Gardeners Tips – Page 3 – Tips and advice for gardeners about gardening

Top Ten Old Roses

March 15, 2024 hortoris

Repeat flowering old Rose varieties do what it says in their name however the first 5 in my Top Ten only flower once per year but still inspire.

Old Rose Top Ten

Celsiaha this Damask rose is strong and vigourous with good clusters of large, lasting, pale pink flowers.
Enfant de France is a compact gallica rose with sweet scented, double flowers in a silvery pink with quilled petals.
Rosa gallica Versicolour or Rosa mundi is a 16th Century semi double variety with candy striped red and white flowers.
Mme Hardy is a pure white rose opening from a slightly pink bud on a shrub up to 6 feet tall. It is disease resistant and good in an organic garden.
Mme Sancy de Parabere is a thornless climber. Early flowering yet hardy plant with double, saucer-shaped flowers and ragged petals of deep lavender pink.
John Hooper is a strong scented pink hybrid with perpetual flowering.
Gloire Lyonnaise Semi-double creamy white blooms on a very erect shrub. Virtually thornless shrub that withstands wet weather better than most.
Captain Hayward has light crimson, shapely, double flowers with excellent orange hips.
Paul Neyron has large 6″ flowers in a deep shade of pink.
Souvenier du Doctor Jamain has medium-sized flowers of the richest maroon colouring, opening flat. Grows 6ft. tall x 3ft. wide.

Classes of Old Roses

The Gallicas are probably the oldest of all garden roses forming short bushy shrubs, many of which are quite suitable for small gardens. They were grown by the Greeks and Romans then bred in 17th century by the Dutch and French.
Among them are some very fine roses with magnificent mixtures of colour particularly among the crimson, purple and mauve shades. They have beautiful flower formation with open upright blossom which shows the yellow stamens
All of the Gallicas are once blooming and most have very good fragrances. Tuscany variety is an almost black purple may be the oldest surviving Gallica from pre 1596.

Damask roses are another very old group, said to have originally been brought from the Middle East by the Crusaders. …

Read More Read More

Boost Your Patio Roses Now

March 14, 2024 hortoris

Spring Booster For Pot Roses

My patio roses have been given some TLC (TenderLovingCare) to set them up for flowering this summer.
TLC has involved checking over the pots and how they and the roses over wintered. Luckily there were no disaster or significant problems.
Pots were on the dry side, no bad thing through winter but now I will up the watering with dilute fertiliser.
The high growth had been trimmed in late autumn but now I undertook some careful pruning. Old and dead wood was cut out and the center of the rose was opened up to allow in air as they develop.
I took off the top 3 inches of soil and replaced it with a top dressing of John Innes and compost. I added a few slow release granules to each pot first.
Last year I covered the top of each pot with an inch of Strulch to suppress weeds and help watering. That worked so well I am repeating this mulch for this year. The old Strulch and top compost has gone on the heap.
I checked the pots for winter damage, fortunately they survived intact

Future Care and Boosting Plans

Black spot can be a problem on susceptible varieties so I will spray with a fungicide. Infected leaves will be taken off and dustbinned.
I will feed with a rose feed in may and a tomato feed after the first flush of flowers.
I am potentially over feeding as I hope to get some more cut flowers this year.
I also plan to buy another plant, or several, they are great value for money.

Pot Observations

My pots are a mishmash but I prefer those that are uniform terracotta pots.
Even in my glazed pots and two twelve inch square plastic efforts the patio roses produce masses of flowers annually.
Most pots contain roses over 5 years old and I do not re-pot them.
My favourite pots are 16 inch high ‘Long Toms’ that make a group of three. This grouping helps a micro-climate and a blowsy display.
The shortest pot in 9 inches high and I should have selected a miniature rose rather than a fully fledged patio variety. Several miniature roses are in my shallow soiled rockery.

Grow Top Patio Roses

March 14, 2024 hortoris

What is a Patio Rose if it isn’t a rose grown on a patio?
Patio roses grow bigger and bushier than miniatures and are about 14 -24 inch high, yet they are perfectly formed. H.T. Bush and Floribunda roses grow bigger but Patio roses are easy and decorative.

