Green Euphorbia & Wisley Handbook

Green Euphorbia & Wisley Handbook

euphorbia-2

The lime green bracts on this Euphorbia are looking very bright in the spring sunshine. The plants are evergreen and easy to manage and form a good clump after 2 or 3 years. This clump has 17 flowering stems about 3 feet high but is only 2 feet in diameter.

  • New stems are being formed at ground level for future years but the plant isn’t invasive. Any dead stems are pruned out at ground level to keep the plant healthy and the growth fresh all year around.
  • Euphorbia come in all shapes and sizes so choose a variety from a gardene centre that fits your planting scheme. This plant is growing in poor soil in a sunny bed raised from the surrounding garden and forms the back drop for alpine plants.

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Sedums and Saxifrages

Sedums and Saxifrages

A pleasant mix of Stonecrop Sedums and Saxifrages or Saxifraga, as some would have it, are in flower at the moment. Stonecrop has taken my interest after reading about green roof plants.  I also have a friend who has created a Sedum Seat on an old dining chair by planting up the padded seat area to good effect.

The grand-daddy of books on the subject of Sedums is Ray Stephenson’s ‘Sedum Cultivated Stonecrops’.

Book Cover

Tips

  • Plant Sedums and other insect attracting flowers near vegetables that need pollination to set fruit. I have some near my Courgettes and Marrows and am getting a grand crop without worrying about fertilisation.
  • Do not plant London Pride  Saxifrage urbinus unless you want ground cover as, in my opinion, the flowers are weak in colour and form.
  • Borrow expensive monographs and special texts from the RHS library. It is free for members.

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

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Best Shade Loving Plants

Best Shade Loving Plants

round-tulips

Beth Chatto believes you can transform a shady spot with easy-care planting that includes foliage and flowers for a brighter Spring garden. Illuminate a shady spot under trees with a range of flowers and plants.
Beth Chatto has an extensive list of plants for shady areas for all year round interest

Book Cover The Shade Garden

Top Ten Spring Shade Lovers

  • Honesty purple or white forms are good when in flower but also produce airy white seedheads
  • Forget-me-nots are flowering all over my back garden at the moment from self-sown plants.
  • Bluebells can be white as well as blue or even pink. They normally grow in shady woodland and will flower without sun. They also spread quite quickly particularly the thuggish Spanish variety. Do not take wild bulbs from there natural habitat.
  • Hellebore the Lenten Rose is another shade  loving plant that is happy under trees although the flowers tend to hang down and be hard to inspect.
  • Tulips can brighten the darkest spot. I plant them in pots so I can move them to where they will have the greatest impact. I can then replace them with other plants later in the year.

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My Top 10 Sweet Pea Varieties

My Top 10 Sweet Pea Varieties

sweetpeas

Sweet Pea – Antique Bouquet

Traditional varieties of sweet pea colours with great scent.
sweetpeas

Sweet Pea – Blue Ripple

Delicate light blue frills on the end of white flowers. It is a lovely blue reminiscent of delphiniums
grandiflora

Sweet Pea – Grandiflora

Strong bold colours in fashion of Union Jack. Great contrast between colours
melody-rose

Sweet Pea – Melody Rose

Very charming colours with a light delicate touch. Great fragrance
sugar-spice

Sweet Pea – Sugar and Spice – bicolor

Like traditional old fashioned varieties. Shorter stems, but wonderful old fragrance – evocative of cottage gardens.
sugar

Sweet Pea – Sugar and Spice

– basket variety. Makes intense display of flowers
cream

Sweet Pea – Cream Southbourne

Delicate wavy flowers. Great large frilly blooms with extravagant scent to give a great allrounder sweet pea
firecrest

Sweet Pea – Firecrest.

Uniformity of red, eyecatching colour on strong stems
fragrant

Sweet Pea – Fragrant Ripples

A long strong stem, with wonderful wavy colouring. Also provide beautiful smell
chatsworth

Chatsworth

Lovely lilac flowers and fragrance

Sweet Pea Harvest
Photo Credit
Sweet Pea Harvest by Baha’i Views / Flitzy Phoebie CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Book Cover
Sweet Peas: An Essential Guide by Roger Parsons
The sweet pea is a favourite flower of the gardener because of its delightful scent and diverse range of beautiful colours as this Top 10 Sweet Pea variety selection shows. The book by Roger Parsons looks at the genus in detail and explains how the novice gardener or the seasoned grower can get the most from their sweet peas.

Natural Garden Tips

Natural Garden Tips

 

Book Cover Available from Amazon ‘for anyone wishing to take an ethical and sustainable approach to gardening and garden design.’

