We value your privacy

We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalized ads or content, and analyze our traffic. By clicking "Accept All", you consent to our use of cookies.

Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Browsed by
Author: hortoris

Colour me Garden

Colour me Garden

One of the most interesting aspects of gardening is the combination of colours that can be achieved by accident or design.
Leaves and bark can play their part but it is the bold colours of some of our favourite flowers that take centre stage.

 

Sometimes, we like the delicate, soothing pastel shades or the zen of a ‘White Garden‘ but, this doesn’t mean we always have to follow decorum and good taste. Sometimes its nice to just choose great impact colours which add life, zest and sparkle to the garden. The kind of colour combination that makes a passerby think – ‘hmm that’s interesting’

…

Read More Read More

Uses for Ivy

Uses for Ivy

Ivy is a versatile green or variegated plant that climbs, trails or acts as ground cover. As an evergreen plant grown for its leaves the plants would need nitrogen based fertiliser but I have found Ivies grow well even in poor soil.

Purposes and Uses of Ivy

It makes sense to decide the purpose of your Ivy plant before selecting a variety.

  • Ivy uses it’s aerial roots to cling rather than for sustenance and they can be used to climb tree stumps or cover unsightly sheds or walls.
  • Ivy can grow even in shady areas so is useful for the awkward dark corners. The variegation will be better with good light.
  • H colchica Persian Ivy is less hardy but have large leaves and a pleasant sprawling habit. Hedera hibernica also known as Irish ivy is one of the fastest growing varieties if you want quick results. Both can be used for ground cover.
  • In containers and baskets they offer year round colour and a trailing habit
  • Types of Ivy include Hedera helix English Ivy or Heart leaved, large leaved Algerian Ivy Hedera canariensis. There are numerous varieties with different features including white, yellow or cream variegation or crinkled leaves.
  • I prefer smaller leaved species which can form an impressive feature
  • I have found most varieties to be hardy, strong growers so keep them in control with hard trimming and pruning.

House Plant Indoor Ivy

  • We grow several pots of Ivy in the house. The smaller leaved types look best and can trail out of various pots and survive in lower light conditions than other houseplants.
  • Beware of too much water and too little light. Repot shop bought Ivies into a larger pot with compost that will hold moisture
  • Traditionally Ivy is used at Christmas for decoration and festive wreaths. Gold or silver-leaved ivy can be draped over Christmas trees to make attractive and natural alternatives to tinsel.
  • The National Trust maintains a National Collection of Ivy at Erddig Hall Wrexham

My Choice Varieties

  • Hedera Helix ‘Buttercup’ a climbing yellow leaved variety.
  • H.h. ‘Chester’ good self-branching with cream variegation.
  • H.h. Green Ripple hardy with lush green leaves with 5 lobes.

 

Grewelthorpe Himalayan Garden Images

Grewelthorpe Himalayan Garden Images

The Himalayan Garden at Grewlthorpe continues to mature and develop. It is great to see a wide range of trees allowed to grow their natural size without undue lopping or arbocultural work.
A new arboretum will opened at the end of May 2017 and the  autumn season is well  worth a special visit. The hydrangea and sculptures are also looking great.

As ever the sculptures are excellently located and seem to breed in number every time I visit.

Rhododendrons are the key feature for me that makes return spring visits a must.

Landscape views from the many well located paths are set to delight.


The artist Subodh Kerkar has several new installations at the Himalayan garden in North Yorkshire, many miles from his home in Goa.  I couldn’t say what type of tree trunks these 18 carefully and vertically  place ‘logs’ were!

Even walking through the gap I was still stumped. The message on these ‘Logs of Dialogue’ is that ‘terrorism is a product of non-communication between  nations, groups, regions religions and ideologies’.

Take a leaf out of another sculptural installation. Or take another leaf from my inspiration and visit these Grewelthorpe gardens, infant arboretum and sculpture trail during April or May or October for autumn colour.

