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General gardening tips and hints

Growing Campanula, Canterbury Bells, Bellflower & Balloonflower

Growing Campanula, Canterbury Bells, Bellflower & Balloonflower

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Alpine or border Campanulas come in many species and varieties.

Campanula lactiflora ‘Loddon Anna’ above was grown from seed distributed free to members by the RHS. It grows four feet tall and has many very attractive open bell shaped flowers. The flowers are arranged on a stem in a loose cone shape but with each of about 60 flower about an inch wide the effect is light and flowing. This species is commonly called the Milky bell flower and is a lilac colour.

Growing Campanula.

  • Most Campanulas bloom in June and July, but some varieties continue all summer.
  • Plant seeds or seedlings in May, though they can be sown in August and protected during the winter.
  • Most Campanula plants tolerate full sun but like some moisture in the soil. The smaller varieties grow in walls and rockeries.
  • Thompson Morgan have a fine seed collection.
  • There is a white Campanula persicifolia alba

Hints and Tips about the Campanula Family

  • Plants are generally perennial other than the annual Campanula macrostyla and ramosissima.
  • The small hairbell or harebell are sometimes called the Bluebells of Scotland
  • The scent is very mild during the day.
  • There is a National Plant Collection at Burton Agnes Hall in Driffield.
  • Smaller campanulas are ideal for rockeries, borders and pots

Book Cover
Dwarf Campanula by Graham Nichols
See also Campanula for the rockery here or Alpine campanulas.

Read Bells and not Cockleshells
Wikipedia lists 473 species. Tall bellflowers grow from the Great Lakes region south to Florida and from the Dakotas east to New York.[10] They thrive in partial shade and grow along woodland edges, in open woods, shaded meadows, streambanks and ditches.
Images of Campanula carpatica a compact campanula covered for a long season in summer with masses of blue, upright, bell flowers.

Platycodon or Balloon flower are a relative of Campanula that have grown in popularity over the last few decades.

‘My book of Campanulas and Bellflowers in cultivation’ 1959 by H Clifford Crook provided and provides useful detail about the wide range of cultivated plants

 

Merry Gardening Christmas

Merry Gardening Christmas

2022 is nearly over and in parts of North America with the arctic bomb cyclone it can’t come soon enough.  The UK thought the cold snap in December was bad but it froze just enough to help my garden go into winter hibernation and kill off some lingering malingerers.

Top Seasonal Songs

Jingle Campanulas  Jingle Campanulas Jingle all the way.

LBA 067

The Holly and the Ivy

Holly

Away in a Compost Heap

We Three King Alfreds of Daffodils Are

An Aster Fidelis

Away in a Mancave

While Gardeners Watch their Veg by Night

 

The Flora of West Yorkshire F A Lees

The Flora of West Yorkshire F A Lees

My winter pastime is to sort and dispose of some of my many gardening books. My collection has grown even more  invasive than the worst weeds and it is time hoe them out. Charity shops will be beneficiaries as will our local gardening club but the recycling industry will get 500 or so books. I thought of composting but I will leave that to the landfill which still contains all those old telephone directories.

Bearing in mind my local heritage and garden location one book that is worth a mention is ‘The Flora of West Yorkshire’ by Frederic Arnold Lees (1847-1921). My copy is a professional 1978 facsimile of the first edition of 1888.

Interesting Facts

  • Lees was Leeds born and schooled and became a member of The Royal Colleges of Surgeons and Physicians
  • He also Presided over the botanical section of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union and was recorder for the Botanical Record Club
  • Frederic collected plant material for Leeds medical school and his book collection of 535 items is retained by Bradford reference library.
  • The book contains 2.000 references in a comprehensive index and starts with information on Climatology and  Lithology as it pertains to botany. This shows how weather and under lying rock and soil structure influences the species that thrive in various conditions
  • Observations – Victorians and Edwardians took great care to study the natural world and invest time and energy in study. This work helped classify the wild  flora discovered in West Yorkshire in that era.

 

Extra Gardening Storage

Extra Gardening Storage

Where do you keep all your gardening needs if you don’t have a special shed. Mine is spread over the garage with seedlings being raised on the window ledge in a variety of containers.

