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Category: Tips for Growing Series

Help with growing popular and interesting flowers and plants. Simple, easy guidelines for growing good plants.

Tips for Growing Astilbe glaberrima

Tips for Growing Astilbe glaberrima

Astilbe are well known herbaceous perennials with divided leaves and erect plume-like panicles of tiny white, pink or purple flowers in summer. The old, brown flower-heads remain attractive in autumn before the leaves die back. I have just acquired 2 dwarf plants.

Astilbe glaberrima

  • Astilbe glaberrima var. saxatilis is a rhizomatous, dwarf, herbaceous perennial growing   2- 6″ tall.
  • They typically have glossy bronze-green, deeply divided leaves and short sprays of pink-tinged white flowers. It is also called by its common name,   Rock Astilbe.
  • Plants are clump forming and like water and fertilizer when in growth.
  • Insects are not a problem but powdery mildews may be troublesome.
  • The plants are hardy in most aspects with or without shelter. …

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Growing and Sprouting Seeds

Growing and Sprouting Seeds

Germinated seeds of edible crops can be very tasty and full of healthy properties. Crops are ready from 4 days onward depending on the variety. Below are several lists of seeds and nuts for growing and sprouting at home.

Choice of Seeds for Sprouting

Red Cabbage Brassica oleracea
Attractive, pinkish tinge to stems adds colour to salads. Red Cabbage is easy to sprout in a warm dark place if white sprouts are required, or in the kitchen, out of direct sunlight, for green sprouts. This will give two slightly different tastes and textures. Sow all year round; fast growing, ready to eat in 2-4 days.

Spicy Fenugreek  Trigonella foenum-graecum
Fenugreek Sprouting Seeds have a strong spicy curry flavour. High in Vitamins A and C. Easy to sprout in a warm place. An airing cupboard is ideal if white sprouts are required, or in the kitchen, out of direct sunlight, for green sprouts. This will give two slightly different tastes and textures. Sow all year round; fast growing, ready to eat in 2-4 days.
Use raw to add flavour and texture to a salad and sandwiches. Blanch in hot water and add to stews soups, casseroles and curries or put in stir fries

Lentils   Lens culinaris
Lentil Sprouting Seeds have a slightly nutty/peppery flavour. High in iron and Vitamins A and C. Easy to sprout in a warm place. An airing cupboard is ideal if white sprouts are required, or in the kitchen, out of direct sunlight, for green sprouts. This will give two slightly different tastes and textures. Sow all year round – fast growing, ready to eat in 2-4 days.Sprout in a warm place for nutritious sprouting seeds.

Sprouting Seed Method

  • For growing indoors put 1 tablespoon of seed in a jam jar or seed sprouter.
  • Cover seeds with about 250ml of water and cover the jar with a piece of muslin and secure with a rubber band.
  • Soak seeds overnight and they will swell considerably. …

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Tips on Growing Thrift – Armeria Maritima

Tips on Growing Thrift – Armeria Maritima

Armeria juniperfolia x maritima

Armeria maritima has many local names and is also known as Sea Pink, Cliff Clover, Ladies’ Cushions, Heugh (or cliff) daisy, Armeria juniperifolia or Marsh daisy and Sea thrift.
The colour of the 1″ ball shaped flowers varies from white Alba through pink and mauve to dark red.
The clumps of dark green foliage form good mounds useful for contrast of shape in a rock garden. The densely packed grass like leaves are up to 5 inches long.
Thrift is a perennial but if it browns in the center split the plant.

Cultivation Tips

Thrift grows well in dry, sandy soil or low fertility soil.
It is very salt tolerant hence its appearance as a wild flower along the coast.
Take basal cuttings in summer or divide large clumps in Autumn.
They need full sun all day but can tolerate dry, windy conditions.
Thrift flowers in spring through summer. Remove spent flowers to encourage more blooms.

 

Varieties to consider and Other Names

  • Thrift is also known as Sea Pink, Armeria Maritima, Sea Pink,
  • Armeria maritima alba is a white variety
  • Splendens is the best Pink variety.
  • Bloodstone is dark red.
  • Vindictive is light pink and has an AGM from RHS
  • Laucheana has dark green foliage with bright pink flowers
  • Rubrifolia ihas dark bronze grass-like foliage turning deep red in winter and a cluster of pink globe shaped flowers

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Growing Blueberry – Vaccinium

Growing Blueberry – Vaccinium

2014 was another year of poor cropping for me. Time to put my blueberries in the sun and keep picking wild bilberries just in case!

