Public Green Spaces in Britain’s Floral Resort

Public Green Spaces in Britain’s Floral Resort

As befits a town with the sobriquet ‘Britain’s Floral Resort’ Harrogate is again a picture of vibrant colour in most of its green public spaces. Despite the crown (hotel and garden bed above ) it can not be called Royal Harrogate nor can it usurp Britain’s Floral Resort for it’s exclusive use.

Blood red features strongly at the beginning of August in the Brexit era of 2019. Back in the day 2003/4 Harrogate won a gold medal in the Flowery Alliance of Europe horticultural competition  for excellence in horticultural display. I wonder if that was a bloodless coup?

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Good Gardeners Tips

Good Gardeners Tips

A tip for today

  1. Fertilise weekly weakly
  2. N for leaves
  3. P for roots
  4. K for fruit and flowers
  5. Fertilise when plants need to grow not as they go into a rest period
  6. Stand thirsty houseplants on damp clay granules to maintain humidity
  7. Houseplants can burn from strong sun through a window
  8. Houseplants will grow towards the light so turn the pot regularly.
  9. Houseplants can get pests like other plants so watch and treat when spotted.
  10. Do not sow seeds too early (they can get a growth shock in cold snap). They will catch up by up to 4 weeks no problem.
  11. Sow seeds thinly, smaller the seed thinner the sowing.
  12. Sow big seed individually
  13. If sowing in plastic cell trays chose an appropriate size 4’s, 12’s 15’s etc
  14. If sowing in plastic cell trays keep
  15. Mark or label what and where you have sown seeds.
  16. Practice gardening until you get it right – keep on gardening for the rest of your life hoping to never get it wrong.
  17. Keep conifers well watered or they will go brown.
  18. Golden conifers go greener in the shade, golden in the sunshine.
  19. It is bad luck to be superstitious about your plants.
  20. Mulch to keep soil moist.
  21. Mulch to keep down weeds.
  22. Mulch to make an area look tidy.
  23. Mulch to improve soil texture
  24. Deadhead flowers to try get another flush of youthful blooms.
  25. Deadhead to direct energy away from making seed.
  26. Deadhead to maintain a tidy appearance
  27. Prune to remove sick and damaged shoots
  28. Prune to keep plants tidy and in check
  29. Prune to encourage flowering and fruiting
  30. Prune to maintain a hedge’s shape
  31. Prune to encourage new growth
  32. Plant bulbs as deep as the bulbs size
  33. Daffodil bulbs need time in the ground plant early autum
  34. Tulips can be planted up until November/December
  35. Grit or gravel on top of pots deters moss and helps watering
  36. A saucer under a pot holds water – beware of water-logging which will rot roots
  37. A saucer under a pot holds water to help watering. Use some gravel to keep pot out of a permanent puddle.
  38. Clay pots dry out quicker than plastic or ceramic pots
  39. Black plastic pots get hot in the sun.
  40. Standing pots close together creates a useful micro climate
  42. In winter keep tender plants in pots frost free.
  43. Stand pots on feet so they do not freeze to the ground (a cause of damage to pots)
  44. Refurbish plants in pots by removing the surface soil/compost and replace with fresh compost
  45. Pots rely on you for care, there is no worms to aerate or feed the soil nor a water table.
  46. The bigger the pot the more water it can hold – small pots dry quicker
  47. Some plants like to have the roots constrained in a smaller pot to encourage flowering.
  48. Plants become pot bound when the roots fill the pot – repot with fresh compost in a bigger pot
  49. For a low maintenance garden try conifers of varying sizes.
  50. Dwarf conifer are available in different varieties, shapes, textures and forms.
  51. Keep tools sharp
  53. Keep tools clean and disinfect to avoid transferring pathogens
  54. Keep tools where you can find them and where you want use them.
  55. Appropriate tools for the job make gardening and  life much easier
  56. If your orchid loses   its leaves and turns yellow, it’s dead.
  57. Wait until daffodils are in bloom before pruning roses.
  58. Cut the roses down to the same height as the daffodils – this requires some commonsense as there are small and tall daffs and a wide variety of roses but it provides a rule of thumb.
  59. You don’t need to cut down your fuchsias for winter but stuff Strulch, straw or pine needles between the branches.
  60. When new growth starts you can trim up your Fuchsiaskale
  61. When planting out leeks or onions dip the roots in water just prior to planting. The weight of the water keeps the roots extended.
  62. Make a homemade birdfeeder in an old hanging basket and add a perch by using a strong stick or cane.
  63. The soil on plants from garden centers is often too dry and hard to re-wet. With care you can shake off this compost and replace it with your own.
  64. Alternatively leave the pot in a dish to soak in water, with a drop of washing up liquid to break the waters meniscus and simultaneously water from the top.
  65. Pansies and to a lesser extent viola are prone to black root rot if over watered. Be sparing when watering.
  66. Create smaller beds they are easier to maintain in tight spaces.
  67. Take photographs of your garden regularly and at least every season.
  68. Take photos before and after a renovation project or new planting.
  69. Take photographs of plant labels at botanic or show gardens of those plants you like.
  70. Keep old plant labels (and seed packets) in date order as a reminder
  71. Use some sort of mulch to line the spaces between your vegetable beds.
  72. Birds adore the red, egg-shaped hips of the wild dog rose.
  73. Best rose hips are produced by species roses.
  74. Where there’s muck there’s brassicas – they love a lot of horsesh…
  75. When summer sets in with all it’s usual severity don’t walk on frozen grass.
  76. Visit New Zealands exotic Taranaki world-renowned rhododendron garden
  77. Keep reading Gardeners tips