One Gardener’s natural garden is another’s pile of logs and collection of compost bins. These tips are based on my view of a design led natural garden that is full of plants and informality.

Natural Garden Tips

  • There are virtually no straight lines in nature so why should gardens seek to formalise everything in rows like a demented Italianate showpieces. For me sweeping curves and waves are the natural way to garden.
  • Plant groupings can achieve an impact that even the best individual specimens can’t achieve. The Helenium Moerheim Beauty in the foreground of this picture provides that sweeping effect that a large perennial bed can withstand.
  • Thinking in 3 dimensions encourages the use of height and depth of view particularly in the backdrop of this picture. The trees and shrubs range from low ground cover to tall screeners and statuesque trees.
  • Planning your planting to help nature gives added choice. Foliage, berries and  bark can be as inviting as flowers in the right season and location.
  • Space and the gaps between can be an important feature in a natural garden. Not everything needs to be piled high like your local supermarket. The grass in this picture  fulfils that role but you may want to think of alternatives for your own natural garden.
  • The bones of the garden are as important as the floral flesh. Trees and major plants should have space and opportunity to grow naturally to fulfill their total promise.

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

Growing Scabious – Scabiosa

Growing Scabious – Scabiosa

Scabious sp. 2

Scabious is a UK native perennial plant that is available in many forms and species for growing in your garden. Grown in damp areas it is popular with insects bees, moths and butterflies. Known for powdery blue pincushions of flower on the top of long stems makes this plant is a useful cut flower.

Description, Cultivation and Growing Tips

Scabious is a hardy perennial well loved for cottage gardens.
Scabious grows well on dry, sandy soil in a sunny position or partially shaded location.
You can acquire or just admire plants as part of a collection

Small Tortoiseshell

Common Names and Varieties to Consider

  • Scabiosa is generally known as Scabious or the Pincushion Flower.
  • Our UK native Scabiosa columbaria is compact with wiry stems topped with tiny Cambridge-blue pincushion flowers
  • Scabiosa caucasica is the Caucasian Scabious first grown in the UK 200 years ago. Generally pale blue there is a white form called Miss Willmot.
  • Scabious atropurpurea is available in pink (Beaujolais Bonnets) and purple (Ace of Spades).
  • A new compact Scabious is now on the market with a height of 20″ and a spread of 16″ enough to use as ground cover.
  • Scabiosa ochroleuca or the Yellow scabious has cream pincushions
  • Varieties for growing Scabiosa; Clive Greaves (light Blue), Miss Wilmott (white), and Pink Diamond

Scabious

Unusual Facts about Scabious

  • Scabious is a member of the Teasel family Dipsacaceae
  • Scabiosa species are also used as food plants by the larvae of some butterflies.
  • Devil’s-bit scabious and field scabious are UK natives but what the Devil?.
  • Giant Scabious isn’t really Scabious it is Cephalaria gigantea which has primrose yellow flowers on a 6′ stem.

Old & Odd Tips From Gardeners Tips

  • A top dressing of grit before winter will help surface drainage as Scabious dislike cold, wet poorly drained soil conditions.
  • Deadheading will prolong flowering and if you trim flowers down to the next bud you should get two new flowers from the axil bud.
  • As a black flower Scabious Ace of Spades has fragrant blooms that attract bees and butterflies whilst making impressive cut flowers.

devil's bit scabious
Credits
Scabious sp. 2 by the justified sinner CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Small Tortoiseshell ‘It was feeding on Scabious at Ubley Warren near Cheddar’ by Annies Pics CC BY-NC 2.0
Scabious by Mike Legend CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
devil’s bit scabious by Facing North East CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Scabious

Flower Arranging – Solomon’s Seal

Flower Arranging – Solomon’s Seal

Book Cover
The Complete Guide to Flower Arranging by Jane Packer

Using Solomon’s Seal for Flower Arrangements

  • Solomon’s Seal is one of the Polygonatum genus.
  • They spread by rhizomes in rich, moist soil in partial or full shade.
  • Flowers are often followed by red or black berries and in autumn the leaves turn an eye catching yellow.
  • Popular varieties of Solomon’s seal include:
    Polygonatum hybridum 8″ long arching stems with alternate flowers on the top side of the stem.
    Polygonatum biflorum or Greater Solomon’s Seal is larger reaching 5 feet.
    Polygonatum multiflorum can have green and cream striped leaves.
    Polygonatum odoratum has green tipped white scented flowers suspended below the stem.