Patio Roses are easy for growing in small spaces and can be useful in many other garden locations. They can be grown in containers and pots or just planted near your front door.

Easy Places to Grow Patio Roses

Edging plants in front of other plants or in a narrow border on their own.
Some varieties make an attractive small hedge.
They all look well planted in groups 3-5-7 of each variety.
They are not house plants and are as hardy as larger roses.
Patio Roses are great for tubs and containers but remember to feed, water and mulch them.
Combined with summer bedding plants they will flower all summer long.

Growing Tips For Patio Roses

Minimum pruning in late February or March will help keep them tidy.
Plant in full sun for the best show.
They are of course totally hardy and being perennials will appear year after year.
Roses are outdoor plants and do not survive in the house.

More information from Amazon in ‘Growing Miniature and Patio Roses’ by Dawn and Barry Eagle £6.99

Top Ten Repeat flowering Patio Roses

Some special varieties providing a great display of colour and scent include:

Loving Wishes A free flowering rose with good disease resistance and scented, scarlet-red blooms
Golden Wishes The flowers are golden yellow with a slight fragrance and 14″ tall
Flower Power produces peach-salmon blooms with a spicy scent
Golden Anniversary Large fragrant golden rounded flowers with yellow centres from summer to autumn. Upright bush habit.
Red or Yellow Sunblaze,
Sweet Dreams, or Sweet Magic,
Charmant,
Flirt,
Diamond Wishes
One of the smaller varieties is not surprisingly called Peter Pan.

There seems to be a named patio rose for most birthday and anniversary event if you shop around – that is modern marketing for you.

June is a wonderful time to appreciate the variety of easy care patio roses that are now available.

Third Year of outstanding Flowering

Facts about Patio Rose

Small and miniature versions of the traditional floribunda type of rose are being bred of the smaller gardens, window boxes, patios or decking areas.
‘Peter Beales’ rose grower offers patio climbers, ramblers and a variety of shrub roses for patios
Patio roses can thrive in pots, containers or direct in the ground
The smaller cousins ‘miniature roses’ grow to a height of between 12 and 18 inches.
Patio plants grow up to 30″ tall are generally hardy and repeat well.

Yorkshire Princess Patio Rose

Care Tips for Patio Roses

I have been fortunate but there have been no greenfly or bug infestations of any note. I would be ready with a garlic spray or proprietary insecticide if needs must.
Only one out of a dozen plants has suffered from black spot and as you can see the pots are close together so I must be lucky.
I gave my plants a mini prune in early spring after a winter prune to keep the plants short and prevent wind damage

On My Patio with Room for More

Ground Cover for Formal Gardens

March 13, 2024 hortoris

Formal gardens generally rely on geometric shapes and repetition and so you may not think about ground cover in these situations. Balance and proportion are also key features of a formal garden and generally have fewer species of plants than may be found in in informal gardens.

With the structure of a formal garden in place from paths and symmetrical beds in squares, oblongs or circles you can then consider appropriate plants. The ground cover should complement the focal plants in colour, leaf-shape and height. They should also be manageable and not prone to take over or the formal effect may be lost.

Liriope spicata or Lily turf is evergreen with neat, low, grassy foliage. It can be left undisturbed for many years to form low-maintenance ground cover in beds of its own, or in light shade beneath trees or shrubs.

Sempervivum tectorum and Hens-and-Chicks are small scale spreaders that may combine with Aremria maritima to create clear outlines in concentric shapes within a formal layout.

Saxifraga umbros or London Pride is apt to wander over path edges but is an easy to grow and gives prolific, spreading ground cover.

Hellebores and Hostas can also work well or Barbara Ellis in her book ‘Covering Ground’ recommends Tiarella cordifolia the Allegeheny foamflower.

Colour may not be the key issue in ground cover for a formal garden but Blue grass Festucu glauca can be massed planted so that clumps join together. Other grasses to consider include Hakonechloa macra or the lower growing sedges Carex pensylvanica.

…

Read More Read More

Vivid Ground Cover Plants and Ideas

March 8, 2024 hortoris

A colourful carpet of ground cover plants may be a creative, low maintenance alternative to a lawn. Alternatively a pattern of coloured stone or chippings with feature plants in containers may be your preference.