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Gardeners Against Deforestation

Gardeners Against Deforestation

It is not only in the Amazon rainforest that excessive deforestation is taking place. Africa is suffering as well! According to an educational charity the ‘deforestation in the Gambia is dreadful, many of the largest trees have been sold to China! Lots of protests but nothing seems to be done about it.’
‘A British charity the Gambian Schools trust is helping schools in the Gambia to counter this deforestation and teaching an awareness of beneficial fruit trees. They have encouraged school children who have planted about 200 mango, mandarin orange, avocado, flame trees, tamarind, banana, palm,  and pomegranate. The largest number were Pomegranate which do not grow in the rural east of the country, they introduced them to our schools and together they have propagated about 120 from seeds. Hopefully they will fruit next year and any excess fruit can be sold at market to supplement school funds.’
The photographs are from the summer 2019 activities at the Gambian Schools trust locations.
Mango planting
A government minister  has said ‘the Gambia is endowed with a wide range of forest and woodland ecosystems which include gallery forest, closed and open woodlands, trees and shrub savanna, mangrove, riparian and fringing savanna ecosystems…… constituting 43% of her land area and that the country’s resources provide an important basis for economic and social development, directly affecting the livelihood of the majority of the populations.’
Banana planting
Back at home we gardeners should bear in mind the areas in the world where horticulture and related activities are crucial to survival. We can help via education and practical support.
2019 Snapdragons (the year not the number)

2019 Snapdragons (the year not the number)

I have previously posted about snapdragons in 2011, 2016 and  2015

This is just an update on one of my favourite little cottage garden treasures. This years winners have been a 3’6″ tall, white F1 variety and the multi coloured swap shop warm coloured variety shown. Add to this some self-sown plants or last year survivors and a good show has been delivered.

This encouraged me to sow some mixed seeds early to be over wintered. I kept half a packet back to be sown in spring in case I loose all my early sowing. Germination has been fast and furious. As this variety are said to be rust free I hope for more cottage garden blooms next summer.

 

Comments made about Overwintering

Comments made about Overwintering

Irena Dorney a reader of my chrysanthemum post has asked ‘ Tell me do you overwinter your plants? I can no longer afford to keep buying new plants for my planters so I want to invest in plants with a perennial habit that will work hard in my raised bed.’

Overwintering Generally

  • I am a Yorkshire man so yes I try to over winter many of my plants. I want value for money and the thrill of getting or keeping ‘summat for nowt’.
  • A major proportion of my garden is planted with evergreen shrubs and they overwinter themselves.
  • Alpines are generally designed for cold wintery weather but HATE  wet so I don’t worry about frost but will shield or deflect rain from auriculas and damp haters.
  • Bulbs I leave in the ground or pots but take up begonias and dahlia tubers and keep them frost free for planting the following year.
  • You can forget about your tender annuals but the seeds are worth collecting. You then overwinter them as seeds or biannuals.

Overwintering Planters

  • Selecting ‘hardy’ plants that are more likely to survive to survive is a skill worth learning. Violas will last better than pansies for example and dwarf conifers and acers do well in my pots.
  • One of the biggest risks to plants in pots is death by frozen roots. A big pot holds more soil and is harder but not impossible to freeze.
  • I gather pots together for wind and frost protection. A group of pots can create there own micro climate.
  • Under a hedge row I store many pot plants where I am fatalistic. If they survive great if not then c’est la vie & I try to propagate more.

Overwintering in a Raised Bed

  • Selecting herbaceous perennials can fill your raised beds. Herbaceous plants die back every year when the weather gets cold but the right ones regrow next year. If the winter conditions are harsh then mulch around the root area. Delphiniums, alstromeria and primroses have done well this year.
  • Tender subjects like musa (banana) or ferns can be wrapped in hessian or covered in straw but that is too much bother for me.
  • I grow rhododendrons and deciduous azaleas in a raised bed for the want of a larger area. Like many woody shrubs they do fine.

