hortoris – Page 3 – Gardeners Tips

Ground Cover for Formal Gardens

March 13, 2024 hortoris

Formal gardens generally rely on geometric shapes and repetition and so you may not think about ground cover in these situations. Balance and proportion are also key features of a formal garden and generally have fewer species of plants than may be found in in informal gardens.

With the structure of a formal garden in place from paths and symmetrical beds in squares, oblongs or circles you can then consider appropriate plants. The ground cover should complement the focal plants in colour, leaf-shape and height. They should also be manageable and not prone to take over or the formal effect may be lost.

Liriope spicata or Lily turf is evergreen with neat, low, grassy foliage. It can be left undisturbed for many years to form low-maintenance ground cover in beds of its own, or in light shade beneath trees or shrubs.

Sempervivum tectorum and Hens-and-Chicks are small scale spreaders that may combine with Aremria maritima to create clear outlines in concentric shapes within a formal layout.

Saxifraga umbros or London Pride is apt to wander over path edges but is an easy to grow and gives prolific, spreading ground cover.

Hellebores and Hostas can also work well or Barbara Ellis in her book ‘Covering Ground’ recommends Tiarella cordifolia the Allegeheny foamflower.

Colour may not be the key issue in ground cover for a formal garden but Blue grass Festucu glauca can be massed planted so that clumps join together. Other grasses to consider include Hakonechloa macra or the lower growing sedges Carex pensylvanica.

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Vivid Ground Cover Plants and Ideas

March 8, 2024 hortoris

A colourful carpet of ground cover plants may be a creative, low maintenance alternative to a lawn. Alternatively a pattern of coloured stone or chippings with feature plants in containers may be your preference.

Collection of Low Growing Plants

A mix of flowers and shrubs can include conifers like Golden Juniper Juniperus x media ‘Golden Sovereign’, Juniperus horizontalis, Juniper squamata ‘Holger’ and Picea pungens ‘Glauca Prostrata’ all around one foot tall with varying spreads.
For colour in summer you can’t beat some Petunia multiflora and vibrant Busy Lizzie Impatiens. Try the ‘accent’ series from Thompson Morgan
Bulbs of Dutch Iris, Cyclamen, Crocus and Muscari can provide spring and autumn colour.
Fillers and good doers include Bugle Ajuga reptans, Pinks Dianthus Indian hybrids, Geranium, Sedum and Vinca.

Design Features

Wide flat rocks can break up the verdant space and give the gardener a place to stand and weed.
Think in terms of 8-12″ as the average height with accent plants if required.
Create a backing or edging with taller uniform plants. Roses box or taller Conifers may suit.
Plant in bold blocks of colour with annuals close together for maximum effect.

Patterns of Gravel

Ground cover of pebbles, chippings or gravel can add colour. I like plum coloured slate chippings.
The covering can be used to stand elegant containers perhaps containing trailing plants like lobelia or geraniums.
Make sure you have a weed barrier under the gravel.
Gravel should be comparatively low maintenance but keep it spruce and moss free.

Similar rule apply when planting ground cover that grows taller. Select a height 18-24″ in this case and plant appropriate plants in the designated area. Tree ferns have been used as accent plants in this design.

Ground cover plants ‘beat weeds’ and many of the plants recommended below will flower year after year. Plant healthy young plants from pots or modules about 12 inches apart and the fast growing ground cover will produce a dense carpet of colour for many years.

Ground Cover Selection

Helianthemum grows strongly in my garden with bright orange flowers. Reds and whites are available.

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Columbines, Aquilegia, Paraquilegia & Semiaquilegia

March 7, 2024 hortoris

Genetic purity cannot be guaranteed with a species that has been bred and cultivated for centuries. The above Aquilegia flabellata is an alpine species found in Japan and the Kurile Islands. (Flabellata means fan-shaped)

Columbine Growing Tips

A porous soil is better than hard clay but Columbines grow in most soils preferring alkalinity.
Columbines like partially shady spots, and may be happy planted under leafy trees.
With long tap roots, they establish themselves where they are planted, so they may be difficult to move after a couple years.
Plants are hardy and do not require extra fertilizer.
Columbines are relatively pest and disease free but aphid attacks may need treatment

