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Gardening articles that may not include tips

Bird Cherry – Prunus Padus

Bird Cherry – Prunus Padus

Prunus padus blossom

Not the the traditonal blousy Japanese cherry but the purple-leaved bird cherry is a more unusual choice for the large garden.

Bird Cherry Description

  • Smaller than the wild cherry it will still grow to circa 20-30 feet with a similar spread.
  • Dark purple shoots appear in spring followed by coppery-purple foliage that gradually fades to green.
  • The dark foliage is the perfect foil for the delicate pale-pink flowers, which are held on elongated clusters.
  • The flowers have a delicate almond scent
  • These are followed later in the year by astringent black fruits which birds adore.
  • The bird cherry will grow on most neutral to alkaline soils and is particularly good for chalky soils.
  • Often seen in mixed hedges that support wild life.

Bird Cherry Varieties

  • Albertii is a vigorous free growing fome of Prunus Padus
  • Clorata has an AGM for young coppery leaves and pale pink flowers.
  • Waterii grandiflora long racemes of flowers and also has an AGM
  • Prunus padus commutata The Mayday Tree is of medium height (30′), low-branched and has a compact, rounded canopy that may reach 20′
Growing Acer as Small Trees

Growing Acer as Small Trees

leaves

Acer are renown for the colour of their leaves in Autumn. Careful selection of varieties will produce great spring colour in addition to your Autumn blaze of glory.

leaves

Select the varieties that are classified as shrubs. ‘Japanese Maple’ Acer japonicum and palmatum will give you the desired results.

Other Acers like Field maple, Sycamore, Red or Silver Maple are all medium to large trees 50′ plus.

Paper bark maple and Snake bark maple have interesting bark and grow to be small trees 15-25 feet tall.

leaves

Acer japonicum Vitifolium is one of my favourites not shown here. It has salmon coloured fan shaped  leaves that turn red in Autumn. …

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Movement in Your Garden

Movement in Your Garden

095

The day was still and the only movement was the lazy (none PC) smoke drifting from a brushwood fire but it made me think of movement in my garden.


Natural Movement.

  • Grasses have grown in popularity with prairie planting creating drifts of fine plumes of seed heads wafting in the breeze.
  • Fine leaves, particularly the well coloured Acers, are one of my favourites.
  • The fast running and gurgling stream provides stimulation to several senses at the same time.
  • Tall thin plants like bamboo are grown for their ability to move in a breeze. Verbena bonariensis and tall back of the border plants are also useful
  • Visiting birds and insects are great for movement. Make sure your garden attracts them.

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Man-made Movement …

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Apple Blossom in Pictures and Notes

Apple Blossom in Pictures and Notes

Apple blossom

2010 seems set to be a great year for Apple Blossom. All around there seems to be vast quantities of blossom on each tree – let us hope there are enough Bees to go around when it comes to pollination.

I was surprised when I looked more closely at the size and colour on the blossom of different trees and have reproduced some varieties here. As you may remember there was a lot of frost damage on a row of cordons but, touch wood, my main trees remain unaffected.

The late arrival of warm weather is playing into the hands of pollination as most varieties seem to have opened at the same time. This will bring the insects out and help cross pollination to produce a good crop of Apples.

Apple blossom

Glowering skies loom over this tree but showers of rain are an occupational hazard for Apple blossom. As long as the rain drains from the tree and is not trapped in pockets to cause wood rot there is no problem.

I have to admit to a spray regime after blossom fall to protect my fruit to deter insects

Apple blossom

This eating apple has dark red skin and I will have to look in my old note book to remind me of the variety. Still I am not surprised to see that it has pinker blossom than the James Grieve.

Each blossom was larger than the old half-crown and made a wonderful sight.