Blueberry is part of the family of acid loving berry fruit that includes Cranberry, Bilberry, Whortleberry, Lingonberry and Huckleberry. Given the right conditions you can grow a succulent sweet crop of Blueberries in your garden.

Blueberry Varieties

  • Blueberry Bluecrop pictured above as fruit start to develop. This is a reliable and readily available variety that produce fruit in mid-summer. Plants are upright and can grow to 6′ tall and 4′ wide.  It has excellent orange and copper leaves in autumn.
  • Blueberry Duke AGM has long lasting fruit and a good yield. Flowering later than other varieties it seldom suffers from late frosts.
  • Blueberry Bluegold is a smaller plant that can also be grown as an ornamental shrub or in pots and produces very tasty berries in August. The fruit has a longer life than most varieties.
  • Other varieties include ‘Earliblue’ an early ripening variety with medium, light blue berries, excellent sweet flavour and impressive autumn colour. ‘Bluetta’ is a compact variety, with a spreading habit, producing a medium-sized, light blue berry. ‘Patriot’ is a high-yielding, vigorous, hardy variety. ‘Coville’ is the latest cropper with large fruit that can be left on the bush for a long time before dropping.

Blueberry Growing and Cultivation Tips

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Gardeners Tips For Growing Sweet Peas

Gardeners Tips For Growing Sweet Peas

sweetpeas

Sowing Sweet peas.

  • The best results from sweet peas come from seedlings sown in October under a cold frame. You can also sow in early spring; however, these will flower later and will be more susceptible to mildew later in the season.
  • To help germination you can chip away at the hard outer skin of sweet pea seed. However, this is not necessary.
  • It is important to avoid seeds getting waterlogged as they are prone to rotting.

Sweet Pea Tubes.

The roots of sweet peas grow deep, therefore, when sowing use deep pots (they don’t need to be wide)

Hardening Off.

Sweet Peas are hardy, and can survive frosts; however, if grown in a cold frame they need to be hardened off before planting out. Sweet peas can also be sown directly

Planting out.

When planting out, it doesn’t matter so much if the soil around the roots comes away. The important thing is to water them in well.

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Growing Phlomis Varieties

Growing Phlomis Varieties

Phlomis are small shrubs for a warm sunny border. The unusual flower stems and Mediterranean style silver leaves make this a feature plant. They often grow 3-4′ high but there are many varieties that may differ in height.

Varieties of Phlomis

  • Phlomis ‘Edward Bowles’ above is one of the readily available shrubby varieties. The square stems and whorls of yellow flowers are quite striking. It  probably originated from a seed from Phlomis russeliana.
  • Jerusalem Sage or Phlomis fruticosa may be damaged by late frosts but wait until the end of May to trim off affected shoots. Trim annually to avoid a leggy base.
  • Phlomis tuberosa flowers from May with pink too purple flowers in whorls.
  • Other Phlomis that may survive our winters include, Phlomis samia, Phlomis orientalis, Phlomis longifolium and Phlomis italica,
  • Phlomis tuberosa is a hardy perennial with long flowering rich, ruby red stems flanked in whorls of lipped, candypink flowers. Deep green foliage and serated edges gives the perfect contrast.

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Growing Tips for Phlomis

  • Excellent drought tolerant herbaceous or shrubby perennials.
  • They often have felted or hairy grey leaves.
  • All varieties have many flowers arranged in whorls up the stems
  • Seedheads form pepper pots with 4 seeds from every flower.
  • Grow from seed sown in February to June or September to October – germination may take upto 4 months.
  • Phlomis can also be propagated easily by division.
  • Grow from cuttings taken between June and August. Remove flower buds and trim below a node.
  • Seedheads last through winter, providing bird food and interesting winter shapes
  • Phlomis appreciate well-drained soil and sunny spot and are often found wild around the Mediterranean.
  • Phlomis are quite hardy in the UK

