GARDENER'S WORD

Miss Willmott is going rampant in my garden.  She has such lovely leaves and vibrant flowers that I am not at all worried about her behaviour although I know that at some point I am going to have to curtail her habit.  Planted at the front of a border, Miss Willmott has thrown out some vigorous stems which are pushing between neighbouring plants.  It would seem that this non-shrubby potentilla is not only perfect for ground coverage but attracts pollinating insects, like the below hoverfly, too. Hoverfly on Potentilla napalensis 'Miss Willmott' flower   Potentilla nepalensis 'Miss Willmott' I have planted mine in full sun in moist but well drained soil.  I don't think Miss Willmott is very particular about soil type but she does like sun.  It achieves a height of about 30cm (12in) and a spread of about 30-60cm (12-24in).  Potentilla nepalensis 'Miss Willmott'

After a couple, or three, or was it four? days of drizzly rain the sun has come out.  Thanks goodness for that.  The back lawn needed doing, which is easy enough, but the front lawn which is much bigger and on a slope is always a challenge for people like me who are vertically challenged (that means I have a permanent balance problem and struggle not to keel over at the best of times).  One day I swear I will Hover myself to a grisly death.  The gentle but persistent rain has caused the grass to grow lush and green and cutting cannot wait, but it has also impacted on the flowers in my garden.  The rain caused the stems of  Campanula persicifolia 'Alba' and Campanula Medium 'White' to bow down and touch the ground but a gentle shake from me alleviated the flowers of their burden of water and back up they sprang, tall and beautiful.  At the top of the garden, in a narrow gap between concrete paving of the patio and the fencing panels, I inserted some...

What a sunny dazzler is Coreopsis 'Sunray'.  I've been wondering exactly what the flowers would be like when they opened because I bought the plant before it came into bud and you don't always get what you see on the label.  This flower has outshone the label.  The flower is lovely and the plant is full of bud.  Coreopsis 'Sunray' Coreopsis 'Sunray' Coreopsis 'Sunray' The label describes Coreopsis 'Sunray' as a clump forming perennial with daisy like yellow double flowers on serrated foliage.  It requires full sun and fertile, well-drained soil.  It flowers late spring to early summer and achieves a height of 45cm (18in) and a spread of 30cm (12in). 

I love campanulas  (as you can see if you check my Category List on the right of the home page) and Campanula Medium 'White' is a little different to the others in my garden.  It's more of a tube shape.  It's quite splendid as the flowers are large and the stems are full of buds.  It's growing right next to Campanula persicifolia 'Alba' , another large white campanula which also sports its flowers on a tall stem.   I think that was a planting mistake, having the two flowering so close together at the same time, which may be remedied by moving one in autumn.  The problem is, they seem quite happy where they are! Campanula Medium 'White'   According to the label, Campanula Medium 'White' has lovely erect spikes of large bell-shaped white flowers growing from neat evergreen mounds of narrow leaves.  It is suitable for growing in lightly shaded borders and cottage gardens with moist, fertile well-drained soils.  It ...

I visited one of my favourite places yesterday, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) gardens at Harlow Carr.  I took a photo of the Knautia macedonica growing alongside a gravel path.  I grow the variety 'Mars Midget' which, as indicated by the name, is much shorter.  While the flower heads are only an inch or two (2.5-5cm) across, the rich red colour makes them stand out against foliage and I have read that this plant flowers longer than any other.  Whether that is true or not, I do not know but it's encouraging for my little garden.  The Knautia at the RHS was taller, at about 60cm+ high and made a pretty picture, particularly as the plant's seed heads are like little pompoms.  Knautia macedonica at the RHS Gardens, Harlow Carr  Knautia macedonica seed head  The seed heads look a little bit like the developing flower buds except that the buds are flatter.   Knautia macedonica 'Mars Midget'  The label that I received with ...

