GARDENER'S WORD

Once upon a time, I had plans to have a rose garden and when I moved into my present home, I had many in my garden.  I wanted them rambling and climbing along the fences.  I wanted them putting on a glorious display in the garden beds.  I wanted them to fill my garden with fragrance and colour.  Of course, we all know that what we want isn't always what we get.  Now that the air is cleaner the roses, which once flourished free of disease like rust and blackspot, succumb to those nuisances and chemical spraying became necessary.  Now, I don't like to have to spray my garden with chemicals.  For one thing, I don't like it, the pollinating insects don't like it, and I don't want my pet Ragdoll cat, Alfie, being affected by such chemicals.  On top of that, the fact that I have a very tricky balance problem meant that I kept getting impaled on rose thorns when gravity grabbed me.  So, I had to say goodbye to roses .  Most of them anyway....

Wood Pigeons have quite a bad reputation for causing damage to plants and crops and they aren't very popular with farmers and gardeners, but they aren't always a nuisance.  While I have had problems in the past with a particular wood pigeon that liked to wade in the wild birds' water tray and then poop in it (they simply have no manners!), lately a couple of Wood Pigeons and Collared Doves have served a useful purpose as animated Hoovers.  They pick up all the sunflower seeds and bits of sunflower seeds which the small birds like goldfinches, greenfinches, and blue tits , drop from the bird-feeding station. Wood Pigeon picking up scraps dropped by the smaller birds above I regularly blast the area with the hose pipe and clean the bird feeders to help prevent the spread of disease.  Always try to give wild birds fresh water to drink along with the food. Collared Dove ready to drink 

I didn't prune back my Syringa Red Pixie, a petite lilac with lovely flowers which I first planted in 2014, after it had flowered in early summer.  It has rewarded me yet again with producing a second flush of flowers which have opened this week.  It's such a pretty little shrub which gives such fragrance when in flower.  You might like to try growing it yourself.  I know the description states that the flowers are red but when open they are a deep pink, as you can see.  It's strange though.  When I first bought it the flowers didn't appear quite as spikey as they do now.  While I was busy taking photographs in my garden, the resident Ragdoll cat, Alfie, snoozed in the sun. Syringa Red Pixie - second flush of flowers - 25 August 2017 Syringa Red Pixie - second flush of flowers - 25 August 2017 Alfie, the resident Ragdoll cat.  Alfie, the resident Ragdoll cat - 25 August 2017

I like the busy, natural look in a garden, with plants supporting one another, shutting out the weeds (I rarely see weeds in my garden), but I also like some kind of order too.  Since having the garden room built , the top patio, where the old shed used to sit, has felt cramped and very wrong.  Although a small shed of 4 x 3 ft was erected in place of the old 6 x 3 shed, there was little room for the hammock swing which took up more room than I had realised.  The base of it covered a very large area and the cushions filled the new shed.  As I wasn't really using it since the garden room was built, it sadly had to go.  The hammock-swing has been moved around a bit over the years (see images below) but it has been taken to a friend's garden and I am sure that she and her grandchildren will make good use it.  The next step is to decide what to do about the new patio space.  I may remove the raspberry canes and plant something that can be enjoyed all year ...

Today was the day for pruning back my honeysuckle which, if allowed, takes liberties.  Flowering was over and it was starting to form those lovely red berries but I had to sacrifice them (hopefully not all of them) for the sake of having plenty of flowers next year (a joy for me, the neighbours, and more importantly for pollinating insects).  With my trusty secateurs and hanging onto the fence with one hand to maintain my balance, I cut back the climber by approximately one-third or so—probably moreso.  Honeysuckle: Lonicera periclymenum 'Scentsation' forming berries   Although the honeysuckle that I grow, Lonicera periclymenum 'Scentsation'  (RHS link), is not a rampant honeysuckle compared to some, I do have to keep it under control.  That's especially so now that my old 6ft (182cm) fencing has been replaced with 5ft (152cm) fencing that allows light and air to pass through .  The honeysuckle is trying to find its way over onto the sun...

