GARDENER'S WORD

A couple of years ago I bought a miniature apple tree, a Coronet Family Apple Tree  that had two types of apples on it: the James Grieve type grafted on at the top and lower down the trunk grew the Cox's Orange Pippin type of apple.  Unfortunately, the Cox's Orange Pippin part was not doing very well and I made a radical decision to cut off the branch on which the Cox's apples were growing .  The fruit was split, remained small and ugly, and there was a clear sign of disease. I had already lost my lovely Prunus avium 'Stella' cherry tree  to a bacterial disease which affects fruit trees  so acted early rather than lose the whole tree.  The James Grieve apples were, however, crisp, sharp, and delicious.  James Grieve apple blossom Then it occurred to me that James Grieve might not self-pollinate and, indeed, information on the internet told me that it is self-fertile but that a cross pollinator is desirable.  Anyway, I left things as they we...

The view of my little garden from the cedar-clad garden room is lovely right now.  We've had more than a week of glorious sun and the plants are lapping it up to the point that today's spot of rain was very welcome.  I love mixed borders, dislike regimented gardens, and want a natural kind of look where the plants seems as if they have just found their position without any help from me.  I never feel I get it right but all the same, I am quite happy with the way things are looking right now. The sedum (it gets yellow flowers in summer) at the middle bottom of the above image is a wonderful plant for filling gaps.  It just gets on with it with no interference from me, yet it is not invasive.  Lilacs, ferns, Japanese maples, and garden room The white anemones are striking in contrast alongside the Heuchera 'licorice' , and I love how the pale blue Veronica gentianoides and the purple Polemonium 'Jacob's Ladder' go well with a recentl...

I keep telling people that lewisias are lovely plants to grow around the garden but the little plants in little pots with few flowers as is often seen in garden centres does not do them justice.  When bigger, they flower in abundance and not always once, but twice or more during the growing season.  They are hardy, suffering the iciest of winters, and are happy growing in terracotta pots with a gritty growing medium.  I understand they originate from the sunnier states of North America, so I place my pots in the sunniest part of my garden. Lewisia cotyledon   More Lewisia cotyledons  Lewisias cotyledon Yellow lewisia cotyledon  White lewisia cotyledon

Two years ago I planted two lilacs: Syringa vulgaris 'Madame Lemoine' (a white one) and Syringa vulgaris 'Andenken an Ludwig Spath' (a deep wine red).   The latter has come on wonderfully and is full of flowers right now but poor Madame Lemoine has had a rough time of it.  She grows not far from my garden room and, at the side of my garden room, I have a water butt which was blown over several times during gale force winds and damaged that white lilac.  It took two small paving stones on top of the water butt to keep it in place.  Anyway, Madame Lemoine has kindly provided one beautiful white flower for me and hopefully, water butt allowing, she will give me more in the future. Syringa vulgaris 'Madame Lemoine'  Syringa vulgaris 'Madame Lemoine' Have to mention before I go and forget, we have had the most glorious weather since May started off rather badly.  It has been sunshine, sunshine, and more sunshine.  My garden room has come in v...

I've had a solar spotlight illuminating the front of my garden room ever since I had the room built but it was only a few days ago that I decided that I wanted to have more night time lights.  I'd had solar lighting in the past, when I had several attached to the garden fencing posts, but these are special.  Mooching around a garden centre I discovered these mushrooms.  They look great in daylight but something special at night.  Thrilled with them (I know, I should get a life), I was happy to find another special solar light at another garden centre: a tall 'Snowdrop', hand painted, with a glass shade by Smart Solar.  I think they make the garden look quite magical when it's dark.   Solar light red mushroom at night I took the night time images using my Canon EOS 6D which does not have a flash (I never bothered getting one) but will take photos in low light.  Solar light orange mushroom at night 'Snowdrop' solar light by Smart...

