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Choice Blue Conifers

Choice Blue Conifers

Abies procera glauca

This noble fir is a large prostrate form with thick rounded bright blue needles that gives a good colour contrast within any garden. This is just one of the good looking Conifers that can be suitable for a British garden.

  • This prostrate form is slow growing. Remove any strong vertical branches
  • Young plants need a good soaking when the soil becomes too dry and prefer a moisture retentive soil
  • Roots spread wider than the tree but shouldn’t need fertiliser
  • Will stand very cold winter temperatures
  • The habit, form and colour of this Pine make it a good plant to incorporate into a garden design

Book Cover

Other Blue Conifers

Colorado Blue Spruce or Picea pungens glauca is a beautiful blue conifer with a broad, pyramidal shape.

Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca Pendula’  as the name suggests trails like a weeping willow and can be as vigorous.

Chamaecyparis Lawsoniana Alumii is a slow growing columnar tree

Abies pinsapo blue Spanish fir is also slow growing with some of the most striking frosty blue  foliage of any conifer.

Top 5 London Parks

Top 5 London Parks

Victorian Park

1.  Battersea Park

Festival Gardens, Peace Pagoda, Henry Moore sculpture, Exotic trees and 200 acres of lively park and amenities. All these features and more are to be found on the southside of the Thames opposite Chelsea.

2.  Hampstead Heath

Heather and heathland plants attract birds including flamingos and parakeets. The Pergola and Mawson Hill garden planting are worth a visit in this ‘green lung’ of London that has (or suffers) 10 million visits a year.

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3.  Regents Park

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Holly is Not Just for Christmas

Holly is Not Just for Christmas

Get an early start on Christmas decorations before the birds eat your berries.
Get out and plan where you will pick your holly for Christmas decorations now. As the berries ripen the birds descend and scoff the lot just when you are not looking.
You can condition the stems, leaves and berries and placing stalks in a glycerin solution. They will take up the liquid and become supple and longer lasting. Crush the stems and use warm glycerin then leave for a couple of weeks.

Holly

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Artificial Ideas for Roof Gardens

Artificial Ideas for Roof Gardens

gloucester container

This week I had lunch in the roof garden of the 16th Century ‘Soup Kitchen’ in Stafford. The tables in the restaurant and outside on the pavement had very welcome fresh flowers.
The roof area was flat with a split level but overall it gave me a couple of ideas.

Roof Garden Ideas

  • Artificial grass is light, easy to clean and water resistant. It can look quite realistic if you select carefully.
  • Even heavily perforated containers can be brought into use by the adaptation of black plastic. A series of old braziers contained colourful flowers and herbs.
  • The space was divided by wooden partitions to make smaller ‘rooms’. This protected against the sun and provided some welcome shade.
  • Walls and the partitions made places for climbers and scramblers like the Blackeyed Susan below.
  • Ensure you have adequate access for equipment and visitors

Read more about Artificial Grass on Gardening Products
Blackeyed Susan

Visit the Soup kitchen

Quarry Gardens at Belsay Hall & Castle

Quarry Gardens at Belsay Hall & Castle

A ‘Quarry Garden’ had not registered with my horticultural subconscious until I visited Belsay Hall garden an English Heritage property in Northumberland. Serendipity or deliberate planning has created a fantastic garden space for the 21st Century from a site first developed as a garden at the end of the 18th century.
There are influences from other famous gardeners including Humphry Repton, William Robinson and the designers of the previous 17th century gardens and manor house.

Belsay Hall Castle Garden

Conceiving a Quarry Garden

There are a couple of paths through the quarry leading to the old castle which hosts grand views of the estate from the battlements. These paths go through the West Quarry garden and the East Quarry gardens. see photos

Sir Charles Monck had the hall built in 1817 from local stone dug from his own quarry between the Castle and Hall. Creating a quarry garden was in his mind as the stone was excavated with great care. If the stone had simply been blasted out we would just have a hole in the ground.

Belsay Hall Castle Garden

The sheer rock sides form a ravine with what has developed into a dramatic garden of significant proportions. The planting of evergreen trees like yews and pines on the rim of the quarry has increased the sense of height whilst the lower story has attracted many plants including Rhododendrons.

Belsay Hall Castle Garden

The lush, jungle atmosphere was later enhanced by Monck’s grandson, Sir Arthur Middleton, who planted many more exotic and rare shrubs that liked the conditions created by the microclimate within the quarry. Majestic trees are complemented by a collection of ferns that Sir Charles Monck was renown for collecting.

