GARDENER'S WORD

It was when I was mooching around the cut-flower stand at Marks and Spencers the other day that I first discovered how incredibly beautiful the flowers of Ranunculus asiaticus are.  They belong to the ranunculaceae family, the buttercup family.  The heavily petalled blooms shown in the below image are about two or three inches (5 to 7.5 cm) in diameter.  I bought a bunch, half price as they were at their sell-by date, and put them in a vase at home.  Sadly, they were not at their best and the weight of the flower heads caused some of the stems to bend quite badly.  I had to cut the stems quite short and put them quite deeply in the vase, but that is by the way; the point is, I was hooked on the vibrant colours and peony-like flowers.  And, the flowers have lasted six days so far. Ranunculus asiaticus cut flowers I want to grow them in my garden.  So I ordered 25 tubers (bulbs) on line without properly investigating the ins and outs ...

Yesterday I went to Tong Garden centre in West Yorkshire for a coffee and a mooch and, of course, with the idea of getting something for my garden.  A few years ago I grew the cherry Prunus avium Stella, Gisella 5, in a very large container .  Then the cherry tree succumbed to a bacterial disease and could not, because of where it had been attacked, be saved.  So then I ended up with an ultra large pot with nothing in it.  This year I have planted in it Buddleia davidii 'Nanho Blue' , which I shall try to keep quite small (it's supposed to have a compact habit), and around the edge of the pot I am going to plant my latest acquisitions: Viola 'Skippy' Sky Blue Bicolour.  Viola Skippy Sky Blue bicolour Violas are delightfully fragrant and I prefer them to pansies.  In fact, I was chatting with one of the horticulturalists at Tong Garden Centre and he said that one year they had a greenhouse packed with violas and that the fragra...

Although bacopa plants cannot tolerate frost, I have decided to plant up my yearly four hanging baskets early, and with nothing else but bacopa.  Bacopa comes in several types.  If the weather gets too cold or there is very heavy rainy, I shall just shelter them indoors until the weather changes.  Hanging basket planted with bacopa In the centre of each basket I have placed Double Ballerina Snowball which is described as compact, well branched with mounded growth habit, and abundant flowering of small fully double blooms.  It achieves a height of 14cm (6") x 20-25cm (8-10"). Around the edge I have placed two Gulliver Dynamic White with a height of 5-10cm (2-4"), trailing to 25cm (10").  It's described as compact, well branched, producing an abundance of large white flowers over small green foliage.  And also I have planted two Abunda Colossal White bacopas, which achieve a height of 5-10dm (2-4") and spread of 20-25cm (8-10")  They are desc...

For a few years I have had  Acer palmatum dissectum Ornatum growing in a terracotta pot close to the east-facing house wall.  To me, it seemed the most sheltered place there is but it's not looking all that great after our harsh winter with heavy snow, subzero temperatures, and strong winds.  I've also just discovered that Japanese acers (Japanese maples) can suffer leaf damage if early morning sun shines on wet leaves.  Camellias are like that too.  So, I have transplanted it into the lower part of my south(ish) facing garden border where I hope it will be happier.  There it could get a few hours of sunshine in the morning (depending on the weather and the time of year) and, hopefully, be somewhat sheltered by the fence behind it from the wind which usually blows from north to south. Acers can tolerate sun as long as they are not short of water.  They are not the easiest of plants to please.  Acer palmatum diss...

One of my favourite daffodils is Obdam.  The double creamy-white blooms are beautiful and they have a subtle fragrance too.  However, Obdam daffodils have heads so heavy that I find they need staking, which is not ideal.  The big fat buds stand tall on long stems (about 40cm) but when the flowers open the stems are inclined to bend sharply under the weight of them, and the flowers then face the ground.  Or, the stems will bow down to the ground with the flowers touching the soil.  Are they worth growing?  Yes.  But you will need to provide some support.  Obdam daffodils I was remiss in staking my Obdam daffodils this year and so decided to cut the flowers with stems quite short, and I placed them in a small vase.  They have lasted quite a few days.  Even looking at the flowers sideways on, they are lovely. Obdam daffodils Much as I love Obdam flowers, the low-growing Tete a Tete daffodils tak...