We are having glorious weather here on the Pennines of West Yorkshire.  Yesterday it was sunshine from dawn to dusk with the gentlest of breezes, and inside the garden room it reached 27 degrees celsius with both doors and the window wide open.  The pelargonium cuttings (geranium cuttings, if you prefer to call them that) which I took this spring (I always do mine in spring) have all taken but one.  You can see how I do it in the link.   This year I put two cuttings into each small pot.  As I have mentioned before, all my zonal pelargoniums are the descendants of one plant I bought years ago.  Window box (trough) of Pelargoniums (photo taken through glass, summer 2012)   Above: If you put a trough under your living room or kitchen window and plant it with red zonal pelargoniums, this is what you might see from inside summer through autumn.  Nice, huh?  I do it every year. Zonal pelargonium cuttings ...

It would seem that I have an addiction to Japanese Maples, or Japanese Acers as they are also known.  I cannot go to a garden centre without at least checking them out.  I have three already ( Acer palmatum dissectum 'Ornatum ', Acer Palmatum 'Katsura' , and Acer palmatum 'Phoenix ') in my small garden, and now I have four because this morning I bought Japanese acer shirasawanum 'Jordan' at Gordon Rigg's garden centre in Walsden, West Yorkshire.  Shirasawanum Jordan is a beautiful thing, with very eye-catching bright yellow leaves which change colour in autumn.  At the price of about two bunches of cheap roses, I think it was a bargain.  Japanese acer shirasawanum Jordan - May 2018 The label says: " This Japanese maple is an attractive addition to any garden, but is also great in a container on a patio or balcony.  This plant is an upright branching shrub with beautiful, intense colours that vary by season.  When not pruned, the maple can ...

Lemon Verbena is not the hardiest of plants and it is advised to protect them during winter if you don't live in a mild zone.  This year, I left mine outside (usually I erect a little mini-greenhouse, but not this year as the garden room is taking up much space) but I protected its pot with fleece.  I have grown the plant for several years and it has turned into a woody little shrub.  I thought it was dead. Our winter has been somewhat cruel with plenty of snow and subzero temperatures.  It looked very sorry for itself with wispy bits of twiggy growth sticking out here and there.  I chopped them off.  And waited. Nothing.  I tried to buy a replacement but the garden centres' staff say it is too early yet and so they don't have them in stock.  So I inspected my little dead-looking plant and I realise now that it is alive (I rubbed a bit of a stem and it is green underneath) but not yet kicking.  I hope that before long it ...

I like strawberries but only when they have a good flavour.  I cannot grow them well in my garden, and when I buy them from the supermarkets they rarely taste as good as they look.  Sometimes they hardly taste of anything at all.  I cannot say the same for the lovely little Alpine strawberries that I grow in pots in my garden.  They are easy to grow, and very hardy.  The red fruit is tiny, and round, and when allowed to ripen to a deep red colour, well, the taste just blows me away.  Wow.  It's a slightly perfumed and intensely strawberry flavour.  They are super to eat on their own, like sweets (but better for us) and great on breakfast cereals.  I've been growing just one plant but this year I have planted about five.  I'm getting greedy now.  Alpine strawberries  (Just mind the slugs don't get them first).  I grow mine in pots raised up from the ground but I bet they grow well in hanging baskets and will look delight...

I so loved the 'Skippy' Sky Blue violas that I planted at the edge of my garden borders the other day that I bought another colour that I thought would go along with it quite nicely: Viola wittrockiana 'Blue Blotch'.  They were in a sale at a garden centre and I thought I would give them a home.  Viola wittrockiana Blue Blotch I got a nice surprise the other day.  Do you ever tip spent compost onto your garden borders only to discover later on that you have inadvertently sown something?   I do it all the time.  This year, up came one solitary tulip.  I never even noticed it until it burst into colour.  Now, I thought I had discarded all my old tulips some time ago (they weren't doing well after a couple of years) but one bulb must have remained in the old compost.  Anyway, the tulip 'Orange Emperor' is a survivor and the colour looks really lovely with the blue of the violas.    Tulip 'Orange Emp...