GARDENER'S WORD

A few days ago I sowed several seeds in pots to keep indoors until the seeds have germinated and the plants are big enough, and the weather mild enough, to put them outdoors.  I've sown some Wisley Magic runner beans , Soleil F1 hybrid courgettes , and two kinds of sweet peas (Midnight Blues and Cupid Pink).   At least, I'm hoping they'll germinate.  I've put the seeds into pots of damp compost placed inside large sandwich bags which I've tied at the necks with the ties supplied.  Fingers crossed that all will be successful.  I'll let you know. Wisley Magic runner beans 2015 Potted seeds inside sandwich bags.  If and when the seeds germinate and the little seedlings raise their heads, then I'll remove the pots from the bags. Potted seeds in sandwich bags 29042016   

We're getting it all this week - rain, wind, sunshine, hail, snow, even thunder.  I hope the weather is getting it all out of its system so that we can have a gloriously warm and sunny summer here on the Pennine Mountains of West Yorkshire.  I posted that we had hail the other day, today we have several inches of snow and it's still coming down in great big lumps.  Snow is pretty to behold but terribly heavy and it can be seriously damaging.  Many years ago a young silver birch of mine, a tree about 15ft tall, was split down the trunk due to heavy snow, just like a peeled banana.  Fleece protecting newly bought plants from snow 29/04/2016 Maybe it wasn't necessary but as I knew snow was coming, I protected with fleece my newly bought plants which are huddled together on my garden table against the house wall (above), and I've protected with bubblewrap my Japanese Maple 'Acer palmatum dissectum 'Ornatum' against it by covering with fl...

I bought my first ever tree peony today, Paeonia suffruticosa 'Shimadaijim', at the Royal Horticultural Society garden nursery in Harlow Carr.  Although I have not yet seen the actual flower, the images on the internet and the photograph on the label is promising.  I had always thought that tree peonies were somewhat tender but apparently they are hardy.  We'll see, won't we?  How many hardy plants have I bought that have never survived the winter here high on the Pennine Mountains of West (wet) Yorkshire?   Answer: a lot!  I chose 'Shimadaijin', which means Island Minister (hardly a romantic translation), because of the depth of its colour with that golden centre. Paeonia suffruticosa Shimadaijin 27042016 Many 'named' tree peonies that we find in garden nurseries have been grafted onto a rootstock.  There were only a few Shimadaijin peonies to chose from and I chose the one where I liked the growth most, except that I could see tha...

I went to a garden centre this morning, earlier than I would usually go because snow had been forecast for this afternoon; and the weatherman/woman got it right for once.  It might not settle long as the temperature is above zero but it is coming down long and plentiful, and it does feel more like winter out there than spring approaching summer.  I've bought lots of perennial plants in pots for putting into the borders but right now they are gathered together on a table against the wall of my home with a little protection from the wall and the (closed) overhead garden awning.  No, I am not thinking that the cold might damage the plants but the weight of snow can ruin flowers and snap delicate stems.  I am just hoping that the weather doesn't damage my beautiful Obdam daffodils.  I had thought I had lost them all last winter but no, up they have come yet again.  Beautiful Obdam daffodil.  Obdam daffodils, 2nd May 2013

If I didn't grow at least a few sweet peas (lathyrus odoratus) in my garden each summer, I'd feel that I was missing out.  I never quite seem to have the success that they do at, say, the Royal Horticultural Society, but I keep on trying.  I think it's maybe my soil isn't rich enough or something but anyway they'll just have to cope with what they get the same as the rest of my plants.  I like to cut them and bring them indoors and, bless them, the more I cut the flowers off, the more they keep on coming.  Cutting off fresh flowers for the home, or cutting off dead flowers before they make seed is important if you want a prolonged season of flowers. This year, instead of buying little plants that have been started off already, I've bought seeds: Sarah Raven's varieties caught my eye and I bought Midnight Blues and Cupid Pink.   They're quite expensive at £2.90 each packet but there were 25 seeds in each so it still works out cheaper than buying t...

I have a spreading plant growing a sunny border that is in full bloom right now.  The flowers, about 1cm diameter, are a deep sappire blue.  So beautiful.  It's Lithodora diffusa 'Heavenly Blue'.  I like it so much that I bought another one the other day to plant elsewhere.  I could have taken cuttings, I suppose, but I can be an impatient garden and I wanted a second plant right now.  I have lots of spaces to fill now that I have reduced the size of my lawn.  Lithodora diffusa 'Heavenly Blue'  The label says that Lithodora diffusa enjoys sun or partial shade.  It is good for ground cover and achieves a height of 10cm (4in).  It blooms June to July and is suitable for rockeries.  Lithodora diffusa is a hardy evergreen perennial.  Mine is grown in full sun and has spread about 50cm (20in).  Although the label says it flowers from June to July, mine is in flower right now, in April, with lots of buds promising many mor...