I think we all see moss in our lawns from time to time (if not all the time) and sometimes on house roofs.  But, you know, it's easy to think of it as just a nuisance when it starts to take over a lawn but really, up close, it can be quite beautiful. Personally, I like to see clumps of moss growing in parts of my garden, in the shade, in the same way that I like to see terracotta pots looking aged with moss and algae.  Now and then I get clumps of moss falling off my home's roof.  I find it on the patio by the kitchen door, little balls of it, like miniature green hedgehogs. Macro photograph of moss, 2015  What made me think of moss is that it likes damp conditions and it rained all day yesterday, and so far the weather isn't looking all that great today.  Someone on the weather news yesterday said it was more like autumn than August, and I think they are right.  Try growing moss on top of a pot or cultivate it in your garden.  It lo...

I love penstemons.  Ever since I introduced them to my garden a few years ago, they have flowered reliably for long periods over the warmer months.  When you consider that the poor things have been moved from here to there and back again, over and over, you would think they'd just go and die on me, but they don't.  Mine remain pretty much in leaf over winter and I think the leaves probably protect the roots and heart of the plant from frost.  Then, come spring, when the weather warms up, I tidy them up with my secateurs, pruning them back to stop them being leggy, and they're off again!  Penstemon 'Pensham Laura' Love Penstemons .  Pollinators love penstemons  too!  Bees love penstemons too! Bees love penstemons too! Look, it's wing looks like an egg whisk!  :)  Penstemon 'Purple Passion' Penstemons behind Veronica spicata 'Ulster Blue Dwarf' Penstemon 'Pensham Laura' Penstemon 'Phoenix Violet'

The beautiful little Hebe 'Purple Pixie' (syn. Hebe Mohawk) which grows at the top of my sunny border, near the garden room has had the most fantastic flowers this year.  I mean, an absolutely dense covering of purple which the bees and other pollinators have just loved.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I cut the shrub back quite hard in spring because it was starting to look a bit leggy and I really did think that I would have hardly any flowers this year, but not so.  Obviously.  Seems that the time to prune this hebe is in early spring, cutting off the dead flowers then.  I imagine the dead flowers will give the shrub some protection against frost during winter.  I think this little hebe shrub would make a wonderful low-growing hedge/border to have around the garden.   Hebe 'Purple Pixie' (syn. Hebe Mohawk) About Hebe 'Purple Pixie' (syn. Hebe Mohawk)  :  "The mid-green leaves stay on the plant all year.  It is hardy...

I suppose a lot of people think it only necessary to cut off the dead heads of flowers like those on perennials or annuals, but keep an eye on flowering shrubs too.  I planted a couple of buddleias in my garden last year and have noticed that they produce a large flower at the end of a branch but, below that on side-shoots, two more are coming along.  So, as the first flowers are dying off, I have cut them off (dead-headed them) to encourage the flowers on the side shoots to develop and prolong flowering. Buddleia flower ready to be dead-headed - you can see flowers developing on side shoots. Buddleia with first flower removed allowing side shoot flowers to develop

Radical, I know, but I got so fed up of my Coronet Family apple tree (I only bought it last year) not doing as well as it might, that I attacked it with my secateurs the other day.  First I had a wonderful cherry tree which became diseased and had to go, and now this.  These trees are not cheap you know!  The top part of this small Coronet Family Apple Tree, which is grafted on, is the James Grieve variety and the fruit is healthy and good to eat (so far). But, the lower part, onto which James Grieve is grafted, is the Cox's Pippin variety and it has been PATHETIC! Yes, pathetic.  The fruit cracks, it looks unhealthy, remains small and inedible.  It's not happy.  I'm not happy.  So, I cut off ever single branch of the Cox's variety so that only the James Grieve type remains.  We'll see how it fares.  It's do, or die and get out of my garden time.   Tough love.   Apple Tree Coronet Family James Grieve and Coxs Pip...