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Category: Gardening

General gardening tips and hints

Alpine Plunge Bed

Alpine Plunge Bed

Double Plunge Bed

The new Alpine House at Harlow Carr has a plunge bed to be proud of as you may expect from the RHS. This Dionysia Curviflora has been double potted to facilitate watering and it’s flowers will be purple with a white inner ring and dark centre.

The plunge bed is at a good viewing height and the display can be changed as plants develop and seasons change. As a purpose built, alpine house plunge bed there are several features it would be hard to incorporate in my glasshouse but the rake from front to back and the use of rocks builds up height to provide a landscape rather than a flat two dimensional display.

The sand and gravel mixes vary depending on the plants being grown. Some free planting around the plunged pots adds to the attraction of this type of alpine display. The alpine house is climate controlled but much of the daily watering is done by hand before visitors arrive to view the gardens.

I am now keen to develop a better plunge area for my alpines. That is one of the joys or costs of visiting a best of class display like RHS gardens.

Tip – Study the best and think how you can incorporate new ideas in your gardening. The photo below shows how different coloured chippings and grits can work with your display.

Plunge Bed

Pampas Grass Upclose

Pampas Grass Upclose

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Pampas Grass in cottage garden

Pampas grass is the name given to species of the genus Cortaderia, most commonly Cortaderia Selloana which is available with white or pink plumes on strong stalks. Different varieties flower at different times and this example is a late autumn flowering variety that will look fine through early winter. Spring varieties may be slightly lower growing

Pampas grass will not tolerate wet boggy conditions but otherwise is a hardy easy to grow plant. Poor soil in a sunny position will encourage plumes. It takes some time for a small plant to produce the plumes but the clump then bulks up quite well. As you can see it should not be planted too close to the house or windows as it grows over 6 feet tall and can block out the light. The roots are not invasive or dangerous to good foundations. Even Dwarf Pampas Grass Pumila variety still grows to about 4 feet.

The dead leaves can be hard to remove because they have sharp edges prone to cut the unwary. Use strong secateurs and gloves or burn the leaves in January/February.

Choisya Bonsai

Choisya Bonsai

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This small pot containing an even smaller Choisya ternata is growing happily in our front room. New leaves of light green are almost translucent and provide clean foliage. The leaves when crushed give off a very pleasant scent.

This plant was one of many grown from cuttings the siblings are now in the garden. Also called Mexican Orange Blossom I do not expect it to flower indoors but you never know and it is providing some interest in this quiet pre-Christmas season.

I have cheated a bit with the title as this is not yet a true bonsai plant but the restricted root run is constraining how it develops. I will prune and trim it carefully if it survives the dry conditions. That reminds me to water all the houseplants now the central heating is on full bore most days. Flushed with one success I may grow some Chiosya in bonsai pots for a miniature outdoor garden.

Gardeners Sowing the Seeds of Success

Gardeners Sowing the Seeds of Success

Rose Hip

Sowing the Seeds of Success – Rose Hips containing Seeds

All good gardeners know that seeds are on your side they want to grow and thrive. Apart for some weedy exceptions that I will save until the end of this article seeds can be coaxed into blooming excess with only a little know how.

Help From the Seeds.
Every seed tells a story and you can learn to read that story by considering the parent plant and the seed itself. To set seed most plants need to be pollinated male to female and many plants are self-fertile. Having taken a deal of trouble to attract pollinators or pollination most plants package up the seeds and plan how to distribute them.

Berries and fruit have a soft or pithy outer case to help. Birds ingest elderberries and deposit the seed where they will.
Poppies have a pepperpot shaker type seed head that allows some ripe seed to be sprinkled each day over several days or weeks.
Aquilegia seed pods contort and twist to ping out seeds in a squirting motion so they travel a distance.
Dandelion seeds have feathery tufts to allow the wind to blow them where you don’t want them (but I said I would save these comments to the end)

So from these examples you can see seed pods protect and help distribution of the seed.

Seed Size and Features
Seeds vary in size and shape and many will become familiar to the regular gardener. A conker, pea or a grain sized Mesembryanthemum all have the same function to reproduce plants and maintain the survival of the species.

