GARDENER'S WORD

We've had a lot of hot, sunny weather lately but today is a bit overcast and fair old breeze.  Even so, I managed to get a fairly decent photograph of a small hoverfly that was enjoying the contents of a white bacopa flower growing in a basket on the back of my house. Hoverfly in white bacopa flower - Macro The wind is very drying and there's still no rain after days of dryness, so I've been out and done some watering of the containers, and dead-heading of various flowers, and when I noticed that a new web had been created between the hanging basket and the potted ivy plant on the garden table below, I thought that Arry Arachnid, the female Araneus diadematus , was back in place.  But, I was wrong.  The web belongs to a new male Araneus diadematus (not Henry ), let's call him Ernest, and when a greenfly landed on the web, Ernest came shooting down but I think he was trying to bite off a bit more than he could chew.  I read in an article that females are able ...

Flies are never welcome in my home, especially after watching the rather nauseating movie The Fly (1986) starring Jeff Goldblum, many years ago.  Since then I've liked them even less landing on my kitchen work surfaces or anywhere else for that matter.  However, it was not until I took a macro photograph of one of them in my garden yesterday that I realised just how beautiful the colours of the Green Bottle (Lucilia illustris sericata) are.  One landed on a dead rose while I was taking photographs of flowers.  Green Bottle on a dead rose As long as these beautiful but disease carrying flies remain in my garden, they are safe from me, but I cannot guarantee their safety from the spiders.  An article about the health hazards of Blue and Green Bottles (external link).

Several weeks ago, and rather late, I planted four hanging baskets with Swingtime and Southgate trailing fuchsias.  They were not very big and I pinched out the tips of the shoots in order to make the plants bushy rather than straggly with just a few branches trailing sadly down the side of the container, which I see so often elsewhere.  The pinching out has worked but it has been an age for the fuchsias to get a move on and flower.  Fortunately now the baskets are full of shoots with plenty of buds and at last I have some flowers.  I planted three of each type to a basket which made me a bit concerned that I might have overdone it but so far, so good.  Southgate, trailing fuchsia   Swingtime, trailing fuchsia Swingtime fuchsia stamens - Macro photograph Swingtime and Southgate, trailing fuchsias in the rain  

The pretty little alpine, Campanula cochlearifolia 'White Baby', is also known as Fairies' Thimbles, and I can see why.  The bells are small, about 1cm in length but, as they are very white, they are far from insignificant.  Although the plant is recommended for borders edges and rockeries, I have chosen to grow mine in a small pot with gravelly compost, surrounded by gravel (just in case the slugs decide to try and attack it).  In a pot, I can move it around to the best advantage to be admired and also protected from the wind which is one of the major problems I have living here, high up on the Pennine Mountains.  At the moment White Baby is standing among a row of Lewisias, in full sun at the top of my garden and it has been flowering for weeks.  Campanula cochlearifolia 'White Baby' The label describes the foliage as creeping, and I will be very glad if this does spread.  It's really lovely.  The foliage is pretty and bright, and the pla...

Back in April I planted 12 new raspberry canes: 6 Glen Ample, a mid-season variety and 6 Glen Doll, late season variety.  I cannot say that they have been completely successful as only 4 canes have survived and I'm really not used to things I plant dying on me, however, the ones that have survived have been successful and are provided wonderful healthy raspberries already.  The Glen Ample already has red fruit which taste delicious, and the Glen Doll is not far behind.  Possibly I should have stopped the newly planted canes from flowering and fruiting so that they would concentrate on roots and getting strong, but you know how it is.  I am still hopeful, despite the heavy losses, that next year I will get a reasonable crop and more canes will appear.  The lovely thing is, and maybe this will happen again next year, they are providing raspberries just as the last of the first crop of Polka raspberries has ended.  Polka, a double-cropper, is now bu...