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Allotment Gardening your First Steps

Allotment Gardening your First Steps

History of Allotments
Allotments were first introduced in 1845 as field gardens for the landless poor. Originally intended to grow food Victorians thought it would ‘keep them from the evils of drink’. (A cool beer or glass of wine at the end of a session on the allotment is just the job now-a-days.)
In 1908 the Small Holding and Allotment Act made it a duty of Local Authorities to provide allotments where there was a demand.
During both World Wars allotments were a vital source of food & the number of allotments peaked in 1943 at 1.4 million. There is less than a quarter of that number now.

First Steps

  • Time spent preparing a new plot is seldom wasted time. Remove weeds.
  • Put in permanent structures like good paths, a compost bin, water butt and a shed.
  • If the land slopes use raised beds or make a terrace.
  • Arrange the beds so you can rotate crops (see below).
  • Check the site and association rules.

Planting your Crops

  • Grow what your family like to consume or use.
  • Easy vegetables to start with include Potato, Leek and Runner Beans.
  • Courgettes, Tomatoes and salad crops are only slightly more difficult.
  • I would have an area for cutting flowers but that is my personal preference.
  • Sow seed sparsely, thin out to avoid over crowding and do not sow too soon in the season.
  • Give herbs there own area in the sun.

Crop Rotation
Different plant groups do different things to the soil. Using 4 beds, rotate the following crops around so that after 4 years each bed has been used by each group.

  1. Potatoes
  2. Legumes; Peas, Broadbeans, Other beans, mangetout etc
  3. Brassicas; Cauliflower, Cabbage, Sprouts, Broccoli etc
  4. Onions and roots

Lettuce, Courgettes are neutral and can go anywhere. Soft fruit and rhubarb may go around the edges or in there own space.

Uses of Willow in the Garden & Living Sculptures

Uses of Willow in the Garden & Living Sculptures

Willow boat

Interest in Willow has revived over the last few years and there are many garden uses.

Decorative Uses

  • Royal Horticultural Gardens at Harlow Carr have several living willow sculptures. The fine boat shown above is an example that entertains the kids who visit. A bit big for my garden.
  • Narrow Willow hedges can be used to separate ‘garden rooms’.
  • Tunnel type structure made of sticks of living willow can create a unique feature.
  • Children will enjoy making and playing in wigwams, domes and tunnels.
  • More advanced projects, suitable for adults, include fences, chairs and arbours.

Book Cover

DVD Making Living Willow Sculptures

Practical Uses of Willow

  • Willow weaving can make Trugs or baskets for use in the garden.
  • A natural hedge from woven willow suits some sites, if used as a wind break it is called a ‘fedge’.
  • Willow can now be grown for green bio-mass fuel.
  • Traditionally Willow is used for cricket bats, charcoal, furniture and medicine.
  • The bark contains growth hormones and can be used to make a simple extract that will promote rooting and cutting growth.

Varieties and Uses of Willow

  • Salix Viminalis Gigantea Very fast growing – long and straight.
  • Good for large structures, windbreaks, hurdle uprights etc.
  • Salix Triandra Viminalis Very fast growing – long and straight.
  • Good for Large structures, Windbreaks, hurdles
  • Salix Dasyclados Very vigorous slightly shorter but thicker than Viminalis.
  • Suitable for structures, windbreaks, fuel production.
  • Salix Tora or Jorr Very vigorous growth – Swedish, Suitable for structures, windbreaks and fuel production.
  • Salix alba Vitelina Ornamental golden willow, Suitable for hedging, windbreaks and basketry.
  • Salix Triandra Black Maul Warm chestnut brown colour Suitable for hurdles, basketry and weaving in to structures for colour.
  • Salix Triandra Q83 Super Willow- (hybrid of viminalis and triandra) has the vigorous growth of viminalis with the weaving qualities of triandra. Attractive medium brown stems, catkins.Suitable for hurdles, basketry and weaving into living structures.
  • Salix Purpurea Leentges, Nicholsonii Purpurescens or Helix Suitable for basketry and hedging.
  • Salix Purpurea Abbeys or Dicky Meadows, Suitable for basketry.