Are hostas edible?  I don't know but according to several websites, and YouTube, they are.  I don't know how I managed to come across the information, but it took me by surprise when I did, when I saw all those different website links telling us how those small tight shoots that appear each spring can be cut off and cooked.  I wouldn't dream of doing it to my hostas, well maybe I might try one, but they are far too decorative for me to be chopping their pretty heads off the moment they appear after a long winter.  Seems kinda cruel, don't you think? Hosta 'Sagai' leaf shoots See for yourself.  All the below external links worked at the time of my posting them. Hostas Direct Grow Veg Maine Organic Farmer Gardener

I would love to grow my hostas along the edge of the lawn but I know what would happen, that slugs and snails would attack them and leave them full of holes and looking dreadful, so I grow mine in large terracotta pots which are set on pot trolleys.  I also place sharp gravel around the base of my hostas.  The trouble with growing hostas in containers is that they will get potbound after a time, when the roots just have nowhere to go.  I even heard that the expansion of the roots can crack some containers.  So, yesterday I decided that it was time to divide my hosta Patriot as I could see it was pushing up leaf shoots even at the edge of the pot.  If you click on that link you will note that I had put off doing it for a year!   Hosta Patriot To get the hosta out of the terracotta container, without breaking the container,I cut around the edge of the soil, close to the pot, as deeply as I could (I use a long bread knife, like a saw.  That b...

Did we have sunshine a few days ago?  I vaguely remember it now; it all seems lost in the mist.  Actually, it was just three days ago but since then we have had nothing but rain, drizzle, and fog.  Not gardening weather.  Not for me.  But looking out of my living room window just as I was about to pull down the blinds, I noticed how beautiful it looked out there as day turned to dusk.  My neighbour arrived home in a taxi, after having been shopping, and thought I was standing outside with a cup of coffee in my hands.  I'm not quite that weird.  It was my CanonEOS 6D camera.  She wondered how it could take photographs in near dark, but apparently it can.  Even without flashlight.  I thought I would share the image.  You can see the taxi rear lights on the bottom left.  Foggy dusk, almost 9pm on 11 April 2018 Of course, none of these comments about fog and rain has to do with gardening, except that it...

We had a fabulous day of good weather on Monday (the week before we had a Monday full of snow!).  It was a glorious day filled with sunshine, blue skies, gentle breeze, warm temperature.  It could have been mid summer, except that my garden told the tale that it was no such thing.  Now it is Wednesday.  Yesterday was foul, and now we are facing a week of drizzle, rain, grey skies, no sun, and fog.  This time last year, 5 April to be precise, I had the four hanging baskets, which I always hang at the back of my home, planted up and ready for hanging out on mild days.  This year, I haven't even bought the plants.  Haven't even looked at plants. Garden following first tidy of the year On Monday, I took advantage of the sunshiny weather by doing as many gardening jobs as I could safely do, doing little by little, without pulling a muscle, straining myself, or falling over.  It's a mistake of many fair-weather gardeners to...

A short while ago we had two days of sunshine which heralded spring, then on Easter Monday, 2nd April, we had another good dose of snow here on the Pennines of West Yorkshire.  Thankfully though, it was quickly washed away by a few days of rainy spells.  I don't know where I am with regard to gardening jobs to do.  It's all very well gardening programmes and books telling us that certain months are the times to do various jobs in the garden, but the weather is mercurial nowadays, especially here in the north of England where the weather does not always reflect that of the weather in the south.  I swear these programmes and books are just talking to gardeners in the south.  Sometimes acting too soon can be disastrous for a plant.  So, I go with my head and my heart and just (metaphorically) grope my way along in the dark.  Some days ago, during the days of sunshine mentioned above, I transplanted the lovely Philadelphus Snowbelle ....