Collection of Low Growing Plants

A mix of flowers and shrubs can include conifers like Golden Juniper Juniperus x media ‘Golden Sovereign’, Juniperus horizontalis, Juniper squamata ‘Holger’ and Picea pungens ‘Glauca Prostrata’ all around one foot tall with varying spreads.
For colour in summer you can’t beat some Petunia multiflora and vibrant Busy Lizzie Impatiens. Try the ‘accent’ series from Thompson Morgan
Bulbs of Dutch Iris, Cyclamen, Crocus and Muscari can provide spring and autumn colour.
Fillers and good doers include Bugle Ajuga reptans, Pinks Dianthus Indian hybrids, Geranium, Sedum and Vinca.

Design Features

Wide flat rocks can break up the verdant space and give the gardener a place to stand and weed.
Think in terms of 8-12″ as the average height with accent plants if required.
Create a backing or edging with taller uniform plants. Roses box or taller Conifers may suit.
Plant in bold blocks of colour with annuals close together for maximum effect.

Patterns of Gravel

Ground cover of pebbles, chippings or gravel can add colour. I like plum coloured slate chippings.
The covering can be used to stand elegant containers perhaps containing trailing plants like lobelia or geraniums.
Make sure you have a weed barrier under the gravel.
Gravel should be comparatively low maintenance but keep it spruce and moss free.

Similar rule apply when planting ground cover that grows taller. Select a height 18-24″ in this case and plant appropriate plants in the designated area. Tree ferns have been used as accent plants in this design.

Ground cover plants ‘beat weeds’ and many of the plants recommended below will flower year after year. Plant healthy young plants from pots or modules about 12 inches apart and the fast growing ground cover will produce a dense carpet of colour for many years.

Ground Cover Selection

Helianthemum grows strongly in my garden with bright orange flowers. Reds and whites are available.

…

Read More Read More

Columbines, Aquilegia, Paraquilegia & Semiaquilegia

March 7, 2024 hortoris

Genetic purity cannot be guaranteed with a species that has been bred and cultivated for centuries. The above Aquilegia flabellata is an alpine species found in Japan and the Kurile Islands. (Flabellata means fan-shaped)

Columbine Growing Tips

A porous soil is better than hard clay but Columbines grow in most soils preferring alkalinity.
Columbines like partially shady spots, and may be happy planted under leafy trees.
With long tap roots, they establish themselves where they are planted, so they may be difficult to move after a couple years.
Plants are hardy and do not require extra fertilizer.
Columbines are relatively pest and disease free but aphid attacks may need treatment

Columbine Features

Columbines range from 4″ to 4′ high
Columbines last 4 years and more depending on variety. You can extend life expectancy by cutting down flowered stalks prior to seeding.
Grow these beauties from seed – a variety pack of columbine seeds will no doubt delight you with the end product. If you are in a hurry you can buy pot grown plants but division of plants is seldom successful.
Columbines cross-pollinate readily and willingly so it can be fun growing from your self- collected seed.
65 species are discussed in Robert Nolds book ‘Columbines’

More photos on Growing Aquilegia

The long spurred Aquilegias are showy perrenial plants that are easy to grow from seed sown March to June. These cottage garden favourites grow up to three feet tall on thin stems without hindering other plants. They are not too fussy about conditions tolerating some shade and dry spells.

Tips on growing – Aquilegia

Aquilegias can be grown and used as cut flowers.
There are smaller varieties for rock gardens and patio pots such as A .Tiddlywinks
For a quick impact buy ready grown plants
Spurless double flowers like A. Noral Barlow and A William Guiness tend to be longer lived but I think they are less showy.
A. chrysatha is tolerant of shade try A. Yellow Queen and I like A. vulgaris with pure white flowers and grey green foliage.
The plants can be short lived but self sow and hybridise with other aquilegias. This can lead to inferior smaller seedlings and it may be best to start again as the plants are so easy to grow.

My Ground Cover Ideas

March 6, 2024 hortoris

Ground cover plants are designed to do what they say in the title. They can cover the ground by design, happy accident or conscious neglect.

