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Category: Flowers and Plants

Annual, perennial and interesting flowers with advice on culture, information, tips and recommended varieties

Kaffir Lily a Schizostylis or Clivia miniata

Kaffir Lily a Schizostylis or Clivia miniata

Schizostylis

Kaffir lily is a name attached to several species including Schizostylis, Hesperantha and Clivia miniata.
We opt for calling Clivia the Kaffir Lily

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Gardeners Tips on Kaffir Lily Schizostylis

Schizostylis are good Autumn flowers lasting through November. I like the pencil thin, sword like leaves and the proud spikes of flower opening in clusters up the stem.
Schizostylis are available in white, pinks like S. ‘Jennifer’ and S. coccinea Major a dark red.
Schizostylis need moist soil from spring onward to give a good Autumn show.
Grow in clusters for a good effect.
The more Autumn sun they receive the better the display.
Propagate by division of the rhizomes in late winter.
November Cheer and Viscountess Byng are both late flowering varieties.

Kaffir lily (yellow form)

Kaffir Lily (2) Clivia miniata

The Kaffir lily that is also called Clivia miniata comes from South Africa.
In cultivation, it’s a popular house plant because of its long-lasting flowers.
Provide good lighting to encourage blooms in orange or yellow. The strappy leaves are still visually interesting.
Clivia produce offsets or sucker for propagation.
Pollinated flowers produce a cherry sized, green berry which slowly turns red.

Kaffir lily in the Temperate House

Credits
Schizostylis by kfjmiller CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Kaffir lily (yellow form) by Kew and Kaffir lily in the Temperate House by Kew CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Kaffir Lily by Chris Coomber CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Schizostylis coccinea – An autumn flowering bulb which just gets better year on year.

Kaffir Lily

Sunflower Seeds and Uses

Sunflower Seeds and Uses

Sunflower -Valentine

Sunflowers are extravagant and fantastic floral tributes from nature but it doesn’t stop there. The seeds from sunflowers make a versatile crop.

Sunflower Seed Description

  • A seeds is produced from every floret, that is each small flower, in the centre of the sunflower.
  • This creates a disc of seeds arranged in concentric circles when the petals have fallen.
  • Unpollinated florets, often at the very centre of the flower, may be too immature to function as viable seeds.
  • Seeds of different varieties vary in colour. Black is common as is black with a white stripe. There are brown and grey-green seeds.
  • If you do not save your own seed from earlier crops you can buy seed packets, sunflower as bird food or loose sunflower seeds by weight.

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Schizostylis coccinea – aka Hesperatha

Schizostylis coccinea – aka Hesperatha

Watered well during the year and you will get a good autumn show after other lilies have long gone.
Schizostlis

Schizostylis are good Autumn flowers lasting through autumn into November.
I like the pencil thin, sword like leaves and the proud spikes of flower opening in clusters up the stem.

Gardeners Tips for Kaffir Lilies

Schizostylis need moist soil from spring through summer to give a good Autumn show.
Grow and allow to develop in clusters for a good display and appealing effect.
The more Autumn sun they receive the better the display.
Propagate by division of the rhizomes in late winter.
I do not feed my plants but ensure there is always plenty of moisture around in the soil.
Grow away from the edge of borders as they all tend to tumble forward
Looks good with purple Asters
Mulch in spring after rain will a layer of gravel

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Titanic Sunflower – Titan the Biggest Sunflower?

Titanic Sunflower – Titan the Biggest Sunflower?

Sunflower Titan

From July to September you may see some giant sunflowers and they may be from the variety ‘Titan’ which is advertised as up to 12 foot tall. Other large varieties include Giant Yellow, Paul Bunyon and variations on Russian Giant sunflowers.

Guinness Book of Records categories for giant sunflowers

  • Biggest flower measured from the petal tip to the opposite side petal tip – 32 inches

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Tips for Growing Easy Sunflowers

Tips for Growing Easy Sunflowers

Sunflowers

Sunflowers can be excellent fun to grow. Given the right conditions they can grow quickly and provide excellent height and flower in late autumn.

Sunflowers are considered easy to grow and are often considered to be a good plant for children. (see: Growing sunflowers with children) However, to get the best out of sunflowers requires a few careful points.

Grow as a Fence. Sunflowers can make an excellent impromptu screen for late summer. The height can divide a garden creating a natural sense of rooms. – something top garden designers often go for.

  • H. ‘Pastiche’: available in mixed shades of reds, and yellows. The flowers appear on multi-stemmed plants that make an effective multicoloured fence in late summer – from 1.2m to 1.5m (4ft to 5ft) high.

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Better Ways to Amaryllis

Better Ways to Amaryllis

amarillis-4weeksold

On the 1st February my Christmas gift Amaryllis was rocketing upward with an 8 inch flower stalk already. The photo was taken at 6 inches only 4 days ago. What better way to reach for the stars? Unfortunately the bulb has now flowered itself out and I am looking for new bulbs to plant in Autumn.
The growing number of hybrids of Hippeastrum are better known by gardeners as Amaryllis and I will look under both names.

Amaryillis

 Ways to Grow Amaryllis

  • Buy your new bulbs early to get the pick of the varieties and sizes.
  • Look for firm bulbs with no more than a hint of undamaged leaf growth
  • The compost supplied with boxed bulbs is fibrous and short on nutrient. A soil based compost is far better.
  • I find the bulbs hard to feed up for next years flowering. The compost needs more nutrient and I will feed twice a week through summer  after flowering. Then I will give the bulb a dry Autumn rest.
  • I will use dilute foliar feed as well as tomato feed and cut back the flower as soon as it fades
  • The leaves and flowers for next year are formed during this season so when cutting back do not damage the top of the bulb. You can see where a leaf was just clipped on this plant at the bulb stage.
  • They make exotic flower bunches if bought from a florist or grown in quantity at home. Tight buds open into a tall shapely formation.