Columbine Features

Columbines range from 4″ to 4′ high
Columbines last 4 years and more depending on variety. You can extend life expectancy by cutting down flowered stalks prior to seeding.
Grow these beauties from seed – a variety pack of columbine seeds will no doubt delight you with the end product. If you are in a hurry you can buy pot grown plants but division of plants is seldom successful.
Columbines cross-pollinate readily and willingly so it can be fun growing from your self- collected seed.
65 species are discussed in Robert Nolds book ‘Columbines’

More photos on Growing Aquilegia

The long spurred Aquilegias are showy perrenial plants that are easy to grow from seed sown March to June. These cottage garden favourites grow up to three feet tall on thin stems without hindering other plants. They are not too fussy about conditions tolerating some shade and dry spells.

Tips on growing – Aquilegia

Aquilegias can be grown and used as cut flowers.
There are smaller varieties for rock gardens and patio pots such as A .Tiddlywinks
For a quick impact buy ready grown plants
Spurless double flowers like A. Noral Barlow and A William Guiness tend to be longer lived but I think they are less showy.
A. chrysatha is tolerant of shade try A. Yellow Queen and I like A. vulgaris with pure white flowers and grey green foliage.
The plants can be short lived but self sow and hybridise with other aquilegias. This can lead to inferior smaller seedlings and it may be best to start again as the plants are so easy to grow.

My Ground Cover Ideas

March 6, 2024 hortoris

Ground cover plants are designed to do what they say in the title. They can cover the ground by design, happy accident or conscious neglect.

Creeping Jenny

Benefits of Ground Cover

Treasure the ground cover plants that clothe the soil and rocks with leaves or stems preventing wasteful moisture loss.
Ground cover reduces weed seed germination as the seed can’t reach the soil. Any weeds that do grow will likely be smothered or hidden from view.
Most ground cover will flower and even foliage only plants are more aesthetically pleasing than bare or patchy ground.
Ground cover is useful on hard to access land such as scree or steep slopes.
Ground cover may creep or mound but most will grow lower than one feet high and be ornamental.
They are easy to maintain with an occasional clipping after flowering or an edging trim to keep them in control.
Ground cover can support wild life and help create a special habitat.

Hart’s tongue fern Asplenium scolopendrium

Selected Ground Cover Plant Species

1. Ajuga reptans like plenty of water to produce purple-green leaves and spring flowers of blue spikes.
2. Erigeron karvinskianus has small white flowers like lawn daisies. A copious self seeder.
3. Lysimachia nummularia also called creeping jenny for reasons you will discover as it moves around your garden. In summer it has numerous smal,l yellow flowers.
4. Sedum acre or Stone crop is a popular low growing succulent for ground cover.
5. Stachys byzantina has grey wooly leaves on 6″ high stems. They look like Lamb’s ears hence the common name.
6. Often excluded from ground cover plant list is lawn grass. I guess meadow achieves a similar purpose.

Saxifraga

Happy Accidents

Many times a garden will develop its own style with a series of what I call ‘happy accidents’. Looking at ground cover I would include the semi-evergreen strawberry with its habit of forming runners in my list of accidents. Other ground hugging evergreen plants include a range of recumbent or prostrate dwarf conifers such as Juniper horizontalis or Juniper squamata blue carpet.

Whilstnot planted as ground cover I notice saxifrage, Euonymus, Bergenia and even clumpy Dianthus are all fulfilling the cover role. The special evergreens have the edge over plants that loose there leaves in winter but I have some great covering clumps of cyclamen at the moment. Ivy, I would not consider a happy accident more a gardening disaster.

Pink Flowered Strawberry Lipstick

Conditions for Good Ground Cover

There are plants for most circumstances and conditions. Problem areas of poor soil and poor access are often the drivers of the decision to plant ground cover.
Heaths and heathers are good for soils with acidic ph and will cope with a comparatively low top soil on top of stone or rubble. Some ferns may be suitable in these conditions.
Flowering ground cover generally appreciate full or partial sun with a soil that retains some moisture.
Damp conditions offer there own challenges and plants from the primula, iris, polygonum or marsh marigold families may suit.
Once the ground is virtually covered you may not want lush growth and for that a reason I do not apply extra fertiliser as it is not required.
Delineate the boundary of the ground cover to give a smart appearance.
If you are happy with an informal aspect allow several varieties to inter-mingle.