Nailed to the wall

  • Double U hooks support several bags. The cloth bag holds bulbs or plant material awaiting planting. Other bags are bags of bags including plastic bags,  bubble wrap, cloths, fabric pieces, string and a bag for recyclable specials.
  • Above the window is a home made shelf for bits not in use like hanging baskets mesh supports and general gibb.
  • On the right is a shelf for dry goods, fertiliser, and sundry potions and  …icides.
  • G hooks are fixed to wooden battens and hold tools
  • The white line on the left hangs from the roof and is a device to warn me when the car is far enough into the garage. The black line half way across the window is a power cable between the heated sand bed and the other wall and the plugs.

Quick Ideas in the Greenhouse.

  • I have a stock of pegs on one of the aluminium supporting struts. They are thus ready to hand and can be used as temporary fixing devices. You don’t know what you will want until you want it.
  • I also have support wires strung across the length of the greenhouse which helps support tomato plants.
  • Under the staging I have a tub formerly containing growmore for greenhouse bits, support clips and odd pieces.

Being Rooted and Rooting for the Planet

Being Rooted and Rooting for the Planet

My roots are in the north of England but I enjoy an occasional trip down to ‘the smoke’ as London used to be called. Fortunately there is far less smoke than 50+ years ago but the same can’t be said for air pollution nor particulates around major roads. We walked from Kings Cross along Euston Road to the Wellcome Collection and the ‘rooted beings’ exhibition. Breathing in the fumes caused some coughing and spluttering on the way so subsequently we walked through back streets seeing another side of London. Whilst the air was not as fresh as Ilkley Moor it was OK particularly when we stopped in Russel Square garden.

About Rooted Being Exhibition Free until 29th August 2022

  • ‘Plants sustain life on earth. They are sensitive, complex and interconnected beings, playing surprisingly active roles in ecosystems and human societies’  wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions
  • ‘The exhibition reimagines our relationship with plants and fungi, exploring what we can learn from plant behaviour and how we can rethink the significance of plants beyond simply resources for human consumption. The curatorial team have brought together works from the Wellcome Collection’s archive of botanical illustrations with artists’ commissions to form an open-ended narrative about vegetal life in the context of the climate crisis, from the perspective of environmental and social justice’. Anna Souter
  • In addition to the Wellcome Trusts usual medical information the  contemporary ‘rooted’ project in the main gallery includes art work,  botanical illustrations, a fifth century Papyrus and a 19th-century study of fungi.
  • Mandrake, Brugsmania and hallucinogenic plants are covered in a free brochure about the work of Patricia Dominguez
  • Two of my favourite exhibits included a large wrack sculpture and lobster pots filled with construction and plastic waste.
  • Not a massive exhibition but  the subject is dwarfed by hidden meanings notably a holistic view about plants and the consequences of human interaction with the natural world.

 

2022 Lilies

2022 Lilies

If you missed an autumn planting of lily bulbs now is a good time to plant some to catch up for this year.

Quick Tips

  • In spring plant the new bulbs at a depth of three times the height of the bulbs. If you plan to leave bulbs in the ground leave about twice the width of the bulb inbetween  (closer if you will be lifting them each year).
  • Planting in threes or fives will give a good show if you chose healthy bulbs with plump scales.
  • Lilies like  a rich fertile soil so incorporate some slow release fertiliser. As they start flowering give them a liquid feed of high potassium fertiliser.
  • Keep watered during dry spells but never let them be waterlogged.
  • Lilly beetles can be a red pain. The eggs eat leaves and stems and deposit a black sludge. Pick off and crush the beetles, they can fall to the ground to avoid the slow gardener.
  • After flowering cut back the seed heads before they leach out the goodness from the bulb  trying to set seed. Leave to die back then cut off at soil level.
  • Try some bulbs in big pots.

 

Look After Your Containers

Look After Your Containers

Routine Care

  • Neglect spoils many a display.
  • Water and feed remember containers are a constricted environment.
  • Good hygiene is important, remove debris, weeds and dying foliage.
  • Deadhead and consider cutting back a bit harder. Keep plants in good shape and prune topiary regularly
  • Remove plants that are not doing well or are finished
  • For permanent planting such as shrubs remove and replace the top inch or so of soil annually.

