low growing it is common to grow in pots or containers so the flowers can be seen.
  • The clump forming Ashwood Strain is recommended as a particularly good mix producing large semi-double flowers in a wide range of colours.
  • With judicious deadheading Lewisia will bloom from April to the end of September, particularly if kept in an alpine house or cold greenhouse.
  • In an Alpine garden surround the base of the plant with rock chips to prevent rot. Lewisias prefer sites with abundant spring moisture followed by a dry, cool summer.
  • Other species to try include Lewisia; Pygmea, Rediviva, Brachycalyx, or hybrids Heckneri or Phyllellia Obtain plants from various nurseries or your local garden centre.

read also G T’s growing tips

Book Cover

RHS Recommended Lilies

RHS Recommended Lilies

To end our lily week we go back to an earlier post about RHS lilies.
.a title=”Wet Evening Lily Buds by brianpettinger, on Flickr” href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/hortoris/3746351513/”>Wet Evening Lily Buds

Each month the Royal Horticultural Society offer a plant collection or two for sale with the Garden magazine. Back in 2009 the RHS Lily collection included three varieties.

Lilium Vico Queen with orange, trumpet shaped flowers up to 6 inches long on plants 6 feet tall. The outward facing, slightly pendant blooms are well scented and are good for the middle or back of the border.
Lilium paradalinum giganteum can grow 10 feet tall can carry stems with up to 30 crimson, turkscap flowers speckled with yellow & scarlet. A variety that tolerates alkaline soil.
Lilium leichtlinii has rich yellow flowers heavily speckled with reddish-brown

Cultivation of Lilies