Verbena 'Homestead Purple' is a low growing plant which I have used next to a path at the front of my home.  It's has interesting leaves and the flowers stand above on a relatively long stem.  It's really pretty, the colourful is beautifully vibrant, and it's great for ground cover.  Sorry, I know the image is rather out of focus.  The wind kept blowing the plant! Verbena 'Homestead Purple'  Leaves of Verbena 'Homestead Purple' The label says that Verbena 'Homestead Purple' (also known as Feather grape hyacinth, for some reason) has vivid purple flowers for months over carpeting mounds of fresh green foliage.  It is suitable for borders, banks, gravel gardens, hanging baskets and containers.  It likes sun and well drained soil.  It flowers from early summer to mid autumn and achieves a height and spread of 40cm (16in). I also grow a herb called Lemon Verbena from which I make a refreshing lemony drink.  

In spring I made the decision to grow raspberries cordon-style .  That's because the canes have a habit of growing higher than my 6ft fence and when the wind blows it knocks the stuffing out of anything above fence level.  Not only that, but by laying the canes more horizontally, I am able easily to put net over my raspberries and protect them from the beds.  I promise, no birds get tangled in my net.  In fact, they don't seem to pay my fruit much attention.  I think I feed them too well on the complete bird-feeding station .  Also, I do share my harvest with the birds but they don't get to just peck away at all the fruit, ruining the crop and leaving me scraps! Polka raspberries The decision now is, do I make a freshly made kind of jam with them to eat on my home-made seed bread, or do I use them in my bircher muesli , or perhaps I'll just watch a movie and eat them like sweets.  I'm pleased to say that I am getting a crop of strawberries, a...

I went back to the garden centre today to pick up more plants for a border.  I noticed that many of the colourful  Zantedeschia (Calla Lilies) that I saw the other day had been sold but also that a few colours that I had not seen before had appeared on the stall.  They really are wonderful and as the photographs have been popular, some almost disbelieving that such flowers really exist, I thought I would share the photographs that I took today.  There was also a pure white one but I'm afraid that image didn't come out very well.  Zantedeschia (Calla Lilies) Zantedeschia (Calla Lilies) Zantedeschia (Calla Lilies) Zantedeschia (Calla Lilies)   Zantedeschia (Calla Lilies)   Zantedeschia (Calla Lilies) Zantedeschia (Calla Lilies)

If I were to choose one individual plant that is standing out in my garden today, I think it would have to be the Campanula persicifolia 'Alba'.  It's strikingly tall among my other border plants and so elegant.  The flower spikes rise high above a clump of leaves and I know I have chosen the right place for it, close to the front of my border.   Campanula persicifolia 'Alba' Campanula persicifolia 'Alba' Campanula persicifolia 'Alba' The growing instructions are the same as for Campanula persicifolia 'Telham Beauty'

Senecio Polyodon is a plant that doesn't need big showy flowers to make an impact.  It grows delicately tall (not too tall) with possibly hundreds of vibrant mauve daisies which are really eye catching.  As you can see, I've staked mine with bamboo because it is growing very close to other shrubs and I don't want them to disappear under this plant.  It's stems are stiff enough that it has taken to staking very well and remained upright.  It's a beautiful thing and I promise that the photographs are not doing it justice.  The daisies kept dancing in the breeze and while I tried to be patient I could not catch a moment when they would be totally still and in focus.  It's certainly a good choice for a cottage garden and a mixed border.  Senecio Polyodon My Senecio Polydon is growing in full sun, well drained soil.  It's a fully hardy perennial and will keep coming back every year.  It will flower from May to September. ...

Often I like plants for their foliage as much as for their flowers.  Sometimes the flowers are insignificant.  In the case of Polemonium boreale 'Heavenly Habit' it has both interesting foliage and flowers.   Polemoniums are commonly known as Jacob's Ladder. I have Heavenly Habit growing in a tiny bed right next to my garden swing.  It's taller than the plants behind which may, or may not, be a mistake but plants can be dug up and replanted in autumn so no worries there.  Polemonium boreale 'Heavenly Habit' Polemonium boreale 'Heavenly Habit' The plant label says that Polemonium boreale 'Heavenly Habit' is a clump-forming, fully hardy plant with pretty violet-blue flowers that have a yellow eye.  The flowers appear in early summer.  It regrows from the ground every year.  It achieves a height and spread of 30cm (12in).  It likes fertile, moist but well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade. 