Creeping Jenny

Benefits of Ground Cover

Treasure the ground cover plants that clothe the soil and rocks with leaves or stems preventing wasteful moisture loss.
Ground cover reduces weed seed germination as the seed can’t reach the soil. Any weeds that do grow will likely be smothered or hidden from view.
Most ground cover will flower and even foliage only plants are more aesthetically pleasing than bare or patchy ground.
Ground cover is useful on hard to access land such as scree or steep slopes.
Ground cover may creep or mound but most will grow lower than one feet high and be ornamental.
They are easy to maintain with an occasional clipping after flowering or an edging trim to keep them in control.
Ground cover can support wild life and help create a special habitat.

Hart’s tongue fern Asplenium scolopendrium

Selected Ground Cover Plant Species

1. Ajuga reptans like plenty of water to produce purple-green leaves and spring flowers of blue spikes.
2. Erigeron karvinskianus has small white flowers like lawn daisies. A copious self seeder.
3. Lysimachia nummularia also called creeping jenny for reasons you will discover as it moves around your garden. In summer it has numerous smal,l yellow flowers.
4. Sedum acre or Stone crop is a popular low growing succulent for ground cover.
5. Stachys byzantina has grey wooly leaves on 6″ high stems. They look like Lamb’s ears hence the common name.
6. Often excluded from ground cover plant list is lawn grass. I guess meadow achieves a similar purpose.

Saxifraga

Happy Accidents

Many times a garden will develop its own style with a series of what I call ‘happy accidents’. Looking at ground cover I would include the semi-evergreen strawberry with its habit of forming runners in my list of accidents. Other ground hugging evergreen plants include a range of recumbent or prostrate dwarf conifers such as Juniper horizontalis or Juniper squamata blue carpet.

Whilstnot planted as ground cover I notice saxifrage, Euonymus, Bergenia and even clumpy Dianthus are all fulfilling the cover role. The special evergreens have the edge over plants that loose there leaves in winter but I have some great covering clumps of cyclamen at the moment. Ivy, I would not consider a happy accident more a gardening disaster.

Pink Flowered Strawberry Lipstick

Conditions for Good Ground Cover

There are plants for most circumstances and conditions. Problem areas of poor soil and poor access are often the drivers of the decision to plant ground cover.
Heaths and heathers are good for soils with acidic ph and will cope with a comparatively low top soil on top of stone or rubble. Some ferns may be suitable in these conditions.
Flowering ground cover generally appreciate full or partial sun with a soil that retains some moisture.
Damp conditions offer there own challenges and plants from the primula, iris, polygonum or marsh marigold families may suit.
Once the ground is virtually covered you may not want lush growth and for that a reason I do not apply extra fertiliser as it is not required.
Delineate the boundary of the ground cover to give a smart appearance.
If you are happy with an informal aspect allow several varieties to inter-mingle.

My Ground Cover

When I moved into my new house in 2004, I dug up a lot of grass to increase the size of the borders. However, having done that I found I had less time for gardening than I expected. This meant it has felt hardwork keeping on top of the weeding. Therefore I have come to really appreciate the role of ground cover plants. The best thing about ground cover plants is that they reduce the time of weeding and prevent weeds from seeding. When you are ready to plant specific plants these ground cover plants are easy to cut down and replace. But, it is much better to have these ground cover plants than leaving blank soil. Blank soil is an invitation to nature to send some weeds along!

Comfrey. The plant pictured here is comfrey. It really is an excellent plant and worth growing for its own sake. It has nice delicate flowers which attract bees. It also helps to make excellent compost, you can regularly cut down its leaves to add as accelerator layer to your compost and it will quickly grow back. As you can see from its dense coverage, it is also an excellent weed suppressor.
Geraniums. Great at low growing ground cover. Just cut back after flowering
Pulmonaria officinalis: Lungwort
Mahonia aquifolium: (oregon Grape) shrub
Hosta species as long as they don’t provide cover for slugs..
Campanulas
Strawberries
Peltaria alliacea: Garlic cress
Sedums
Lamiums
Winter heathers
Ivy – though can become invasive

…

Read More Read More

Allotments Replaced by Trees

March 5, 2024 hortoris

We used to have allotments in our village until the blight. That was not a gardening blight or a problem growing anything but a planners and local politicians blight.