I've always been a fan of simple yellow primroses which look so natural to me, and I've always scorned the colourful primulas which can seem too gaudy in a garden border, but there is something so special and eye-catching about the denticulata variety which a neighbour grows.  Had to have some.  So I've bought three colours which I shall probably grow in partial shade. They are hardy and perennial. Primula denticulata - white 24/04/2016 The label says that primula denticulata (drumstick primula) is a delightful plant, ideal for planting in rock gardens, or by water.  They form neat rosettes of pale green leaves and bear dense round heads of typical primula flowers on strong stems in spring.  They need rich moist soil in sun or partial shade, and flower from mid spring to summer.  They achieve a height of 30cm (12in) and a spread of 25cm (10in).  Keep moist and apply an annual dressing of peat.  

A little over a month ago I bought two small tomato plants, Tumbler and Tumbling Jester .  Since then they have grown rapidly and have become quite tall which is not what I want from tumbling tomatoes.  I thought they were bush tomatoes but since have seen them described as trailing tomatoes.  Of course, it could be relatively low light that has caused them to grow tall as they are being grown inside my home until the risk of frost has passed, but they do get morning sun in the kitchen and in the afternoon I move them to where they get sunshine until evening.  Anyway, I have potted them on.  Potting on just means moving into a bigger pot.  I always repot tomatoes more deeply, burying the lower side shoots.  I don't remove the leaves.  That sounds wrong, doesn't it?  But what it does is trigger root production from the shoot and the stem below surface level.  The more roots, the more water and nutrients the plant can take in.  T...

One plant that caught my eye for its unusual colour was the Phlox 'Blue Ridge'.  It reminded me of those perfumed Parma-violet sweets I would buy as a child.  The flowers of the phlox are not a true blue as the label would have you think, but instead a soft violet.  Phlox 'Blue Ridge' 23/04/2016 The label says that Phlox 'Blue Ridge' has clear blue flower heads above evergreen spreading mats of green, oval foliage.  It is suitable for border edges, rockeries, paving, walls, banks, gravel gardens, and containers in the sun [or partial shade] on well-drained soil. It flowers from mid spring to early summer.  It spreads about 60cm (2ft) and the flower stems are about 20cm (8in).  Apparently is also grows in partial shade and has been generally described as fragrant although I haven't noticed it yet. 

I've been buying quite a few plants for my garden this last week or two because, over winter, many perennials in my borders have died.  I blame the torrential rain for that because I think the ground became just too waterlogged and the plants drowned.  Their little roots have to have air you know.  Anyway, one of my new plants is Anemone 'Bordeaux, and what a fabulous colour it is.  Anemone 'Bordeaux' 23/04/2016  I have yet to plant it out into my garden.  We have frost and wintery showers threatening us here on the Pennine Mountains of West Yorkshire and so I am just waiting a while.  Anemone 'Bordeaux' 23/04/2016 The label says, about Anemone 'Bordeaux' that it is a hardy herbaceous perennial with stunning burgundy red flowers over filigree foliage, May to June.  It achieves a height and spread of 15cm (6" x 6").   It is suitable for moist but well-drained soil in sun or light shade and is ideal forborders, rockeries, and con...

I always understood that, unlike daffodils, there was no point in keeping tulip bulbs year after year because they didn't flower as well, but I have found that mine flower beautifully and so do their little offspring in time. Perhaps the flowers are not as big, but it's not so I have noticed.  Late last autumn I planted winter-flowering violas in a trough under my living-room window and beneath them tulip bulbs.  I had no idea what kind of tulip bulbs as I've a bad habit of getting my bulbs mixed up.  The tulips are now flowering and it seems like they are Yokohama, Orange Emperor, and Fur Elise.  Note that the little violas are still going strong, poking their way through the tulip leaves.  Cute!  They are a lovely sight to see from within my living room. Tulips in a trough with winter-flowering violas (Tulips yellow 'Yokohama', 'Orange Emperor', and 'Fur Elise'.

I'm off to a slow start this year with my gardening and my blog has been neglected. In fairness, we have had such heavy rainfall over winter that my soil has been like wet lead and not only that but I've felt like lead and not up to doing the chores.  But I am getting a move on now, little by little.  I bought some Tete a Tete daffodils a week or so ago, eight bulbs in a pot.  After taking the photographs, I put the pot on the outside kitchen window bottom.  It's wonderful to see their bright little faces through the glass.  Tete a Tete daffodils 14/04/2016 Since buying this pot, I have bought three more pots of Tete a Tete daffodils.  The thing is, Tete a Tetes don't grow tall and so are not so susceptible to strong winds knocking their heads off.  Also, one bulb will provide more than one flower stem with often two flowers on the stem.  They really are a must in my garden.  When they have finished flowering, the bulbs will...