In June 2013, I bought and brought Lewisia Cotyledon 'Special Mix' into my garden.  I fell in love with its lovely flowers and mound of fleshy, succulent leaves.  In fact, that lewisia grew so well that in spring this year I divided it.  From one plant, I got several.  I just took the original one out of its pot and pulled it apart.  I planted the separated new plants into a terracotta pot and surrounded them with alpine grit.  Not one has failed to thrive.  I thought that flowering was over for this year but, no, a number of the divided plants are now in flower.  Apparently lewisias can flower several times during one season.  Just keep them moist yet free draining during summer with lots of sun.  Lewisia cotyledon 'Special Mix' all divided from one original plant bought last year

At the beginning of June this year, I planted two more clematis climbers, Dr. Ruppel and Elsa Spath, on the fence of my south-facing border.  They weren't in flower at the time and so I had to rely upon the picture on the label stuck to the pot.  I'm never quite sure how reliable those pictures are going to be but I haven't been disappointed.  As it has turned out, the flowers are pretty and creating quite an impact on the fence, already sporting buds and flowers and I know, (clematis virus and what-have-you permitting), that these are going to look stunning as they twine among the jasmine.  Clematis 'Elsa Spath' Pruning Group 2 Clematis 'Elsa Spath' Pruning Group 2 Clematis 'Dr Ruppel' Pruning Group 2 Pruning Group 2 Clematis , according to the Royal Horticultural Society : With clematis group 2, which tend to flower twice in one year, the goal is to keep a framework of older wood yet promote the growth of new shoots in order to...

A red-tailed Bumblebee, Bombus lapidarius, visited my garden today and I went and grabbed my camera as quickly as I could.  Fortunately, I had the macro lens on it.  I felt sure that by the time I got back to the Malva moschata 'Rosea' flowers that it would have gone but, as luck would have it, it was still there and it was rolling around in the centre of the flowers and was covered in white pollen.  It was a joy to watch. Bombus lapidarius, Red-tailed Bumblebee rolling in white pollen    Bombus lapidarius Bumblebee rolling in white pollen Bombus lapidarius Bumblebee rolling in white pollen Bombus lapidarius Bumblebee rolling in white pollen Bombus lapidarius Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius Bumblebee Save our humble Bumblebees

While the female Araneus diadematus spider (Arry Arachnid) posted earlier seems to be still sleeping off a heavy meal from the contents of a cocoon yesterday (I thought she'd eaten herself to the point of death - I know that feeling!), a male Araneus diadematus (Henry) is on his web two hanging baskets away trying to get something to eat. While this image might be unimpressive to you, the male spider is about 5mm, if that, across.  The spider was in the shade, camera hand held, no flash, a breeze blowing both the web and the hanging basket, and the spider bouncing around like a rubber ball.  Apparently, if Henry decides to get romantic with Arry, he could be her next meal.  Poor Henry. Araneus diadematus male - about 2mm in size - having something to eat     Araneus diadematus - male   What this male Araneus diadematus needs is a good meal and I have just the place to find something for him, on my sweet peas—aphid...

Coreopsis grandiflora 'Early Sunrise' is yet another yellow flower in my garden, adding a dash of sunshine no matter what the weather.  It has flowered a little later than Coreopsis 'Sunray' which I mentioned in an early post.  Coreopsis grandiflora 'Early Sunrise' The label says that it has an outstanding colour and will encourage birds and butterflies into your garden.  It has double golden yellow daisy-like flowers above bushy and leafy-stemmed clumps of bright green narrow foliage.  It is suitable for borders in sun on well drained woils and is good for cutting.  It flowers early to late summer and achieves a height of approximately 60cm (24in) and spread of 45cm (18in).