My Ground Cover

When I moved into my new house in 2004, I dug up a lot of grass to increase the size of the borders. However, having done that I found I had less time for gardening than I expected. This meant it has felt hardwork keeping on top of the weeding. Therefore I have come to really appreciate the role of ground cover plants. The best thing about ground cover plants is that they reduce the time of weeding and prevent weeds from seeding. When you are ready to plant specific plants these ground cover plants are easy to cut down and replace. But, it is much better to have these ground cover plants than leaving blank soil. Blank soil is an invitation to nature to send some weeds along!

Comfrey. The plant pictured here is comfrey. It really is an excellent plant and worth growing for its own sake. It has nice delicate flowers which attract bees. It also helps to make excellent compost, you can regularly cut down its leaves to add as accelerator layer to your compost and it will quickly grow back. As you can see from its dense coverage, it is also an excellent weed suppressor.
Geraniums. Great at low growing ground cover. Just cut back after flowering
Pulmonaria officinalis: Lungwort
Mahonia aquifolium: (oregon Grape) shrub
Hosta species as long as they don’t provide cover for slugs..
Campanulas
Strawberries
Peltaria alliacea: Garlic cress
Sedums
Lamiums
Winter heathers
Ivy – though can become invasive

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Allotments Replaced by Trees

March 5, 2024 hortoris

We used to have allotments in our village until the blight. That was not a gardening blight or a problem growing anything but a planners and local politicians blight.

A large green open space surrounding an old hospital ‘High Royds’ was too good an opportunity for power broking and developers profits so the old hospital and the village allotments all had to go. I blame ‘care-less in the community’.

Now the ‘new’ village is built and called Chevin Park (not High Royds because the hospital was a former lunatic asylum. Other name changes such as Windscale to Sellafield also springs to mind.) Many properties are empty partly due to the property recession but also due to the paltry size of the gardens and lack of allotments that could so easily have been restored.

What has replaced our allotments? As you can see a veritable forest of plastic tubes protecting newly planted trees and the flimsiest stakes you could imagine after 3 foot canes. As I said earlier this week this is an updated post for National Tree Week 2018. The plastic tubes are now litter around some decent young trees.

6 Years on and the trees are growing well as if to proove the allotment soil was in good condition. Unfortunately much of the area has suffered from flooding after intensive housing building.

Tips for Planting Trees

Dig a good sized hole and incorporate some slow release fertilizer like bone meal. The tree should be there for a long time.
Spread the roots of a bare rooted tree or tweak the edges of a container grown tree to give roots the encouragement to spread. Trim off any broken roots.
Plant at the same depth to which the tree has been grown. There is usually a soil mark on bare trees to help. Do not bury any graft.
Drive the stake into the bottom of the planting hole before planting the tree and try to ensure that 2/3rds of the stake is underground when the soil is returned to the hole. …
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A Plantsman’s Nursery – Holden Clough

March 3, 2024 hortoris

A nursery should grow there own or at least a good proportion of the plants they sell. Well you can’t complain at the sight of these Heuchera growing in Holden a small hamlet near Bolton by Bowland in Lancashire.

Holden Clough nursery has a great reputation and tradition for alpines that survive the wet local conditions.

Unfortunately these glowing Auriculas were in a quarantine area having already been sold but awaiting collection. Still with an eagle eye I could look at the special varieties someone else had chosen and consider my needs for the next visit. (I got a 10% off voucher for registering for the newsletter that I can use with my next purchases.)

I was impressed with the amount of bark chippings used to mulch and trim the pots. At check out I was told is saved the staff weeding but that in this location watering was no real problem due to the amount of rain.
Thinking about grit or chippings I wondered if the former compacted the soil more than the chippings and I think I will run some tests when I get home.