A large green open space surrounding an old hospital ‘High Royds’ was too good an opportunity for power broking and developers profits so the old hospital and the village allotments all had to go. I blame ‘care-less in the community’.

Now the ‘new’ village is built and called Chevin Park (not High Royds because the hospital was a former lunatic asylum. Other name changes such as Windscale to Sellafield also springs to mind.) Many properties are empty partly due to the property recession but also due to the paltry size of the gardens and lack of allotments that could so easily have been restored.

What has replaced our allotments? As you can see a veritable forest of plastic tubes protecting newly planted trees and the flimsiest stakes you could imagine after 3 foot canes. As I said earlier this week this is an updated post for National Tree Week 2018. The plastic tubes are now litter around some decent young trees.

6 Years on and the trees are growing well as if to proove the allotment soil was in good condition. Unfortunately much of the area has suffered from flooding after intensive housing building.

Tips for Planting Trees

Dig a good sized hole and incorporate some slow release fertilizer like bone meal. The tree should be there for a long time.
Spread the roots of a bare rooted tree or tweak the edges of a container grown tree to give roots the encouragement to spread. Trim off any broken roots.
Plant at the same depth to which the tree has been grown. There is usually a soil mark on bare trees to help. Do not bury any graft.
Drive the stake into the bottom of the planting hole before planting the tree and try to ensure that 2/3rds of the stake is underground when the soil is returned to the hole. …
Read More Read More

A Plantsman’s Nursery – Holden Clough

March 3, 2024 hortoris

A nursery should grow there own or at least a good proportion of the plants they sell. Well you can’t complain at the sight of these Heuchera growing in Holden a small hamlet near Bolton by Bowland in Lancashire.

Holden Clough nursery has a great reputation and tradition for alpines that survive the wet local conditions.

Unfortunately these glowing Auriculas were in a quarantine area having already been sold but awaiting collection. Still with an eagle eye I could look at the special varieties someone else had chosen and consider my needs for the next visit. (I got a 10% off voucher for registering for the newsletter that I can use with my next purchases.)

I was impressed with the amount of bark chippings used to mulch and trim the pots. At check out I was told is saved the staff weeding but that in this location watering was no real problem due to the amount of rain.
Thinking about grit or chippings I wondered if the former compacted the soil more than the chippings and I think I will run some tests when I get home.

For 95 years the nursery has nestled in a charming hillside spot growing alpines and it is still going strong! Now they not only grow alpines, but also a larger range of plants including many new and unusual perennials.
The one drawback was that the new young team are keen to show their plans for site development which include a tearoom. Welcome though tea may be they could leave that to the ubiquitous garden centres and keep the nursery focus.

Photo above is of Heucherella Tapestry a hybrid between Heucheras and Tiarellas with many of the best qualities of both parents. This and a limited display of plants in their own small garden area show how and where a good plant can grow.

Compared with my visit on the same day to my local Garden Centre the range of plants at Holden Clough just what I wanted.

Hydrangeas At Thorp Perrow

March 3, 2024 hortoris

This Hydrangea panniculata Limelight was one of several under-planted trees at Thorp Perrow Arboretum. In full flower at the beginning of September this Hydreagea was one of 70 or so species and varieties planted in the grounds. Different parts of the arboretum have soils with PH values of 6.7 to an acidic 4.6 . There is marshy and wet ground despite the 15,000 trees drawing water from the land.

This Hydrangea quercifolia or oak leaved hydrangea looks a bit bedraggled in the photograph but it looked marvelous insitu. Quercifolia are medium sized shrubs worth growing for the leaf colour in autumn.

The volume of flowers and bracts on the one head was astonishing. There are many interesting Hydrangeas to see at Thorpe Perrow and I recommend buying the authoritative catalogue (£3.75) listing the featured trees and shrubs by location, name, origin and often age.

Hydrangea Villosa group are hairy leaved shrubs. This glorious specimen was at least 8 feet high and made a startling feature in moderately acid soil.

For more information on Thorp Perrow see Gods Own County

After a good wet year for Hydrangeas, please can we have more sun next summer.

This was first posted in September 2012 now with updates