A good big one beats a good small one is a modern quote and in the vegetable garden leek and runner bean seeds are saved from good parent plants. Note it is the plant not necessarily the seed where size counts. Flower seeds should all be sown to get a choice of seedlings to plant out.

Some seeds have hard coats to protect them and legumes like Lupins or Sweetpeas may need the coat soaking in water or chipping or sanding the outer coat to allow moisture to start the germination phase.

Seeds from Alpines or bulbs generally need a period of cold so are sown in autumn or stratified in the fridge and brought into gentle heat in spring.

Special Treatment
Seeds are programmed to germinate when they expect conditions to suit. You can help provide the growing conditions they need.
Moisture or water is the first key ( so do not save seeds in damp conditions for later sowing they may have germinated and died before you get to sow them).    Temperature is the second issue as seeds are programmed to germinate when the seedling has a chance of survival. So tropical plants will need more warmth than say native Cornflowers.
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Colour Temperature in the Garden

Colour Temperature in the Garden

The quality of light can have a strange impact on the way flowers and plants look in both the garden and photographs. Light levels may change with the seasons, weather or surroundings and a cloudy sky will produce a different effect to a clear blue, early morning sky. The greatest single effect is caused by colour temperature as the photographs reveal.

Colour Temperature
Light’s colour depends on the temperature, if you heat an iron bar, it will eventually start to glow dark red . Continue to heat it and it turns yellow and eventually blue-white. We say that red is a “warmer” colour than blue! Colour temperature is measured only on the relative intensity of blue to red. Early morning light has more blue whilst early evening has more red. (see below for a small graphic, measuring temperature of light in degrees kelvin, from Ephotozine)

Tips
Oranges and red-yellow flowers look even better in early evening. Blue purple and some green looks best in the morning.
Quality of colour is in the eye of the beholder so experiment.

Light temperature

Fallen Leaves Good for the Environment

Fallen Leaves Good for the Environment

The fallen leaves of Autumn are a sign of the the hope and regeneration of future seasons. You can pick up inspiration from the sight of golden brown and russet coloured leaves. Who has not been enraptured, at some stage in their life, by the scent of damp leaves or the rustle of crisp, dry leaves kicked up as you pass through a leaf strewn glade.

Uses of Leaves

  • Broad-leafed trees shed their leaves annually to create a carpet of slowly rotting organic matter in woodlands.
  • The carpet of leaves acts as a mulch and encourages worm activity that takes air and water down to the tree roots.
  • Leaves are habitats of a variety of creatures and provide nesting and hibernation resources.
  • Gardeners can collect leaves separately from the compost heap and they will rot down to form a good quality leaf mold. It is a cold and thus slower process than composting.
  • Shredded leaves can be added to the compost heap, in small quantities,  as part of the ‘brown constituent’ of the pile.

You can collect fallen leaves with a multi tine rake
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For a labour saving job you can buy a garden vacuum from Amazon.
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Read more Easy tips on Composting leaves

Eucalyptus Trees in Britain

Eucalyptus Trees in Britain

Eucalyptus or Gum Trees are fast growing shrubs and trees best noted for their attractive scented leaves and stems. They tolerate a variety of soils preferring a deep loam. The leaves on this young tree are still coin shaped but will develop as the tree matures.

Gardeners Tips

  • You can grow Eucalyptus as a short lived shrub and do not need to let it grow to full height. Dig it out when it gets mis-shapen.
  • Plant in spring so roots can develop in the warmer soil but they are surprisingly hardy for trees from Australasia.
  • Plant near a Cotinus or a red Acer for contrasting colours.
  • There are 20 varieties of Eucalyptus seed available from Jungle Seeds
  • See Australian trees including Eucalyptus Snow Gums at Marks Hall garden and arboretum Coggeshall, where 200 Eucalyptus trees have been planted and ‘on warm days the oil aroma provides a heady scent’.
Autumn Environmental Tips

Autumn Environmental Tips

Autumn Crocus
Autumn Crocus

Feeding birds and providing habitats continues through autumn and winter. Planning to reuse, re-purpose or recycle also contributes to the Environment. Why take your car to the garden centre to buy more plants in containers when you can derive pleasure from growing your own.