Many Magnificent Magnolia Varieties and Species

Many Magnificent Magnolia Varieties and Species

Magnolia

Magnolia Varieties

  • Magnolia ‘Sunrise’ – White with red stripe
  • Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’ -Deep purple with full petals
  • Magnolia ‘Red Lucky’ -Pink with red base
  • Magnolia ‘Jade Lamp’ – Pure white
  • Magnolia ‘Crystal Cup’ -Cream
  • Magnolia denudata Yellow River
  • Magnolia ‘Pink Beauty’ –
  • Magnolia ‘Betty’ – Deep pink to cerise

Available from Thompson & Morgan
magnolia

Magnolia in Oxford

magnolia

Magnolia bloom in early April

…

Read More Read More

Winnowing My Garden Books

Winnowing My Garden Books

 

A Yorkshire success following my post 3 years ago on Yorkshire day. (See below). I set a resolution to reduce by book collection which has been achieved in part by charity donations and Free Cycle to a Ripley lady. Over 500 gone and only 100 or so special interest books to follow in 2023 and onward.

‘On this first of August 2020 I am resolved to winnow down my collection of books on gardening and related subjects. I want to separate the wheat from the chaff and boy is there a lot of chaff to sort, probably 500+ tomes plus related ephemera. Not all of this winnowing activity will lead to new posts on this site but my first effort has done.

The most recent book I have read from cover to cover was the entertaining ‘The Hidden Life of Trees’ by Peter Wohlleben. To me it is a master piece of accessible writing about trees, what they feel, how they communicate and how nature interacts  with them. It is based on years of experience as a forester. Peter has acute observational and analytical ability that is well reasoned and simply communicated. The main themes I have taken into my wider gardening and ecological understanding include:

  1. Trees show we can take the long view and there is no need to rush, in fact time may create a far better and sustainable result.
  2. There is a place for everything and with everything in its place we disrupt it at our peril.
  3. We don’t know what we don’t know and there are more things in heaven and earth ( but what the Hamlet to mix my metaphors.)
  4. If trees have social networking with many skills similar to human abilities and traits, then what else can our gardens teach us.
  5. Look at what is easily visible and look again to develop understanding.

Fired with this enthusiasm I looked through for further enlightenment before I  pass on the books to others as part of winnowing down from  my book shelves. I came across a 1974 book ‘Plants and Environment’ by R F Daubenmire a self professed Textbook of Plant Autecology. The book’s definition of Autecology is wider than a dictionary definition claiming it considers: geology, soils, climatology, zoology, chemistry and physics which are connected to the welfare of living organism and evolution of species. Not dissimilar to Wohlleben’s offering.  As I have only read the preface and introduction in detail some chapers have been dipped into to suit my mood at the time. These include; soil, water, temperature, light, atmospheric, biotic, fire, evolution and complex environmental chapters.

As a text book it is more detailed and less apocryphal than the Hidden Life of Trees but aims at ‘the intelligent management of plant life (and trees in particular) for the good on mankind’. Both books have excellent notes and references.’

 

Easy Potash for your Garden

Easy Potash for your Garden

Potash is a collective name for potassium salts that help grow healthy plants. Potash is good for fruit and  flowers helping thebbalance with nitrogen to improve disease protection and enhance flower colour.

Potassium sulphate widely used as a quick acting source of potash. Ideal for tomatoes, peppers and easy to mix and apply from a liquid.

Potassium nitrate is quick acting if you need a boost to nitrogen and potash at the same time. Like p. sulphate it helps develop fruit and can be sprinkled around the roots of fruit trees

Potassium chloride is a cheap form of potash that is a bit out of favour as it is less suitable for some root crops and soft fruit.

Home made potassium rich fertilizers can be made from comfrey leaves or wood ash. Soak comfrey leaves in water to make a vile smelling potash rich feed. Burnt wood ash contains potash but of varying quality and longevity so it may be best added to your compost heap.

Growing Campanula, Canterbury Bells, Bellflower & Balloonflower

Growing Campanula, Canterbury Bells, Bellflower & Balloonflower

037

Alpine or border Campanulas come in many species and varieties.

Campanula lactiflora ‘Loddon Anna’ above was grown from seed distributed free to members by the RHS. It grows four feet tall and has many very attractive open bell shaped flowers. The flowers are arranged on a stem in a loose cone shape but with each of about 60 flower about an inch wide the effect is light and flowing. This species is commonly called the Milky bell flower and is a lilac colour.

Growing Campanula.

