Browsed by
Category: Flowers and Plants

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

Stanhopea Basket Case Orchids

Stanhopea Basket Case Orchids

Grow your epiphytes suspended in a basket. Orchids grow on other plants including bark, moss and trees. Remember to keep the humid as such roots can die of thirst.

Stanhopea Orchids

  • There are at least 65 species of Stanhopea plus various hybrids of these fantastic orchids.
  • They originate from South and Central America notably Guatamala and Panama.
  • Stanhopea are amongst the most showy yet spectacularly orchids.
  • The flowers are large, fragrant and develop out the bottom of the basket they are grown in.

Stranhopea occulata shown above has a wild appearance and a powerful fragrance.
Dark spots that look like eyes give it the name oculata.
Spikes bloom downward, so they are best grown in open baskets lined with moss.
Flowers last just a few days, but they can grow into large specimens with multiple spikes, then blooming in succession.

Stanhopea wardii has unusual large, waxy, golden-yellow pendant blooms with a spicy fragrance.
Best for hanging in open-weave baskets to allow the spike to emerge below the plant.
The Orchid should bloom several times during summer.
Their native habitat ranges from Mexico to Panama.

Book Cover

‘Stanhopea, Stanhopea Embreei, Stanhopea Oculata, Stanhopea Tricornis, Stanhopea Martiana, Stanhopea Hernandezii, Stanh’ by Book Llc is one of several specialist books about these interesting plants.

Echinacea and Varieties of Cone Flower

Echinacea and Varieties of Cone Flower

Pick your own favourite from the variety of cone flowers available.
Cone Flower

Echinacea purpurea is commonly called the Cone Flower. There are other Echinacea varieties that will put on a long lasting and colourful display in your garden. The daisy like flower heads are attractive to insects and butterflies and are available is several warm colours.
Echinacea make good cut flowers for the house.

Echinacea Varieties

  1. Echinacea ‘Tomato Soup’ looks the colour of one of the eponymous Heinz 57 varieties. The hardy plant grows 2-3′ tall and the flowerheads can be 5-6″ across. Flowering from mid-summer they appear on the top of branching stems.
  2. Echinacea Tiki Torch grows 3′ tall and has flowers with orange petals in a ray around a prominent orange-red disc. Slightl;y scented the flowers last well and make another addition to a hot border.
  3. Echinacea Mac ‘n’ Cheese has golden yellow flowerheads from mid-summer until the first frosts if deadheaded regularly.
  4. Echinacea Pink Double Delight is a new coneflower that has the same large fully double and tufted pink flowers as Razzmatazz, but greater resistance to powdery mildew and sturdier foliage than its predecessor

Seeds of several varieties and cultivars are available from Thompson & Morgan

The 9 distinctive species of Echinacea
…

Read More Read More

A Top Ten of Green Flowers

A Top Ten of Green Flowers

Book Cover

‘Green Flowers: Unexpected Beauty for the Garden, Container or Vase’ by Alison Hoblyn is a book celebrating all that is best with green flowers. If you want to splash out on a second book try ‘Emeralds: 1000 Green Flowers and 500 Choice Green Foliage Plants’ by Karen Platt’. Who would have thought there were so many green flowers  to choose from.

Green flowers make a good foil for stronger colours on other plants and also generate a lot of interest in their own right. Flower arrangers love green plants and many traditional flowers like Chrysanths and Carnations have been bred for cutting but many florists flowers are died to look green so beware.

Green Anthurium

Top Ten Green Flowering Plants

  1. Hemerocallis the Day Lily variety Green Flutter gets our list off to a yellowish green start as shown on the book cover.
  2. Ribes laurifolium Mrs Amy Doncaster is a strong growing lime green flowering currant. It is evergreen and a strong performer that attracts bees. One of my all time favourites.
  3. Alchemilla mollis or Lady’s Mantle is a free flowering easy to grow (free seeding thus harder to control) small perennial with light airy grey-green flowers.
  4. Hecquetica epipactus has flowers or what look like flowers. Six green petaled “daisies” with domed yellow centres sit on the ground in tight clumps sometimes with a slight yellow colouring in part of the petal or bract. …

    Read More Read More

Lobelia for Water Gardens

Lobelia for Water Gardens

Lobelia are a lot more than the trailing edge plant associated with Alyssum.

lobelis-

Some members of the Lobelia family love water and are happy to be submerged in your pond or pool others like to be planted in moist margins. These Lobelia are the hardy perennial and half hard perennials described below rather than the blue and white annuals we grow as children.

Lobelia Senssilifolia

Flowers in glorious blue to purple and has elegant lance shaped leaves growing to 2 feet tall and making a tight clump. Plant in soil and in up to 2 inches of water and propagate by division. It should not need special winter protection.

Lobelia cardinalis and ‘Dark Crusader’

The cardinal flower has striking dark red foliage made even more spectacular by a  profusion of scarlet flowers in August. The 3 feet high plants may need staking and in winter they should be moved  to drier conditions so it is best to plant in a deep planting basket. The plants like moist soil and semi-shade when growing . They work well with Hostas for contrast in shape and colour.