Lady Stratheden is a beautiful geum with lovely leaves too.  I much prefer her golden sunniness to the hot oranges of some of the other geums.  However, she grows her flowers tall above her relatively low foliage, and her stems can need some support .  I grow mine at the edge of a border and have to stake her to avoid tripping over them. Profile image of geum 'Lady Stratheden' Lady Stratheden is so lovely and so reliable and easy to grow that the plant has earned the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit (AGM).   Geum 'Lady Stratheden' The label says that Geum 'Lady Stratheden' is free flowering with glowing yellow double flowerse on slender stems above mounds of fresh green foliage.  It is suitable for borders, in sun or partial shade, on moist but well-drained, humus rich soil.  It is good for cutting.  It flowers late spring to late summer and achieves a height of approx. 60cm (24in) and spread of 45cm (18in).   ...

The sun is good and hot today with not much of a breeze.  In fact we've had a good few sunny days lately with the promise of more to come.  Although it rained a few days ago, water is now evaporating from my garden like crazy and I'm trying to keep the pots from drying out.  The dahlias, Fascination , collapsed with the heat although I only watered them yesterday evening, and so I have rewatered, and fed them, and supported them with cane and string.  Mid afternoon I did some dead-heading of the dahlias and everything else that needed it.  I chopped down the lovely Senecio Polyodon just above ground level.  It was still full of bloom but was also full of tiny dead heads making fluffy seeds.  It was all getting out of hand and straggly, it looked a mess, and really it was casting too much shade on other plants.  Roses, New Dawn and Wild Eve , have also required dead-heading and I've taken the opportunity to prune back the growth a little as ...

I thought, this morning, that the female Araneus diadematus spider that I have dubbed Arry Arachnid, had moved to live elsewhere.  Her web was tatty and even when a greenfly landed on the web, there was no sign of her.  This surprised me as it seemed to me she had a perfect for catching her prey.  Then I damaged the web further with my finger, and out she came to see what was going on.  She soon scuttled back to where she had come from: a fat grey cocoon.  No wonder she wasn't interested in the greenfly; she had pierced the cocoon and found something juicy inside.  While some might wonder what this has to do with a gardening blog, most will know all too well that the wildlife that goes on in a garden, often unseen to us, is as important as the soil and the plants that grow in it.  While the spider's habit of eating things alive will be repellent to us, she is also helping to control many of the pests that harm ornamental and agricultural...

I was a bit disappointed when I got up this morning to find the tiny golden spider, which I have named Arry Arachnid, had left its web but as soon as the sun came out nice and bright, Arry came out too.  I guess she's a late riser.  Turns out that Arry (now deemed short for Ariadne), as far as I can ascertain it, is an Araneus diadematus spider and is not male but female.  Apparently females hang upside down on their webs and can reach a size of 15mm.  At the moment, she is about 1mm but the way she eats...  She must have needed a hearty breakfast this morning because when I discovered that there were aphids sucking the life out of my sweet peas, well, Arry got breakfast served in web.  She ate two green aphids before I had time to say 'would you like coffee with that?' and then a black fly made the mistake of flying her way.    Golden spider (Arry Arachnid) having breakfast while hanging upside down After eating two greenflies, cocooning an...

I visited a garden centre today with a friend, and I took my iPhone 5s with me so that I could take some photos.  The only things that really caught my attention today were some brightly coloured Gazanias.  My garden is jam-packed with plants so all I bought today were husked sunflower seeds, dried meal-worms, and a bird-feeder for the mealworms.  I am hoping to attract even more kinds of birds than visit already.  Anyway, here are the Gazanias. 

Many people think of Heuchera as plants which are grown simply for their leaves but I think they have pretty flowers too.  Granted, the flowers are insignificant but they hang together delicately on tall stems which, for the most part, are self-supporting.  I think to see them and when they are done, I cut the stems back down to the ground and let the leaves take over the show.  Don't let my macro photographs fool you though, the flowers are, individually, only a couple of millimetres across. Flowers of the Heuchera 'Green spice' - Macro photo Flowers of the Heuchera 'Licorice' - Macro photo Heuchera 'Licorice' Heuchera 'Licorice' flowers