Clear up and Clean up

  • Tidy borders, lightly hoe or fork over to deter weeds and collect up canes, pots & nets.
  • Clear away old crops, leaves and plant debris adding it to your compost heap.
  • Keep one natural corner area  and leave debris to rot down.  Add  a pile of twigs or logs to provide food for insects and shelter for small creatures through winter.
  • Wash all pots and soiled items ready for reuse next year. Save and recycle what you can.
  • Rake up tree leaves as they fall, wet them and put  in to a wire cage or plastic bag with some puncture holes and they will rot down to leaf mould in 18 months or so. (they do not rot quickly or heat up like compost but make small amounts of good friable soil).

Plant Care

  • Plant your spring bulbs, Daffodills go in early to develop good roots but Tulips should wait until November.
  • Save buying new plants by lifting and dividing clumps of herbaceous perennials.
  • Collect your own seeds and plant those to avoid buying new next season.
  • Give your surplus plants to others so they do not need to buy new.
  • Conserve key plants by covering tender specimens such as tree ferns in hessian or move plants into a safe zone.
  • Spread your rotted compost to protect the crowns of plants through winter and give them a good start for next year.

Tools

  • Look after your tools. Clean and oil them.
  • Use a whet stone to sharpen bladed tools and store them safely through winter.
  • Broken handles can be replaced or new long handled tools made by putting a trowel on a broom handle.
  • Think about Christmas presents for you and the garden

Other Resources

Royal Horticultural Society RHS ‘Gardening for All’
National Council for Conservation of Plants and Gardens ‘Conservation through Cultivation.’
Garden Organic National Charity for Organic Gardening.
BBC Gardening

Carpet Bedding Tribute to Girl Guides

Carpet Bedding Tribute to Girl Guides

100 years of Girl Guiding is being celebrated in September 2009 by Girl Guides around the country with a range of appropriate events.

This floral tribute is in the grounds of Carlisle Cathedral and has been created from just 4 types of carefully chosen ‘carpet bedding plants’. Contrasting shades of leaf and low, slow growing, uniform habit are more important than flowers. In fact flowers can distort such a display.

Carpet Bedding Plants

  • For leaf colour and regular form Alternanthera lehmannii varieties take some beating like ‘Dark Purple Black’ Alternanthera lehmannii ‘Rosy Glow’ and Alternanthera lehmannii ‘Yellow Green Betty’
  • For grey foliage Lavender or Cerastium species with compact silver foliage and a white flower in summer.
  • Sempervivum arach’ ‘Rubin’ or Sedum spathulifolium ‘Purpureum’ for reds
  • Echeveria elegans for grey or the Glauca for a blue tinge
  • Sedums are probably the easiest for your first efforts with the wide selection available

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Making Cut Flowers Last Longer

Making Cut Flowers Last Longer

Generic Tips

  • For perfect freshness pick flowers when halfway between bud and opening. Gather early in the morning when they have had a chance to drink over night or later in the evening never in the middle of the day. Plunge into water as you pick. Always use tepid water and keep vases and buckets clean.
  • Condition flowers by soaking in deep water. Cut off the bottom of stems under water to prevent and airlock in the stem.
  • Sugar or lemonade can extend the life of cut flowers like Roses. Bleach and salt can also help some flowers.
  • Woody stemmed flowers should have the ends crushed. If they show signs of wilting try standing them in hot water for a short time.
  • Strip off leaves that would be below the water line and change the water frequently.
  • Spring bulb flowers do not need water changes but a pinch of salt should revive them.
  • Higher the temperature the faster cut flowers will deteriorate so place arrangements where they won’t be exposed to direct sun, heat from appliances, electric lights, or hot or cold draft.

Flowers needing Special Treatment

  • Hydrangeas will last longer if water is taken in through the absorbent head so sink the whole flower into water first then spray the flower heads daily.
  • Forsythia should be picked when in tight bud and it will open of its own accord.
  • Poppies need to have the end sealed by singeing the cut.
  • Daffodils should not be mixed with other flowers as they poison the water.
  • Carnations need cutting between nodes as they can’t take up water if cut on a node.
  • Remember foliage needs to drink as well so condition foliage too.