For several reasons, I have had to get rid of many of the roses that were growing in my garden.  I became tired of combatting rust, blackspot, mildew, aphids, and thorns.  Having a balance problem, it made working around and between the roses a little tricky, to say the least.  Ironically, perhaps, two roses on the north-facing shady side of the garden have been allowed to remain due to their proliferation of blooms and because they have given me less trouble than those that have now gone.  I am writing of the merits of Wild Eve and New Dawn.  I have always grown New Dawn in my garden and right now it is full of dozens, if not hundreds, of buds.  Wild Eve is in bloom with many buds yet to open.  I love them both for their colour and their fragrance. Wild Eve    New Dawn  New Dawn Wild Eve and the honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum 'Scentsation'  

I went to Gordon Riggs garden centre in Walsden today and saw the most amazing display of potted Zantedeschia, or Calla Lilies, in various colours.  I would love to have bought one, or two, or even three, but as they are lilies I was worried about toxicity and possible effects on my Ragdoll cat, Alfie.  Zantedeschia, or Calla Lilies Zantedeschia, or Calla Lilies  Zantedeschia, or Calla Lilies Zantedeschia, or Calla Lilies  Zantedeschia, or Calla Lilies

Although I like my new hardy perennial border, it's a little low on colour just now and so I have been buying various plants to brighten things up meanwhile on the patio.  While at the garden centre, my attention was caught by the health and colour of 'pot carnations'.  I've always called them pinks, or dianthus.  Anyway, I bought three and the colour is so vibrant, it played havoc with the lens on my mobile phone camera.  It was difficult to get them in focus.  Apparently they don't like water on their petals and that shows in some of the photographs.  Tough, because its been raining today and I don't want them indoors.  I've a feeling they'll survive if the sun comes out before too long.  They are best, apparently, treated as annuals.  The leaves, stems and buds are very sturdy and the silveriness of the leaves tells me that they like sun and very good drainage.

When I was at the garden centre the other day, the whole idea of going was so a friend could buy a couple of terracotta pots.  I wanted nothing.  Then I spotted this little bellflower: Campanula pulla 'Blue'.  I had to have it.  In fact, I came out of the garden centre with a trolley load of plants but that's digressing.  The simple, vibrant violet-blue bell-shaped flowers of this alpine plant were so lovely that it wasn't a surprise to me that I seemed to have bought the very last one on display.  This campanula isn't tall like the Campanula persicifolia 'Telham Beauty ' that I mentioned in my previous post.  It's a relatively short alpine with a very different growing habit.  It spreads, which is lovely, so I gave it pride of place in its own shallow terracotta pot, in a grit and compost growing medium, topped by a protective layer of slug-hating grit. The flowers are actually more violet-blue than they appear in the below image...

I have loved the Campanula family of plants for many, many years and have, naturally, added quite a few to my newly planted hardy perennial borders.  I have found them, always, quite easy to grow.  At the moment Campanula persicifolia 'Telham Beauty' stands proudly in the midst of my other perennials .  One nice thing that I have found about this tall 'bellflower' ( campana is the Latin word for 'bell'), so far, is that it doesn't have to be put at the back of the border because the leaves aren't throwing surrounding plants into deep shade.  My Telham Beauty is just a couple of feet back from the edge of the border.  Campanula persicifolia  'Telham Beauty' This is the description on the label:  Campanula persicifolia 'Telham Beauty' is a hardy plant with upright stems of large, light blue, cup-shaped blooms from May to July.  It regrows from ground level every year.  It has a height of 90cm (36in) and spread of 90c...

I thought that today was going to be another sunny day like yesterday and while I was hoping to lounge on my garden swing with a good book, after a too busy day yesterday, the rain and thunder has put an end to that plan.  At least the thunder and rain has put nitrogen into the soil and given the newly planted clematis (Dr Ruppel and Elsa Spath), the 'Clotted Cream' jasmine (which I decided to remove from a pot it was growing it in), and several hardy perennials, another watering.  It has rained a lot lately.  I mean, a lot!  But, wait for it, the sun's coming out again.  I wish it would make its mind up.  Newly planted hardy perennial border You'll note that there is a lot of bare soil showing at the moment but the plants are still young and before long they will have spread out, joined together, and covered the soil, thus supressing weeds.  Usually it is advisable to plant in groups of three of a kind but I'm not goin...