Pruning Deciduous Azalea and After Care

Pruning Deciduous Azalea and After Care

Azalea Mollis aka Rhododendron sinensis

This species of plants originate in central China. The closely related species R. molle japonicum come from Japan. Both these deciduous varieties are relatives of the popular Ghent and Knapp Hill hybrids.

They are one of our favourite flowering plants with bold, colourful, spring blooms that are not hidden by lime green leaves that appear around flowering time.

A North American variety R. calendulaceum is called the “Flame azalea” due its fiery orange colours and autumn leafs. R. luteum is not surprisingly yellow.

Pruning Azalea

  • Where possible avoid pruning but if needs must then wait until flowering has finished.
  • Water the shrub and keep it well watered through late spring until autumn.
  • Take out dead or damaged wood with sharp secateurs.
  • If reshaping or drastic pruning is needed expect to loose the flowing capacity for one or two seasons.
  • Thin water shoots from the base can be thinned in number to encourage the others.
  • Remove one older stalk to create light space and shape if you must.

Azalea

After Care

  • After care will help the plant recover from shock.
  • Apply an ericaceous acid plant fertiliserlike miracle-gro specially formulated for azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, dogwoods and magnolias. Feed through summer.
  • Mulch around the base of the shrub.
  • Other acidifying feeds and treatments include vinegar, ammonium sulfate, iron sulfate or flowers of sulfur but take care as some may burn the shrubs.
  • Dress the top soil with peat or an ericaceous compost

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Rhododendron Pink Pearl

Wasps Problems and Control

Wasps Problems and Control

I thought this was meant to be a bird box but the wasps thought differently.

Wasps

Wasps are a large and diverse group of insects with tens of thousands of  species including Hornets, Yellow Jackets and solitary wasps. Some social wasps live together in a nest with an egg-laying queen but the greater numbers are solitary species.

Wasps like munching on ripen fruit Plums, Pears and Apples. They are not the main villain as they only attack fruit that is already damaged by birds or other insects. Their mouths are not usually strong enough to break the skin.

Grapes can be susceptible to damage but bunches of fruit can be wrapped in muslin or old nylons.

Wasp Control and Problems

  • Control wasps by destroying their nests with carbaryl dust.(see below)
  • The sting of a wasp is how they catch some of there food prey.  In late summer  humans may get stung as wasps start to mate for the following year. Wasps may sting more than once if people come close to them but the pain is less than that of most bees.
  • Wasp nests made from chewed wood pulp and saliva can be found in roof spaces, under eaves or in bird boxes  but are not generally a serious problem.
  • Wasps are predators and parasites so  can help in a garden as the larvae feed on aphids and caterpillars. Wasps are major pollinators in the UK and around the world.

Gall Wasps

Cynipids can form a variety of gall on Oak tree leaves, stems and roots. Some years the galls can be very numerous but no serious harm will be done and no control is required. The underside of leaves may get rust brown spangle galls or brown spot gall.

Notes

‘Carbaryl is a man-made pesticide that is toxic to insects. It is commonly used to control aphids, ants, ticks, spiders, and many other outdoor pests. It is also used in some orchards to thin out blossoms on fruit trees.’ Pesticide information center

Camassia Flowers and Food

Camassia Flowers and Food

Some Camassia species were an important food staple for Native Americans and settlers in parts of North American

  • Camassia quamash or wild hyacinth will naturalise in grass and is happy in moist ground.
  • These bulbs have a reputation of being tough and hardy and thrive in less than perfect soils.
  • Camassia leichtlinii is a spring flowering bulb with spires of creamy-white flowers although the more normal powder blue varieties are more often planted.
  • Camassia prefer to grow undisturbed and are not ideal for containers.
  • Flowers open in spring and attract bees for their nectar.

Death Camases are liliaceous, perennial herbs and are not edible.

 

Growing all Sorts of Stuff

Growing all Sorts of Stuff

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Why You Might want to Grow Edible Stuff

  • Food stuff is top of the list in Mazlow’s hierarchy of need.
  • ‘Growing your own’ to feed the family has been a priority for centuries.
  • Farmers, market gardeners and smallholders all contribute edible stuff as do allotment holders and the majority of gardeners.
  • Windowsills, greenhouses, conservatories and sunny sheltered spots can be used to grow tomatoes and salad crops for example.
  • Herbs add taste to many dishes  and  basil, mint, parsley, rosemary and chillies,  are all stuff you can grow quite easily.
  • Stuff called Curcurbits such as courgettes, squash, pumpkins and cucumbers are comparatively easy to grow with a bit of shelter and warmth.
  • Tasty specialties are now more commonplace but Pineapples were grown in special stove houses in the 17th and 18th centuries.