Great Solomon's Seal and Sweet Woodruff

Special Tips – Flower Arranging – Solomon’s Seal

  • Solomon’s Seal has many uses in flower arranging from the massed pedestals to modern arrangements using only a limited amount of material.
  • Try removing all the leaves and leaving just the flowers. This provides a very graceful line to an arrangement.
  • Condition by standing in tepid water at least overnight. They then have a vase life of 10 days plus.
  • Preserve stems for winter by Glycerining the cut stems
  • How to Glycerine. Mix one part glycerine with two parts hot water and after cooling stand the stems in the solution for 7-10 days until they change colour right to the tips. Store flat in boxes until required

A full array of books on Flower Arranging and related subjects is available from Amazon. You will find more advice and artistic inspiration amongst this selection.
I would also recommend the Harrogate spring flower show where I am always stunned by the floral arrangement amongst the plants on display.
Silver bells
Credits
Great Solomon’s Seal and Sweet Woodruff by bill barber CC BY-NC 2.0
Silver bells by sonyaseattle CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Japanese flower arrangement 1 by mharrsch CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
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Japanese flower arrangement 1
Solomon’s seal or David’s Harp is a Polygonatum with arching stems of leaves and flower bells that is in demand for a range of flower arrangements. They can be grown in moist well drained soil but are one plant that likes dry shade.

To grow a generic mix of flowers for arrangements and bouquets check out Thompson & Morgan

Other plants discussed in this series
Dahlia
Euphorbia
Pittosporum
Alstroemeria
Fatsia Japonica
Corkscrew hazel
Phormium

Grow Primula Candelabra Species

Grow Primula Candelabra Species

Flowers in May

Colourful Candelabra Primulas are great plants for shady damp locations. They originate from China and the Himalaya and are ideal for woodland, streamsides or damp banks. There are many species, hybrids and varieties to grow and collect.

Description of Candelabra Primula

  • Candelabra Primulas make clumps of strong oblong shaped leaves often persisting through the winter .
  • Primula from the Proliferae section send up tall stems on which there are whorls of ten flowers, each ring opening in succession, perhaps one every five or six days.
  • There can be up to six or seven whorls that gives a long flowering period from May.
  • There is a mass of colour from brilliant orange or yellow, purple, red, pink, white, even dark maroon.
  • There is often a powdery white ‘farina’ or white meal on the stems and leaves.
  • Plants can grow and flower 24″-36″ tall.

Flowers in May

Candelabra Primula Species and Varieties

  • Candelabra Primula pulverulenta purple to mauve flowers.
  • Primula Bulleesiana is one of the strongest and easiest candelabra varieties to grow.
  • Primula helodoxa golden yellow flowers up to 3 feet high.
  • Primula beesiana from Yunnan in China. Has rose-purple flowers. P. bulleyana is similar but with orange flowers and grows to 2 feet high.
  • Harlow Carr Candelabra hybrids show how easily these species cross fertilise. In addition to Harlow Carr gardens there is a good show of flowers at Picton Castle gardens in Pembrokeshire.
  • Candelabra Primula poissonii has vivid purple flowers with a distinct golden yellow centre.
  • Primula aurantiaca has late flowering orange or yellow whorls of flowers.
  • Primula cockburniana have whorls of ten or so flowers with each ring opening in succession.
  • Primula secundiflora thinner purple flowers, not my favourite.
  • Many Primulas from the Primula japonicas including ‘Apple Blossom’ are candelabra varieties from the Proliferae section
  • Primula pulverulenta Bartley hybrids available from Kevock Garden
Primulas at Harlow Carr
Primulas at Harlow Carr

This photo was taken in summer 2008 at RHS Harlow Carr in Yorkshire. The garden is renown for its variety of Candelabra Primula Hybrids.

Grow Candelabra Primula

  • Candelabra Primulas prefer partial shade and can only be grown in a sunny position if the soil is always moist.
  • Plants grow best in deep, peaty soil or any soil rich in well rotted organic matter.
  • Primulas prefer winter and spring light values that are weaker than in high summer
  • There are hybrids between Primula bulleyana and Primula beesiana flowers in varying cerise shades

Simple Primula Tips

  • Candelabra Primulas or Bulleesiana are easy to grow from seed that can be bought from RHS shops. Many primulas do not come true to seed.
  • From Harlow Carr hybrids you get a range of pastel colours which themselves self seed.
  • They like damp roots and these particular primulas were growing on the banks of a stream
  • Candelabra primulas get there name from the whorls of flowers blossoming in a tiered effect part way up the stem as well as at the top.
  • There are over 350 species of Primula and they would make an excellent subject for building a collection.
  • Primulas can be divided if you want a plant true to type