Belsay Hall Castle Garden
This is Trapoleum Tuberosun a relative of the nasturtium twining through a tree heather in the more formal part of the garden.

Gardeners Tips

  • Visit in spring when snowdrops and other bulbs, planted in the early 18th century, are in full bloom.
  • Time your visit to see the display of Rhododendrons in full spate.
  • Be prepared for a walk through the surrounding woods and through the Fern walk.
  • The hall contains no furniture but the architecture is worth studying, the tea rooms are worth eating in and the rest of the garden is designed for a fine day.

Belsay Hall Castle Garden

Garden Sculpture and Statuary

Garden Sculpture and Statuary

For an interesting garden combined with a bit of art you could do worse than visit The Himalayan Garden & Sculpture Park at The Hutts, Grewelthorpe near Ripon North Yorkshire.
Beware the gardens close from June until April each year as the Himalayan plants are only at their best in spring, so watch the time.
The rhododendrons are worth visiting when in full bloom so it is worth picking your time for a trip although the attached nursery is open by appointment.

Himalayan garden sculpture
Stainless toadstools reflect well in the garden.
Himalayan garden Grewelthorpe 180
The whole garden is a sculpture. Hewn out of the valley side it comes as a surprise that there is such a garden and sculpture park at The Hutts .

Himalayan garden sculpture
The many water features in the garden are well augmented by sculptures and statuary. See the May flies in May.

Himalayan garden sculpture Chamu Romano
It will be a dark day in the garden before the stone eggs under the sculpted duck hatch.
Himalayan garden sculpture
All gardeners need a hand every now and then. A big hand is even better.

Gardeners Quotes

Gardeners Quotes

I may be a bore at parties and barbeques  but I do know how to get rid of slugs. ed.

public flower bed

Gardeners can appear to be a taciturn bunch but they have a dry sense of humus.
‘A tough looking man came and took our garden gate when he thought nobody was looking. Well I thought it best not to say anything as he might take a fence.’

Gardeners Quotes

‘It should be the gardeners aim to provide ideal conditions for his plants so that they can flourish to the limit of their capacity.’

‘A gardener needs to be an intelligent being rather than just a robot.’ Derek Clifford

‘It is important that the grower acquaints them-self with each species’ natural habitat to enable a good pot grown specimen to be produced.’ Jan Taylor Geraniums and Pelargoniums.

‘Years ago, nearly every garden had a patch of Lily of the Valley that flowered year after year.’ Adam the Gardener

‘Gardening requires lots of water – most of it in the form of perspiration.’ Lou Erickson

‘In gardens, beauty is a by-product. The main business is sex and death.’ Sam Llewelyn

‘What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it.’ Charles Dudley Warner

‘A garden is a thing of beauty and a job for ever.’

‘There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling.’ Mirabel Osler

‘Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get’ – Mark Twain

‘Gardening adds years to your life and life to your years.’

‘Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it.’

‘Canny guerrilla gardeners help their plants along and sell their crop giving them the opportunity to invest in new plants and material’. Richard Reynolds On Guerrilla Gardening

‘Keep Calm and Carry on Gardening’
Gerbera

Gardeners Tips Links

Single Colour Hanging Baskets

Single Colour Hanging Baskets

Good hanging baskets with a bold statement can be achieved by using one type of plant in one colour.
Think about the volume of colour from your chosen flowers over the life of the hanging basket. Keep it simple and you will only need one watering and feeding regime.
The hanging baskets below generally fit into the single colour category with the odd liberty.

Lobelia

I like the powder blue Lobelia. It is far more stunning than the more traditional purple in this large hanging basket.

Petunia

Petunias in purple, or would you call it mauve, are great for hanging baskets as they produce lots of flowers and self-deadhead.

Hanging Basket 2009

I have not grown Bacopa but like the clean white colour scheme on this hanging basket.

Hanging Basket

Orange is an ususual clour for a hanging basket but there are now some brilliant begonias like these.
Begonia x tuberhybrida ‘Illumination Apricot Shades’ F1 Hybrid is fantastic but would produce a mix of yellow & orange.

Beautiful hanging baskets

Now we get to a cheat with a trailing Lysimachia to under pin the base of the hanging basket which contains red begonias.
Begonia from Thompson & Morgan

petunias

Is it fair to call this a single colour. Certainly this veined petunia in pink to purple makes a bold splash of colour.
Petunia Million Bells or Calibrachoa are very floriferous plants to try in hanging baskets.
Petunia seeds at Thompson & Morgan

Hanging hydrangea hallway - Longwood Gardens, 2 May 2011

This would be my hanging basket display of choice. Hydrangeas drink large volumes of water and would not normally feature in baskets but this USA garden at Longwood makes do.