What Other Stuff You Might want to Grow

  • Man can’t live by bread alone so aesthetic stuff needs to be grown to feed the inner man.
  •  Flowers and decorative plants come in all shapes and sizes. Cacti, Holly, Ivy and poinsettia are seasonal stuff you can try.
  • Stuff for indoors includes a range of bulbs and windowsill plants. Old Aspidistra and other evergreen leaved plants have a reputation of cleaning the air. A reputation probably earned when we all had coal fires.
  • Growing stuff in a formal manner from a large landscape to a small Knot garden can be time consuming but rewarding.
  • Organic and environmentally friendly grown stuff has its own reward.
  • Forestry, heath and heather, parks and pleasure grounds all serve a visual or emotional purpose.

How to Grow Stuff

You will have guessed it – read the book!

Botanical Gardens and Botanics

Botanical Gardens and Botanics

Definitions and Scope

Botany is the science of plant life. In other descriptions it is the study of plant science or plant biology. A botanist is one who studies botany.

A botanic is a drug or medicinal preparation obtained from a plant or plants. 

“Botanic gardens are institutions holding documented collections of living plants for the purposes of scientific research, conservation, display and education.”

Oxford Botanic Gardens and Magdalen College Tower.

This garden, the oldest in the UK was founded in 1621 as a physic garden growing plants for medicinal research

The original Cambridge University Botanic Garden (CUBG) was founded in 1762  with the larger site opening in 1846. It provides inspiration for botanists, gardeners and the public with an array of 8000 plant species. As a university garden it has a resources for research and teaching based on a collection of living plants labelled with their botanical names. CUBG is one of 1600 heritage-listed gardens  which are based on ‘designed’ landscapes, rather than on planting or botanical importance.

Chelsea Physic Garden was established as the Apothecaries’ Garden  in 1673

Birmingham Botanical Gardens

Durham University Botanic Garden plus other University led botanic gardens at Leicester and Bristol

Ness Botanic Gardens

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

Sheffield Botanic Garden has been restored  with  different garden areas with plants from all over the world, this 19-acre Gardenesque-style botanical garden is a diverse one to visit. As with other good botanic gardens it holds National Plant Collections in Sheffields case Weigela, Diervilla and Sarcococca.

National Botanic Garden of Wales

Belfast College Park, Botanic Avenue

Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil  contains exotic plants in a massive 137-hectare garden’

Singapore Botanic Gardens founded  in 1859 has Singapore’s  National Orchid Garden holding a collection of more than 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids of orchids

Other large cities have notable botanic gardens including Sidney, New York, Kirstenbosch, Padova, Munchen and Montreal.

Botanic Labeling

cyclamen cilicium

Botanic label and specimen containing the  family name Myrsinaceae, or the myrsine family and origin S W Turkey. The species name Cyclamen Cilcium, the forma as two cultivars have been named but there are many similar wild forms. The number is the accession number 4 digits show the year the plant was first acquired  then last four numbers are sequential numbers.

Myrsinaceae is a rather large family from the order Ericales, that includes Cyclamen among 30+ genera.

RHS Plant label information downloadable

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Hibiscus senensis

Hibiscus senensis

The flamboyant Hibiscus senensis is now readily available as a housplant from garden centres. This yellow flower was growing on an Italian road side.

In a conservatory this evergreen is a neat rounded shrub. Good drainage and light are required for good flowering but plants can have a very long life.

If you want to know more about the species of Hibiscus you could do worse than read a book ‘Hibiscus Hardy and Tropical Plants for the Garden’ by Barbara Taylor Lawton extracts of which can be found here.

Mowing Techniques & Tips

Mowing Techniques & Tips

When one man went to mow it was to mow a meadow. Do you want to let your lawn get into that state? If not here are some tips but probably not enough to get you a stately home lawn.

Technical Approach

  • Little and often is usually a good plan. One a week in spring, during dry spells and autumn but more frequently in summer.
  • Aim to cut about one third of the height with each mowing
  • An occasional cut during mild weather in winter with the blades set high.
  • Start the year with the blades set high, upto one and a half inches for coarse grass down to a quarter of an inch for a bowling green standard fine lawn.
  • The best cuts are made by cylinder mowers with a large number of blades. I now use a lithium battery model.
  • Rotary mowers, strimmers and hover mowers are best for long tougher grasses.