One of the best book currently available is Primula by John Richards

Book Cover

Flower Arranging – Hostas

Flower Arranging – Hostas

Book Cover

The Cutting Garden: Growing and Arranging Garden Flowers by Sarah Raven

Growing Hostas for Flower Arrangements

  • Hostas are a group of over 200 species of perennials from China, Japan and Korea that grow well in the UK & North America.
  • In the garden they appreciate shade and protection from slugs.
  • As flower arranging plants they are in demand for the shape, size, colour and texture of the leaves.
  • Size varies from small leaves of Hosta venusta 4 inches high to large leaves of Hosta sieboldiana 2 feet across and more.
  • Hosta fortunei leaves turn rich yellow in Autumn and Hosta unulata is bi-coloured green and yellow with twisting leaves.
  • Hosta flowers from June onward but they are not particularly striking

otley show hostas 051

Special Tips for Flower Arranging with Hostas

  • Prior to arranging Hosta leaves condition them overnight in a deep bucket of water. Even submerging them will do no harm.
  • Stems are quite soft so if putting them into Oasis make a small hole with a stick first.
  • Leaves do not mature before May and would just wilt if cut too early.
  • Yellowe leaved varieties appreciate a bit more sunshine.
  • Hostas are useful for all-green arrangements.

A full array of books on Flower Arranging and related subjects is available from Amazon. You will find more advice and artistic inspiration amongst this selection.
I would also recommend the Harrogate spring flower show where I am always stunned by the floral arrangement amongst the plants on display.

Flower Arrangement
Turn your arrangements into botanical works of art – here are some examples and clubs you could join.
Credits
Flower Arrangement by Dominic’s pics CC BY 2.0

Hostas have sculptural leaves in a range of colours from bright green to glaucus blue with yellow and bicoloured varieties that can all contribute to your flower arranging expertise. Grow a few plants and see what we mean.

To grow a generic mix of flowers for arrangements and bouquets check out Thompson & Morgan

Other plants discussed in this series
Dahlia
Euphorbia
Pittosporum
Alstroemeria
Fatsia Japonica
Corkscrew hazel
Phormium

Dwarf ‘Patio’ Fruit Trees

Dwarf ‘Patio’ Fruit Trees

Dwarf fruit trees of apple, pear, cherry and plum varieties are extremely easy to grow even on your patio.
Quick Tips
Healthy plants will produce an abundance of fruit from next summer.
Choose a large, deepish plant pot or container.
Keep them well watered when young to help them get established.
They require very little training or pruning and will be laden with delicious fruit on a single stem.

Dwarf Anna Apple tree
Dwarf Anna Apple tree by John A. Chartier ‘Anna apple is an Israeli cultivar, a cross between a Red Hadasa from Lebanon and a Golden Delicious apple ….it is a real tasty apple, makes great pies.’ CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Due to their upright nature and the fact that they can be grown approx 40-70cm apart, these fruit trees are ideal for the patio or as a centre piece in a small garden. There is quite a range of fruit trees available with prices start at about £15.

Pot grown apple trees can be planted all year round. Enjoy the crunchy, mouth-watering sweet, and tart flavours of your fresh picked Gala and Golden Delicious apples.
Gala apples are praised for their shiny red skin and crisp, sweet flesh. Golden delicious prove to be the more common choice because of their beautiful colour and sweet taste – perfect for salads, apple sauce and apple butter. Both Gala and Golden Delicious apples should be harvested in October.

Jersey Plants Direct offer a pair of pears Conference and Doyenne du Comice Pear trees. Conference pear trees produce a juicy narrow fruit with firm flesh and are extremely popular because they are reliable under less than desirable conditions, which makes them perfect for the English climate. Doyenne du Comice are known for their brilliant texture and outstanding taste. Conference pears should be harvested in late September and Doyenne du Comice pears in mid October, both will produce a fantastic crop year after year.

If you are looking for something a little more unusual, take a look at our Plum and Cherry tree combination.

The varieties are the sweet tasting Cherry Helena and Plum Black Amber. Cherry Helena should be harvested in July and Plum Black Amber in August.

 

Saving money is just one of the fantastic benefits to growing your own fruit. Don’t forget that by growing your own you are in complete control of how you grow your fruit so know exactly what you’re getting. No chemicals or sprays, you can enjoy your healthy fruit for years to come. Growing your own fruit is also extremely beneficial for the environment; fruit filters the air, conditions the soil and attracts pollinators into your garden.

Snow White and the seven dwarfs - Hessen - Germany - Bergfreiheit - Schneewittchen und die sieben Zwerge
Snow White and the seven dwarfs – Hessen – Germany – Bergfreiheit – Schneewittchen und die sieben Zwerge by Ela2007 CC BY-NC-ND 2.0