List of varieties from Willow Withies

Fancy Leaves for Colour, Shape and Texture

Fancy Leaves for Colour, Shape and Texture

Coleus
Coleus by Thompson Morgan

The humble leaf is not so humble when you look closely at some species.
From large banana and water lily leaves to hairy miniature leaves of some alpines you will find natures beauty in a variety of leaves.

Kew 109

Begonia Rex varieties are amongst some of the most interesting and surprising. They can be propagated by leaf cuttings.

Kew 111

Tropical plant houses are great places to visit and spy out some interesting leaf shapes.

Kew 121

Special and Extraordinary Leaves

Bold Garden Displays

Bold Garden Displays

Abu Hassan Tulips

To make a bold statement in a garden you can opt for hard features and structures or soft features created by plants and flowers.

I personally err towards the plantsmans view and like plants. However the use of one variety in great abundance can have a startling effect as these Abu Hassan Tulips show.

Sticking to the Arabian theme not everyone can have a centuries old moorish bath in the garden like the featured garden below. The distinctly moorish shapes are replicated through out with the addition of large pots & stands both terracotta and glazed.

Moorish bath
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Shade Loving Perennials a Top Ten

Shade Loving Perennials a Top Ten

Helebore

Plants that thrive in the shade also tend to be heavy drinkers. Here is my top ten list

Top Ten Shade Loving Perennials for the UK

  1. Bergenia varieties including Bressingham White, Baby Doll, Rotblum and Bergenia cordifolia
  2. Hosta varieties including Aureo marginata, Moerheim, Halcyon, Wide Brim and Hosta venricosa.
  3. Dicentra varieties including Boothmans variety, spectabilis and formosa Luxuriant.
  4. Astilibe varieties including Deutchland, Europa, Fire Ostrich Plume and W M Buchan
  5. Alchemilla mollis
  6. Epimedium varieties including Roseum, Pinck Colchicum and Sulphureum
  7. Helleborus Oriental hybrids or species, cyclophyllus, foetidus and purpurescens.
  8. Polygonatum giganteum or multiflorum
  9. Pulmonaria varieties including Mary Motram, Dora Bielefeld and Roy Davis.
  10. Tellima grandiflora and grandiflora purpurea

Host flower slugged

Most gardeners have a shady spot so I hope this list gives you some ideas for new varieties to try growing. Of course most of these plants will tolerate some sunshine but then need even more water to thrive.

Shade Loving Ground Cover Perennials

  • Sweet Woodruff or Galium odoratum thrives in alkaline soil
  • Anemone nemorosa Robinsoniana has a carpet of ferny leaves and white flowers that all die down in summer
  • Lamium galebdolon dead nettle a scrambling, variegated evergreen.
  • Symphytum grandifolium or dwarf comfrey has leaves that make good compost
  • Saxifraga spathularis or St Patrick’s Cabbage is evergreen but not as cabbage looking as some gardeners.
  • Vincas minor Getrude Jekyll

Lamium

Credits
Lamium by Shotaku CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Book Cover
Planting the Dry Shade Garden: The Best Plants for the Toughest Spot in Your Garden by Graham Rice
Dry Shade Perennials a Top Ten
Best Shade loving plants

Wisteria Hysteria due to Scale Bugs

Wisteria Hysteria due to Scale Bugs

Wisteria

Spring flowering Wisteria are starting to clothe the walls with festoons of flowers.
It may be an excuse for newspapers to show pictures of Wisteria in full bloom but they are running a story about Asian insects wiping out our Wisterias.

The Problem

  • RHS entomologists are reputed to be very concerned about Wisteria scale insects  that are 10mm in diameter.
  • These insects deposit 1000’s of eggs to later feed on the plant’s sap.
  • Branches and whole plants will succumb over time.
  • Infections are worse around London and the south.
  • Stems can become heavily encrusted with scales.

The Future

  • Experts fear the bug may spread to other trees and fruit bushes.
  • Treat with a systemic insecticide – it is no time to worry about organic insecticides.
  • It also gives me a chance to show a white flowering Wisteria

White Wisteria