  • Most Campanulas bloom in June and July, but some varieties continue all summer.
  • Plant seeds or seedlings in May, though they can be sown in August and protected during the winter.
  • Most Campanula plants tolerate full sun but like some moisture in the soil. The smaller varieties grow in walls and rockeries.
  • Thompson Morgan have a fine seed collection.
  • There is a white Campanula persicifolia alba

Hints and Tips about the Campanula Family

  • Plants are generally perennial other than the annual Campanula macrostyla and ramosissima.
  • The small hairbell or harebell are sometimes called the Bluebells of Scotland
  • The scent is very mild during the day.
  • There is a National Plant Collection at Burton Agnes Hall in Driffield.
  • Smaller campanulas are ideal for rockeries, borders and pots

Book Cover
Dwarf Campanula by Graham Nichols
See also Campanula for the rockery here or Alpine campanulas.

Read Bells and not Cockleshells
Wikipedia lists 473 species. Tall bellflowers grow from the Great Lakes region south to Florida and from the Dakotas east to New York.[10] They thrive in partial shade and grow along woodland edges, in open woods, shaded meadows, streambanks and ditches.
Images of Campanula carpatica a compact campanula covered for a long season in summer with masses of blue, upright, bell flowers.

Platycodon or Balloon flower are a relative of Campanula that have grown in popularity over the last few decades.

‘My book of Campanulas and Bellflowers in cultivation’ 1959 by H Clifford Crook provided and provides useful detail about the wide range of cultivated plants

 

Spring Acers and Great Colour

Spring Acers and Great Colour

Do not forget the pleasures of Acers in spring and early summer. New buds and leaves are an interesting feature of carefully chosen species. Visit a good garden center or a renown public garden like RHS Harlow Carr in Harogate  We know that Maple trees or Acers have exceptional colour in autumn which is why tourists flock to New England and the eastern seaboard to see the flaming colours. Cold nights and warm days are the conditions that help turn green leaves to vibrant colours. With the falling temperatures, the lush green colours of summer have been replaced with vivid reds, golden yellows and browns.

However autumn is not the only season when colour and form can captivate as shown below. The RoyalHorticultural Society (RHS)

Leaves Autumn Amber

Why do Some Leaves Turn Red
Leaves naturally turn yellow as the chlorophyll breaks down and the green disappears but yellow can attracts sap-sucking aphids.
Some species of tree produce a bright red pigment into the leaves to confuse these insects.
Some trees are naturally red pigmented from the outset.

Gardeners Top Tip
Plant Acer palmatum ‘Matsukaze’, which opens bright bronze-red turns olive green, flushed with purple but then scarlet in autumn colour, where sun can shine through the coloured leaves to enhance the autumn effect.

Merry Gardening Christmas

Merry Gardening Christmas

2022 is nearly over and in parts of North America with the arctic bomb cyclone it can’t come soon enough.  The UK thought the cold snap in December was bad but it froze just enough to help my garden go into winter hibernation and kill off some lingering malingerers.

Top Seasonal Songs

Jingle Campanulas  Jingle Campanulas Jingle all the way.

LBA 067

The Holly and the Ivy

Holly

Away in a Compost Heap

We Three King Alfreds of Daffodils Are

An Aster Fidelis

Away in a Mancave

While Gardeners Watch their Veg by Night

 

The Flora of West Yorkshire F A Lees

The Flora of West Yorkshire F A Lees

My winter pastime is to sort and dispose of some of my many gardening books. My collection has grown even more  invasive than the worst weeds and it is time hoe them out. Charity shops will be beneficiaries as will our local gardening club but the recycling industry will get 500 or so books. I thought of composting but I will leave that to the landfill which still contains all those old telephone directories.

Bearing in mind my local heritage and garden location one book that is worth a mention is ‘The Flora of West Yorkshire’ by Frederic Arnold Lees (1847-1921). My copy is a professional 1978 facsimile of the first edition of 1888.

Interesting Facts

  • Lees was Leeds born and schooled and became a member of The Royal Colleges of Surgeons and Physicians
  • He also Presided over the botanical section of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union and was recorder for the Botanical Record Club
  • Frederic collected plant material for Leeds medical school and his book collection of 535 items is retained by Bradford reference library.
  • The book contains 2.000 references in a comprehensive index and starts with information on Climatology and  Lithology as it pertains to botany. This shows how weather and under lying rock and soil structure influences the species that thrive in various conditions
  • Observations – Victorians and Edwardians took great care to study the natural world and invest time and energy in study. This work helped classify the wild  flora discovered in West Yorkshire in that era.