Lobelia Queen Victoria …

Read More Read More

Seed Suppliers and Specialties

Seed Suppliers and Specialties

Membership of a garden society can be a good source of good value seeds.
Not all seed companies are the same and many have distinctive specialties.
The big well known brands generally have a full range of annuals, perennials and odd selections. Most now offer higher value items including plugs and kinder or pot plants.

Many brands are now owned by the same company and the niche suppliers often offer more seed or better products in a narrower focused  range.

Choice Seed Companies

  • Thompson & Morgan wildflowers and  thousands of varieties of seeds with useful germination  guide available online.
  • Boston Seeds – Online seed shop offers grass seed mixtures for lawns, paddocks, sport, plus agricultural seed and wildflower seed. Volume orders
  • The Chilli Company – Sells a variety of hot chilli seeds including ‘Brain strain’ and collections to take advantage of a current trend for growing Hot Chillies
  • Chiltern seed  new web site but the old catalogue has flowery descriptions and an excellent range – no photos but great mail order catalogues
  • D. T. Brown and Co. Ltd. – Offers a range of flower and vegetable seeds, including organics. Order catalogue online.

    • …

    Read More Read More

Edible Flowers Top Ten for Chelsea

Edible Flowers Top Ten for Chelsea

Eat up the fruit and veg in your Chelsea Pimms and look for flowers in your salad.

Book Cover
Food for Free (Collins Natural History Paperback)

There are many plants whose flowers can add spice and variety to our food. Use the petals after removing the stamen and pistils. This list of tips and a top ten is based on colour and taste.

  1. Wild Garlic flowers can be picked in hedge rows and add a soft garlic taste to salads.
  2. Lavender can be used to flavour sugar or dried and used in cakes.
  3. Courgette flowers are often stuffed or battered in posh restaurants and make a delicate starter.
  4. Nasturtium flowers make good salad or sandwich accompaniments
  5. Legume flowers like pea and bean flowers are delicate additions to a salad or soup.
  6. Rosemary flowers go well with fish
  7. Calendula or Pot Marigold petals have a peppery taste and make good salads.
  8. Violet flowers are also peppery but look good decorating a salad.
  9. Day Lily ‘Hemerocallis’  flowers can be used in stir fries.
  10. Chive flowers taste fine in an omelette aux fine herbs.

Do not eat flowers that have been sprayed with insecticide or fungicide.
Always wash flowers gentley but well.

Osteospermum African Daisy & Cape Daisies

Osteospermum African Daisy & Cape Daisies



African Daisy, South African Daisy, Cape Daisy or Blue-eyed Daisy more correctly called Osteospermums not surprisingly belong to the daisy family of Compositae – Asteraceae.
They are similar to the annual Dimorphotheca with which they can be cross pollenated.
Although most Osteospermums are labeled as annuals they are in fact half-hardy perennials
The bright sun of the African or Namibian velt helps these flower show the true colours which are some of the strongest in the garden. These plants almost look fluorescent with the purples, oranges and yellows.

…

Read More Read More

Black Geranium Cranesbill

Black Geranium Cranesbill

There are not many totally black flowered plants but this geranium gives a good impression.
black-geranium

Geranium phaeum is called ‘the mourning widow’ because the late spring flowers are dark maroon often sold as black. I am in mourning because the plant has been more trouble than it is worth in my garden and this morning I dug out what I hope will be the last surviving specimen. This plant grows well in shady places but the flowers I got were meager to paltry. Despite this poor flowering it managed to self sow in the most amazing places usually in the best sunny spots.
…

Read More Read More

Growing Lettuce

Growing Lettuce

Lettuce may not contain that many calories so it makes a great summer food crop.

Lettuce
Lettuce in neat rows, looks a great sight as well as offering great crops

Growing lettuce is one of the most rewarding vegetable or salad crops. If you keep the slugs at bay, you will have a rewarding crop, even from a tiny space in the back garden.

In summer, lettuce has a short growing season. It means within a couple of months, you can be cutting leaves for the salad bowl. The loose leaf varieties can be ready for harvest after only 6-8 weeks. If you sow at regular intervals and make use of cloches, you can have a supply of lettuce for a large part of the year.

Tips for Growing Lettuce

  • Sow directly into the ground and thin out later. Lettuce doesn’t like being moved. If you have to sow in greenhouse, use modules for easy transfer.
  • Lettuce do npot germinate well in hot temperatures.
  • Lettuce like a humous rich soil, so make sure soil is well prepared, otherwise, the leaves will be tougher and more leathery.

    • …

    Read More Read More

Anemone in Strong Colours

Anemone in Strong Colours

I have had a great show from 100 Anemone coronaria corms I bought in January. I only got them because they were being sold off at half price but were in individual packs of one variety.

Varieties Chosen

  • The double blue Anemone Lord Lieutenant (shown above)  was planted in a large container and has given the best display. I have now planted the compost corms and all direct into the garden.
  • The Govenor is a deep red with a white inner ring and I planted this direct into the garden. Where I got good flowers the colour was striking but I had fewer blooms.
  • Admiral and Sylphide are both pinks that I mixed together – why I did I don’t know considering my comment above.
  • The Bride was my selected white Anemone and this did very well in its own container. Whilst I thought I watered the containers quite well I found the bottom half of the soil had totally dried out and was hard to re wet. I must remember to do something about this next time.

…

Read More Read More