Uses of Phlomis

  • Phlomis Russeliana can make good ground cover
  • Yellow Phlomis mix well with blue geraniums
  • Phlomis tuberosa growns 4 feet tall as does the shrub like fructcosa.
  • Phlomis chrysophylla has soft woody growth to make a good shrub. Prune out old wood by one third to make them bushy

I grew my Phlomis from seed collected from a public garden in Shrewsbury but you can buy yours from Thompson Morgan

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Growing Pinks for Cottage Gardens

Growing Pinks for Cottage Gardens

Pinks are ‘divine flowers’ that can be planted in late April / May or October and produce a continuous supply of flowers suitable for cutting or exhibiting. They are perennials that are at their best for 2-3 summers. Scent, colour and uniformity are just 3 reasons for growing Pinks or other varieties of Dianthus.

Cultivation of Pinks
Pinks are completely trouble free if planted in a sunny position, in free draining soil. (asking for trouble there)
Occasionally water like any other garden plant and dead head after flowering.
Pinks bloom from early spring until the first frosts.
Hardy Pinks don’t mind the cold, so no need to lift them over the cold winter months.
Pinks will be a talking point in winter due to their silver/grey leaves .
Each spring tidy up around the plants and work in a fertilizer like Growmore, dried blood or Superphosphate
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Growing Vinca Periwinkles

Growing Vinca Periwinkles

Are Vincas a ‘cool’ plant to grow? You may think so but I couldn’t possibly comment.

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Vinca is a low growing herbaceous perennial suitable for ground cover. Vincas generally have sky blue or royal blue star shaped flowers on unkempt enthusiastic foliage.

Vinca Species and Varieties

  • There are several species and hybrids including Vinca major and Vinca minor. The minor species are slightly less robust and slower growing.
  • Vinca minor ‘Argenteovariegata’ shown above flowers from April all through summer.
  • Vinca difformis includes the pale pink ‘Jenny Pym’, with rounded flowers in late autumn. Vinca difformis needs a warm position.
  • White flowering Vincas include  ‘Alba’ and ‘Snowmound’.
  • Alba Aureovariegata has golden variegation and pale blue flowers,
  • Vinca Multiplex is a double flower with dark plum purple flowers.
  • Catharanthus roseus ‘Mediterranean Lilac’ or Vinca rosea the rosy Periwinkle casn be grown from seed.

Vinca

Tips for Growing Vinca Periwinkles

  • The trailing habit makes them suitable for use in containers.
  • Propagate from runners that are prolific.
  • Vinca major and Vinca minor are able to spread rapidly and are sometimes considered weeds. These pictures show how they are colonising a railway embankment and ousting the nettles.
  • Vinca will grow in poor, dry and slightly shaded conditions.
  • The creeping and arching stems  make an attractive carpet of bright green foliage with  the single blue flowers as an added bonus.

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Growing Water Loving Caltha aka Marsh Marigolds

Growing Water Loving Caltha aka Marsh Marigolds

Marsh Marigold

Pond life can be enhanced with Marsh Marigolds also known as Kingcup, Mayflower, May-blobs, Water-bubbles and botanically as Caltha palustris. It grows well in wet meadows, marshes, stream sides and wet woodlands. The leaves are kidney shaped and a glossy, deep green.

Cultivation of Marsh Marigolds
It grows well in shade or partial sunshine and likes damp roots.
Marsh-marigold can be propagated by sowing fresh seed on a good quality seed compost.
Available in aquatic sections of garden centres or from wild seed merchants.
Propagated by division in spring, removing some of the larger leaves to reduce water loss through transpiration.
Ensure that plants are well watered during the establishment phase.

Varieties and Descriptions
Marsh Marigold has yellow petals or sepals and yellow stamens
Caltha palustris ‘Flore Pleno’ has double yellow flowers with greeny-yellow centres.
Caltha palustris alba is more compact and has single white flowers.
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Tips for Growing Annual Lobelia

Tips for Growing Annual Lobelia

Fine seed slow to bulk up – our tip is to buy kinder pots or germinated seedlings unless you want a lot of plants.

Photo cc by storebukkebruse

Lobelia annuals can be excellent fun to grow. Given the right conditions they can grow quickly after a slow start and   flower from June until late autumn.

The blue or purple Lobelia are often coupled with Alyssum for the edge of borders to give a cottage garden effect. …

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