Ornamental Amaryillis pictures of and pot growing tips.

Book Cover
Hippeastrum – the Gardener’s Amaryllis (A Royal Horticultural Society Plant Collector Guide) by V Reid

 
Final Growing Tips
Plant or replant with the shoulder of the bulb just showing about the soil.
Look after the plant after it has flowered to build it up- all that big flower needs lots of bulb strength
Repot in September for Christmas flowering. I like to grow the to flower in spring.
The more light you can provide the less drawn and consequently floppy the plant will be.
If necessary support the plant with cotton tied to a network of slim sticks but most Amaryllis are strong stemmed

Is this the way to Amaryllis from K van Bourg Wholesale? The great big bulbs thought of as the Belladonna Lily are popular presents at this time of the year. Easy to grow in a bit of warmth, no lower than 45°F, the spectacular Amaryllis Hippeastrum hybrids are available in several strong colours.

Boxed Amaryllis Growing Hints

  • Plant in a pot 6 inches wider than the bulb with one third of the bulb above the surface. Decorate with sphagnum moss as a mulch if you wish. Put clay balls in the bottom of the pot or mix perlite in the soil.
  • Soak the bulb roots in warm water so they can be spread in the pot and water once but then leave the pot. The bulb can’t take up moisture until the plant develops.
  • Allow some sunlight to encourage the stem and long strappy leaves to develop and grow watering only when bone dry.
  • Do not fertilise when in flower but as the flower finishes cut it off at the top and allow the stem to brown and die back. Then the leaves can be given a foliar feed and the plant some liquid fertiliser.
  • Plants in their pot can be put outside in the sunshine for the summer and then rested in september before restarting in growth back in doors in winter. Amaryllis are happy when pot bound so keep the same pot just replacing the top couple of inches of soil.
  • Give bulbs sunshine, good soil, and proper watering and regular feeding when in growth and they will be fit healthy plants

Photo Credit
Amaryillis by Will-travel CC BY-NC 2.0

Get Cracking Indoor Bulbs for Christmas

Get Cracking Indoor Bulbs for Christmas

Bright colour and attractive scent are special features you can add to Christmas from indoor bulbs.
If you get cracking and plant your bulbs in Autumn you will have gifts to give away or an indoor show to be proud of.

Hyacinth

Indoor Hyacinth Bulbs for Christmas

  • Hyacinths are fragrant and colourful. For Christmas you need to buy specially ‘prepared’ bulbs which have been treated to flower early
  • Buy new bulbs each year and select those that have been treated to flower early.
  • Pot up in early autumn and keep in cool dark conditions.
  • Bring into the light a few weeks before Christmas, then into the warmth. Flowers will last longer if not too warm.
  • Do not let your pots dry out.

Smaller Bulbs for Christmas

  • Crocus can be encouraged to flower for Christmas. Try a special pot with holes in the side where bulbs can peak out. Crocus chrysanthus are the small species best suited for Christmas.
  • Iris danfordiae are likely to give a good show if kept cool until ready to flower.
  • Tulips may be forced into Christmas flower but normally flower later.

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Swiss Chard as Coloured Spinach

Swiss Chard as Coloured Spinach

swiss Chard HC

Similar to spinach with a slightly bitter flavour Swiss Chard is pungent and slightly salty. It contains an exceptionally impressive list of health promoting nutrients. Although Swiss Chard is available throughout the year, its season runs from June through August when it is at its best.

  • Swiss Chard is a tall leafy green vegetable with a thick, crunchy stalk that comes in white, red or yellow with wide fan-like green leaves.
  • It is ornamental enough to grow in the border.
  • Chard is easy to grow from seed and grows upto 18 inches tall and spread.
  • Eat and cook Chards like spinach. Both the leaves and stalk of chard are edible, although the stems vary in texture with the white ones being the most tender.
  • ‘Ruby Red’ has stunning deep veins and can be picked young.
  • ‘Bright Lights’ is a seed mixture ready within a month
  • Organic seed is available and if growing it organically watch out for slugs

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Growing and Pruning Peach Trees

Growing and Pruning Peach Trees

espallierPlanting peaches

  • If planting against a wall remember at least a foot from the wall will be extremely dry
  • The soil may also be very poor and contain builders rubble.
  • Dig a deep pit and fill with good rotted compost
  • After planting water well to settle the soil and add a mulch of manure
  • Peaches like a lightopen well drained soil that still retains some moisture

Training Peach trees

  • Horizontal wires secured with vine eyes are a traditional support mechanism.
  • Train side shoots to form a fan shape by tying to the wire
  • A neater method may be to select 2 side opposing shoots to grow parallel to the wall. Remove the leading branch and tie each shoot to a cane at 45degree angle.

Pruning Peach Trees

Scented Pelargonium (Geraniums)

Scented Pelargonium (Geraniums)

It is the scented leaves of Pelargoniums rather than the flower that attracts growers and collectors. They are often used in scented gardens for the blind but are useful in a normal garden border where they may be brushed or touched. As indoor pot plants they are ideal as living pot-pourri and may be hybrids or species in their own right.

Top 10 Scented leaved Pelargoniums

  1. Pelargonium Fragrans Variegata a small plant with lots of scented green and white leaves with the aroma of spice, pine and lemon.
  2. Mable Grey woody and harder to grow but heavy lemon scented leaves

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  1. P. graveolens Lady Plymouth a strong grower favoured for exhibitions with a rose like scent
  2. Prince of Orange is an old variety that as the name implies smells of orange
  3. Little gem is a dwarf grower with a spicy scent that remains fresh until late in the year

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