Hybrid Tea and the Family Tree

Hybrid Tea and the Family Tree

First introduced in the 19th century the lineage of Hybrid Tea roses goes back to crossing or hybridising a tea rose with a hybrid perpetual rose. The first example was supposedly ‘Madame Bravy’ x ‘Madame Victor Verdier’ but many more have followed to great acclaim. One such was a rose called ‘Peace’ which has sold, under several marketing names, over 100 million plants world wide.

Hybrid Tea roses like this example of Brasilia are a group of roses that are crosses between one rose and another. In this case Piccadilly x Perfecta produced this Brasilia flower with scarlet petals reversed in pale gold.  The grandparents were  McGredy’s Yellow × Karl Herbst and Golden Scepter x Karl Herbst respectively. With 2 grandparents the same it shows how complex cross breeding became during the heyday of new rose introductions.

Another flower with reverse colour on the petals was Caramba with cherry red petals reversed with silver. It also has very dark glossy leaves. The parentage of this specimen is unknown! The name has also been sub-sumed by a ground cover rose with far less appeal.

Enemies of Roses That Affect You

Enemies of Roses That Affect You

I do not want to start by worrying you but I am probably going too anyway! After an early summer of brilliant rose displays the down side is the number and volume of enemies our roses are having to contend with.

This is Nothing New

  • I am borrowing heavily from the National Rose Society publications including the title of this post ‘The Enemies of the Rose.’
  • The national rose society’s handbook on the insect, pests and fungus  of the rose was first published in 1908 – over a century ago.
  • My copy is the third edition from 1952. I can’t find a more recent edition nor current reprints. Old copies surface at secondhand booksellers and are crammed with over 150 pages of problems.
  • For example the contents include a virtual dozen references to a variety of different Sawfly but I get ahead of myself.
  • The evils of modern publishing have created a digitised Kindle 2012 edition (? scanned?) and it may be worth the 99p down load but it seems at variance to the older books.
  • The collective brains of an Entomologist, Zoologistand an expert in Cryptogams have been combined with 110 years of horticulture experience and specialist knowledge.

Picking Out Some Rose Enemies

  • I will not try to paraphrase or emulate the original record but will pick out bits worth further exploration.
  • Fungi and bacteria are classified as ‘Diseases’ and insects and sundry creatures as ‘Pests’.
  • Sadly developments over time plus health and safety worries have made many of the cures, potions, treatments, unctions, chemical controls and interventions illegal, outdated or unobtainable.
  • I am not sure whether Defra, European Union and sundry Ministries such as Agriculture  should be classed as ‘The Enemies of the Rose.’
  • Bad health in what ever form is potentially just a sign of a rose failing to achieve the growers ideals and aspirations.
  • Setting standards is essential but being able to cope with the consequences of weather, breeding, growing conditions and external influences can all be enemies of roses.
    • Pests include: thrips, aphids, leaf-hopper, caterpillar, rose maggots, chafer, leaf miner, sawfly, leaf cutter, gall wasps, ants, mites and other maggots and bugs.
    • Diseases include: black spot, rust, mildew, leaf scorch, anthracnose, cancker & die back, botrytis (grey mould), gall, silver leaf, chlorosis, sooty mould and variations on the virus and fungus themes.

Another digitised version  .  The Enemies of the Rose by George Massee Frederick Vincent 1868- Theobald National Rose Society (Creator) …

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A Raspberry to Virus

A Raspberry to Virus

A virus has struck my favourite raspberries and the leaves have gone mottled. The light lemon green could have been a sign of magnesium deficiency but that turns out to be wishful thinking on my part. One variety partially effected last year is now in full denial and full of virus (its not just raspberry flu either.)
As can be seen below full symptoms of my raspberry virus are obvious.

  • Browned off leaves
  • Stunted cane growth
  • Minimal fruiting and small berries to boot.
  • Dead or dying plants getting ready to infect other near by plants.

I originally planted 3 varieties at the same time from a fruit tree specialist. ‘Glen Moy’ (Early season summer fruiting) – produced an abundance of firm, medium sized fruits from June to July on virtually spine-free canes, which made harvesting a pleasure (and jam eating ed.)

Raspberry ‘Glen Ample’ (Mid season summer fruiting) gave larger berries and some new canes a fair distance from the parent.

Tulameen was a wash out and most canes died. The supplier replaced them without any fuss but the cropping has remained below par. Not what I hoped for or expected but now I am worried about all my chosen varieties catching the virus.

Raspberry Nutrition