For 95 years the nursery has nestled in a charming hillside spot growing alpines and it is still going strong! Now they not only grow alpines, but also a larger range of plants including many new and unusual perennials.
The one drawback was that the new young team are keen to show their plans for site development which include a tearoom. Welcome though tea may be they could leave that to the ubiquitous garden centres and keep the nursery focus.

Photo above is of Heucherella Tapestry a hybrid between Heucheras and Tiarellas with many of the best qualities of both parents. This and a limited display of plants in their own small garden area show how and where a good plant can grow.

Compared with my visit on the same day to my local Garden Centre the range of plants at Holden Clough just what I wanted.

Hydrangeas At Thorp Perrow

March 3, 2024 hortoris

This Hydrangea panniculata Limelight was one of several under-planted trees at Thorp Perrow Arboretum. In full flower at the beginning of September this Hydreagea was one of 70 or so species and varieties planted in the grounds. Different parts of the arboretum have soils with PH values of 6.7 to an acidic 4.6 . There is marshy and wet ground despite the 15,000 trees drawing water from the land.

This Hydrangea quercifolia or oak leaved hydrangea looks a bit bedraggled in the photograph but it looked marvelous insitu. Quercifolia are medium sized shrubs worth growing for the leaf colour in autumn.

The volume of flowers and bracts on the one head was astonishing. There are many interesting Hydrangeas to see at Thorpe Perrow and I recommend buying the authoritative catalogue (£3.75) listing the featured trees and shrubs by location, name, origin and often age.

Hydrangea Villosa group are hairy leaved shrubs. This glorious specimen was at least 8 feet high and made a startling feature in moderately acid soil.

For more information on Thorp Perrow see Gods Own County

After a good wet year for Hydrangeas, please can we have more sun next summer.

This was first posted in September 2012 now with updates

The Climbing Clematis Family

March 1, 2024 hortoris

Clematis is one of the worlds favourite flowers for climbing over fences and trellis.

The Family of Clematis

The Clematis genus is from the family Ranunculaceae which is the same as the buttercup and many other plants. Winter Aconites – Eranthis hyemalis and Adonis amurensis start the flowering year along with other family members the Hellebores.
In spring Anemone, Marsh Marigolds and buttercups take over.
For summer consider Globe flowers or Trollius, Rue Thalictrum, Acquilegia, Delphinium, Aconitum, Larkspur and Love-in-a-mist or Nigella.
Baneberries, Bugbane and Japanese Anemones round off the Ranunculaceae display in autumn.
What a versatile and wide spread family.
As with other members of the Ranunculaceae family there is a Clematis species or variety to flower in most seasons.

Why do Botanists make Choice So Complex?

As a youngster I knew there was a plant called Clematis
After a while I heard about three groups of clematis with different pruning rules. Group 1 are early flowering species Group 2 are early flowering large flowered hybrids and Group 3 late flowering large flowering hybrids and species.
Then in my latest gardening book there are a dozen groups and I particularly go for the C.Viticella
Clematis cirrhosa flowers in December and if covered to protect from winter snow will survive our climate.
The Clematis Montana rubens like Nelly Moser and Ville de Lyons are firm May favourites. C. jackmanii are large late flowerers
C. Tetrosa has larger flowers. Small flowers Clematis tangutica and flammula are interesting varieties to seek out from your suppliers or friends.
Clematis vitalba flowers in late autumn and produces interesting seed heads
C. armandis are evergreen

Read Tips for Growing Clematis and Clematis Pruning

Seven Herbs of a Japanese Spring

February 29, 2024 hortoris

The oldest anthology of Japanese poetry refers to ‘seven plants showing green through the cold earth as harbingers of spring’.

Eaten on the 7th day of January, mixed with rice gruel, this concoction makes an early spring dish of varied herbs. Each herb has its own homeopathic effect on our health.

The Seven Spring Herbs

Combined together the following plants form ‘Haru no nanakusa’.
Oenanthe stolonifera, water celery, or water parsley
Capsella bursa-pastoris or Shepherd’s Purse
Gnaphalium affine or Cudweed
Stellaria media or Chickweed
Lamium amplexicaule,Â Henbit, or Deadnettle
Brassica rapa,Â White Turnip, mustard greens, or celery cabbage
Raphanus sativus or Japanese White Radish

This may be a hard mix to find in the UK but the idea of mixing herbs appeals to me. Other cultures and regions have their own herb traditions and mixtures. If you have a favourite mix or concoction then send details via our comment section below.