Seasonal Care

  • In hot weather consider shade and check water levels.
  • Spray leaves early in the morning to avoid scorching.
  • Prepare and make arrangements to look after pots if you are going on holiday.
  • In winter protect from plants and pots from frost damage. Move to safety and shelter.
  • Damp increases the risk of cracking from frost damage. Keep good drainage and keep on the dryside.
  • Plants in small pots are more vulnerable to problems.
  • Group pots together for mutual protection.
  • Reduce height of plant to avoid pots being blown over.
  • Use bubble wrap, hessian and fleece as needed for frost protection.

Pests & disease & General

  • Clean and disinfect pots before reuse.
  • Start with healthy plants.
  • Use fresh compost.
  • Regular care and maintenance including keeping on the lookout for problems
  • Position pots from wind or consider screening

 

 

Rooted in Nature

Rooted in Nature

Mankind has proved to be adaptable at least enough to survive as one of nature’s multitude species. However there are warning signs that for the long term all is not well in our environment. As one small contribution to a ‘rooted in nature movement’ we should consider the gardener as a key player and influencer.

Lest we forget nature is essential to provide our current and future sustenance, health and wellbeing. Food and shelter are axiomatic to the survival of the human race and us as individuals. In a small way gardeners can root each of us in nature and provide a significant contribution to our understanding and appreciation of our natural surrounds. Enough of the overview now a few words on a micro perspective.

Helping Nature One Potato at a Time

  • The hippocratic oath has a useful phrase ‘first do no harm’. Thinking about this in the garden can be a good starting point. Consider e,xcess chemical use, limited native species, plastics galore, food mile products failure to consider cause and effect.
  • Helping nature should help the gardener and local environment. There are many healing, mood enhancing and medicinal plants to grow beyond the humble potato. Colourful and scented plants are just some examples.
  • Designing and operating a garden in a ‘rooted in nature’ manner  is very therapeutic helping develop emotional and wellbeing. Calming water features and contemplation space may be inspirational for mind, body and soul.
Weeds to Worry About

Weeds to Worry About

Are weeds just plants ‘whose virtues have not yet been discovered’? Ralph Waldo Emerson Are weeds all bad to be dug out or killed off in your gardens and public spaces? Are native weeds worse than alien invaders? First lets see what plants we are talking about

Invasive or Noxious Native Weeds under the Weeds Act 1959,

I don’t know about you but there is a chance some of these weeds appear in my garden along with other miscreants such as willow herb (Chamaenerion angustifolium) , ground elder, convolvulous and bluebells. And that is just the start of my weed trail.

Invasive non native alien plants

  • American skunk cabbage Lysichiton americanus
  • Chilean rhubarb      Gunnera tinctoria
  • Curly waterweed      Lagarosiphon major
  • Floating pennywort             Hydrocotyle ranunculoides
  • Giant hogweed         Heracleum mantegazzianum

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Green Guerrilla Gardening

Green Guerrilla Gardening

Plant by lampost
              Plant Around the Lampost

Guerrilla Gardening is a movement which seeks to take unused often ugly plots of neglected land and grow plants and vegetables. It is a loose movement with a variety of aspirations and ecologically green projects. It has been described as ‘The Illicit Cultivation of Someone else’s Land.

If you look around your city town or landscape, there are bound to be a neglected areas full of weeds and unnecessary concrete that would benefit from your green ministrations.Guerrilla Gardening may begin as an illicit activity of just planting in a certain area. In a way the thrill of guerrilla gardening is a combination of the illicit activity and the action of improving the local environment. It could be viewed as a beautiful form of vandalism. A kind of reverse graffiti.

There are many different and simple things that can be done as part of Guerrilla Gardening in a green manner.

  • Planting bulbs / plants in an area devoid of colour
  • Protecting weeds grown in unusual places.
  • Clearing up litter
  • Taking up unnecessary concrete and planting in it.
  • Watering, feeding and generally looking after a bed of plants to give a different level of aesthetic or practical result.

Guerrilla Gardening and the Move to Legitimacy

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