Mowing Problems

  • Remove clippings otherwise you may encourage worm casts, weeds, aeration problems and disease.
  • Some recommend leaving clippings in hot dry weather to reduce evaporation but I find it unsightly and ineffective.
  • Avoid scalping off the top surface by taking turns too quickly of dropping of the edge of the lawn.
  • Setting to low can scalp the grass.
  • Keep blades sharp and correctly set to avoid tearing the grass rather than cutting it.
  • Alternate cutting horizontally and vertically to get the football pitch chequered effect.

Mowing in Special Situations

  • Inspect the area for hazards such as sticks, stones and animal droppings.
  • On a slope always mow side-to-side, not up and down the hill.
  • Choose the right mower, ride-ons are not good for steep slopes. Electrict mowers can be dangerous in wet conditions.
  • On wet grass raise the mowing height and keep the speed down to reduce the load on the motor.
  • The stripes you see on a lawn or playing field is simply light reflecting off the grass blades that have been mowed in one direction then the reverse. A mower with a roller helps accentuate the effect.
  • Treat weedy or moss infested lawns with proprietary weed and feed 3 days before cutting and leave for 3 days after dressing.

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Botanical Illustration and Gardener’s Art Books

Botanical Illustration and Gardener’s Art Books

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For something a bit different this book on botanic art covers some of the unusual colours from black flowers, plants and seaweed like strange green, blue and puce pink.

Contemporary Botanical Illustration with the Eden Project: Challenging Colour and Texture by Rosie Martin and Meriel Thurstan

For more see below

Alternatively look at the illustrations in Mr Marshall’s Flower Book

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Books from the art world

The quality that you might expect from Kew

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For a how too guide I am currently using this library book as my step to step guide.

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Marianne North Botanical Traveller

Marianne North Botanical Traveller

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Botanical Traveller

‘Marianne North, an unmarried middle-aged Victorian lady of comfortable means, set off in 1871 on her first expedition to make a pictorial record of the tropical and exotic plants of the world. Marianne produced more than 860 paintings which are housed in a special gallery at Kew.

Biographical Notes

  • Marianne North was born in 1830 in Hastings where her father was a well to do member of Parliament.
  • She traveled  with her father until his death in 1871 after which, at the age of 41, she visited North America, Jamaica and Brazil.
  • In 1875 she visited the Americas, Japan, India, Ceylon, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Later visiting Java, Seychelles and Chile. All the while she was painting the species and specimen plants she discovered.
  • A variety of plants were painted in situe and five were named after her.
  • The majority of her paintings were given to Kew Gardens and she funded and organised  a gallery in which to display them.
  • The gallery is unusual because it contains 832 paintings almost her entire work.
  • The Marianne North Gallery is one of the most popular attractions of Kew Garden and the paintings still remain in their original Victorian arrangement.
  • Whilst in USA she became friendly with Edward Lear, U.S. President Grant, and Charles Darwin. Julia Margaret Cameron photographed her in Ceylon.
Mangrove swamp Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; (c) Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (book); Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Auricula Knowhow & Books

Auricula Knowhow & Books

It has been a good spring for auriculas in my garden and cold greenhouse. Now the plants need time to rejuvenate after flowering so I will have time to read the National Auricula and Primula and Society’s excellent new members handbook and some of the following epistles.

 

 

 

 

The powder blue auricula is in a home made ‘tufa’ pot

Auricula Book Examples

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The Auricula: History, Cultivation and Varieties Allan Guest

Every now and then I decide to focus on one species or plant group. For 2014/2015 it is going to be the Auriculas. I need to practice the techniques explained in various books and learn’ what is what’ with florists Auricula. With that in mind I have joined the National Auricula and Primrose Society northern section and so far it seems very good value for money.

On to the books I am looking out for:

Auriculas – Their Care and Cultivation B.Hyatt Cassell, London.
Auriculas Through the Ages: Bear’s… by Patricia Cleveland-Peck
Auriculas for Everyone: How to Grow and Show Perfect Plants by Mary A. Robinson
Auriculas and Primroses by W.R. Hecker (22 Apr 1971)

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Primroses and Auriculas Wisley Handbook by Peter Ward
The Auricula: History, Cultivation and Varieties by Allan Guest
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