Other Mixed Herbs

The UK has Parsley, sage rosemary and thyme in the traditional song Scarborough Fair
The French have bouquet-garni
As we approach Thanksgiving spare a thought for the turkeys stuffed full of sage and onion
Traditionally used in Italian cooking a popular mix includes oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram, sage, parsley, bay leaves and cracked black pepper.

Umbels for Herbs, Health & Display

February 29, 2024 hortoris

The Umbels family are far from humble when grown well. When grown badly like Hemlock (conium maculatum) they are poisonous, even fatal but many species such as carrots, parsnips and fennel are edible or even medicinal. The Greeks and Romans knew a thing or too (until Hemlock killed Socrates)

Umbels flower in a parasol shape with short stalks of equal length rising from a common point opening to a flat or rounded spray.

Unusual Facts About Umbels

A small umbel is called an umbellule
Fatsia japonica has a globular umbel reminiscent of a golf ball.
Sea Holly (Eryngeum) produces fruirlets rather than seed but is still a member of the umbel group of plants
Umbellifers are mostly aromatic flowering plants of the genus Apium such as the celery, carrot or parsley family.
Queen Anne’s lace is a development from the common carrot
The first ‘Herbal’ describing umbels was credited in a ‘History of Plants’ believed to be written circa 300 BC.
Coriander leaves produce cilantro which has strong antibacterial and fungicidal properties that helps kill Salmonella bacteria hence its use in food from hot climates
The many herbs and ornamentals of the umbel family are not as well known as they should be.

Herbal Umbels in Medicine

Â Traditionally many umbelifereous plants have been used in herbal medicine.
One recurring use of plants from this group of plant is in treating digestive and stomach problems. Parsley, Dill, Fennel,Â and Lovage are well known in this respect
Angelica, Wild Celery, Caraway, Coriander, Anise, Cow Parsnip and other plants are used for treatments andÂ a range of medicinal claims, toothpaste, tisanes and poultices.

Sea Holly Hedge Parsley (Torilis japonica)

Ornamental Umbels and Uses

The ferny foliage of umbelliferous plants looks attractive when combined in borders with more robust foliage even before the flowerheads are taken into account.
See through backdrops and feathery borders can be included in your own bespoke garden design.
I grow Angelica in my border and it is a robust plant that survives our northern climate.
Many gardeners already grow Astrantia and Burpleurum a couple of other umbels without thinking of them as part of the carrot group.
You could grow a whole bed of Eryngium species including, yuccifolium, alpinum, higanteum and variifolium
Pennyworts or Hydrocotyle are useful in water gardens and the harder to find Oxypolis is used in wet land.

Wild Carrot Pig Nut (Conopodium majus)

Gardeners Tips

Tips and advice for gardeners about gardening

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Author: hortoris

Ground Cover for Formal Gardens

March 13, 2024 hortoris

Vivid Ground Cover Plants and Ideas

March 8, 2024 hortoris

Collection of Low Growing Plants

Design Features

Patterns of Gravel

Columbines, Aquilegia, Paraquilegia & Semiaquilegia

March 7, 2024 hortoris

My Ground Cover Ideas

March 6, 2024 hortoris

Benefits of Ground Cover

Selected Ground Cover Plant Species

Happy Accidents

Conditions for Good Ground Cover

My Ground Cover

Allotments Replaced by Trees

March 5, 2024 hortoris

Tips for Planting Trees

A Plantsman’s Nursery – Holden Clough

March 3, 2024 hortoris

Hydrangeas At Thorp Perrow

March 3, 2024 hortoris

The Climbing Clematis Family

March 1, 2024 hortoris

The Family of Clematis

Seven Herbs of a Japanese Spring

February 29, 2024 hortoris

The Seven Spring Herbs

Other Mixed Herbs

Umbels for Herbs, Health & Display

February 29, 2024 hortoris

Unusual Facts About Umbels

Herbal Umbels in Medicine

Ornamental Umbels and Uses