Gardeners Tips

Progressively becoming one of most popular Acer varieties Acer Palmatum Asahi Zuru is still quite rare in English gardens. The deep pink and white variegation in Spring is followed by three tone pink, white and green foliage until Autumn. Asahi Zuru grows quickly when young then slows down and becomes more dense. This tree at Harlow Carr was about 15 foot high and will grow 9-12 foot wide in time.

Tips for growing Acer Palmatum Asahi Zuru

• Shelter cultivars of palmatum from cold winds and late frosts.
• With humus rich soil the leaves will unfurl vividly pink and white, then green appears giving a three tone effect.
• Also found at garden centers called The Rising Sun Maple or The Dawn Swan.
• The shrubby display is at its best with some afternoon shade.

Some plants achieve Trendiness others have a trend thrust upon them and I think this is what happened to the Tree Ferns during  the last decade.

What causes an outbreak of trendiness?

1. Chelsea and other shows have a lot to answer for with their large budget gardens and the desire or obsession to be different. High profile gardeners are paid to produce sponsored gardens that in many cases no real gardener could want or afford.
2. I am sometimes called ‘a sardonic cynic’ but I think trends are often driven by the horticultural industry. They want to sell what they have grown not always what we want to buy. Again flower shows, magazines and TV programmes are used to force feed gardeners with a diet of ‘new’, ‘exciting’, ‘must haves’ but as with too much fertilizer we can get too much of a so-called good thing.
3. Gardeners aesthetic values and wishes can become trendy. Usually these trends or movements take a deal of time to come to fruition and are a reflection of society and other external pressures. RHS’s Harlow Carr has a series of gardens through the ages and it is interesting to see how tastes and gardens have evolved and developed over the decades and centuries.

Returning to Tree Ferns the RHS offers it’s usual quality advice to members on the web site. I think it is interesting that out of 1.2m hits on the web the two top ranking nurseries  selling Tree ferns are The Urban Jungle and The Palm Center two places I am unlikely to buy from.

There are 400+ species of Willow tree from creeping alpines to the large Weeping Willows of river bank fame.The Weeping Willow has a short life span relative to most other species of less than 50 years and a rapid growth rate. After 20 years the typical Weeping Willow will reach up to 50 feet high depending on variety. For larger garden use ask your nursery man to help you select a restrained variety.

History -In 1908 a German nursery produced a cross between Salix alba the White Willow (a native of water meadows) and Salix babylonica grown in the UK since 1740’s.
Cuttings of single stems up to 6 feet long will root easily and most Willows cross pollinate.
Don’t plant Weeping Willows too near drains or buildings the roots are large and strong. Three times the eventual height or 30 Yards is a safe distance but if you want to avoid subsidence that is the only safe place to plant it.
Don’t prune, the shape is never quite the same afterwards but as you can see the trailing branches on this mature specimen have been trimmed neatly to the same length.
Uses for Willows include the manufacture of cricket bat blades, extraction of chemicals to make asprin and woven willow hedges and wind breaks.

Catkins are produced in spring by male and female trees with the male generally more showy.

This Sea of Ceanothus blooms is typical of this densely flowering shrub. Most Ceanothus are blue flowering, evergreen shrubs from low growing prostrate forms to good sized bushes (this one is 5 feet tall and 3-4 feet wide).
The blooms are very attractive to bees and hover flies and during flowering it is covered from dawn till dusk with pollinating insects. They grow from cuttings so I have take to dotting them around the garden in case I loose one or two but they seem quite hardy.

Varieties of Ceanothus
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Broom or Cytisus scoparius is an old favourite shrub for the pea shaped flowers in June. The traditional yellow is now supplemented by many cultivars in red and bi colours. They are short lived shrubs and need to be pruned to stop energy going into seed production. They flower on wood produced in the previous year. In the wild they can be perceived as weeds and seed prolifically in the right conditions. Broom is sometimes confused with Genista or Spanish Broom which is similar in flower and habit.

I have included this Abutilon vitafolium for its height (20′) and its colourful blossom. They can be grown from the little hard, black seeds similar to lupin’s. The flowers are 1-2″ across and come in good bunches. The shrub retains most of its grey-green leaves through winter.

A good workhorse in my garden is the Pieris ‘Forest Flame’ or Lily of the Valley bush. It flowers a bit earlier than June with a host of small delicate white bell shaped flowers in large panicles. The leaves that follow the flowering are glossy, strong bright red or pink and give the shrub great character. After 5 years the evergreen plants will grown to about 3-5 foot and are well behaved easily controlled shrubs.