Colour Photo Credits
Hanging Basket 2009 by amandabhslater CC BY-SA 2.0
Hanging Basket by sirwiseowl CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Beautiful hanging baskets by wallygrom, CC BY-SA 2.0
petunias by NapaneeGal CC BY-NC 2.0
Hanging hydrangea hallway – Longwood Gardens, 2 May 2011 by mmwm CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Cheerful pelargoniums by tsheko CC BY-NC 2.0

Cheerful pelargoniums
Cheerful pelargoniums

Growing Chirita as House Plants

Growing Chirita as House Plants

Chirita micromusa 040919-1032

If you have tried Cape Primroses, also called Streptocarpus, then you may also want to try the cousin Chirita. They have hairy leaves similar to African violets and flowers that are similar Streptocarpus. In fact they all belong to the little know Gesneriad family

 

  • Chiritas can be acquired from the specialist www.dibleys.com They also produce an excellent compact A5 plant catalogue
  • Propagation is easy from leaf cuttings in an equal mixture of compost and vermiculite, pearlite or sharp sand.
  • Keep plants out of direct sunlight, a north facing windowsill or porch is ideal
  • Plants can stay in the same pot for several years if they are give a regular week feed.
  • Keep plants a bit on the dry side and treat like African violets
  • Chirita Akiro as shown above has marbled leaves
  • For small neat pure white Chirita taminiana is recommended by Anne Swithenbank
  • For larger flowers try C. Keiko shown below with upto 25 two inch flowers from

C. Keiko

Chirita Growing Tips

  • Do not drown your Chiritas only water when the compost is dry.
  • Deadhead flowers and do not let spent blossoms drop onto the leaves. They may cause rot and disease.
  • Chiritas like plenty of light but avoid mid day sun which can burn through a window.

Chirita sinensis is most frequently grown as a house plant. The genus chirita belongs to the gesneriaceae family and contains approx 150 species.

Photo Credits
Chirita micromusa 040919-1032 by Tony Rodd CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Primulina (Chirita) tamiana, Saintpaulia ‘Cirelda’ and Sinningia ‘Country Tiger’ x self by nipplerings72 CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Read Chirita a housepalnt with a future
Book Cover“>Amazon

Gesneriaceae: Cyrtandra, Didymocarpus, Streptocarpus, Alloplectus, Achimenes, Chirita, Henckelia, Gasteranthus, Sinningia, Kohleria, in Portuguese, an English version may now be available!

Laburnum Golden Rain in Chains

Laburnum Golden Rain in Chains

laburnum

Fantastic festoons of  floral racemes give this Laburnum its common name of  ‘Golden Rain’. The drooping clusters of small yellow flowers are produced in spring and early summer.

Describing Laburnum

  • Laburnum trees produce yellow pea like flowers and pea shaped seed pods.
  • These small ornamental trees are easy to cultivate and produce flowers in May & June.
  • The deciduous leaves are trifoliate usually dull green and slightly hairy.
  • Laburnum watereri Vossii is this free flowering form with extra long racemes of flower. Alfords Weeping is a small vigorous tree with a wide spreading head.
  • Common Laburnum Laburnum anagyroides can grow to 30 feet tall, Aureum is a golden leaved variety and Autumnale often flowers again in the autumn.
  • Laburnum alpinum ‘Scottish Laburnum’ is a small tree with fragrant flowers.
  • Common laburnum vulgare  flowers earlier and has shorter racemes with the same pea shaped flowers but hairy pods.
  • Laburnum also  has Erect and Pendulum varieties

Flowers in May

Growing Tips

  • Below is a Llaburnum walk way that is many years old. Such decorative walks are replanted from cuttings but most Laburnums are propagated by seed.
  • Plant your laburnum tree in full sun. The more sun the better
  • Laburnum are not fussy about the type of soil
  • Try removing the drying seed pods on small trees to encourage a good show of flowers the following year.
  • The trees are not very long lived and I have recently taken out a tree that was 30 feet high because I hadn’t kept it in check.

laburnum-walk

Health Warning on Laburnums

  • All parts of Laburnum are poisonous particularly the seeds -Stop children from eating them.
  • Symptoms of poisoning by Laburnum root or seed are intense sleepiness, vomiting, convulsive movements and dilated pupils.
  • The seeds look tempting shiny black but are bitter alkaline to taste.

Flowers in May