GARDENER'S WORD

I was prompted to write this post, which is indirectly connected to gardening, after noticing lately how my Ragdoll cat, Alfie, keeps coming home with lots of hard, pointed, and sharp grass seeds, about 3mm long, on his coat.  I noticed, on brushing Alfie, that the seeds were not easily removed and so I ran my hands firmly over his body, feeling for them.   I discovered that some seeds were working their way downwards towards his skin unseen.   I have since been carefully checking Alfie's body each time he returns from roaming a large area of neglected neighbouring land which is full of trees, branches, brambles, grass, and other types of weeds (I call it The Jungle).  Today, I found one seed right at the back of his neck, close to his collar, and the sharp pointed end of the seed was touching his skin and clearly about to embed itself. Already there were signs of roots forming. See macro image below Grass seed found on my...

Athyrium niponicum (Japanese Painted Fern), 'Red Beauty' is indeed a beauty.  I took this photograph of one of the fronds a few weeks ago and forgot to share it until now.  It's only a small fern, low growing, and I grow it in partial shade where it only gets a bit of dappled morning sun, in a container tucked between other containers of ferns and hostas.  It's a delightful fern to add to your collection.  The photo has not been digitally altered other than cropped. Athyrium niponicum (Japanese Painted Fern), 'Red Beauty' More information on Athyrium niponicum 'Red Beauty'

I've grown Wisley Magic runner beans for a few years and they always provide lovely straight bean pods after the loveliest of scarlet flowers.  Bees love them, and so do I. This year I decided to just grow a few up a metal garden obelisk.  I germinated the seeds and grew the plants a while before planting, but slugs still managed to eat all but two of the plants.  So I encircled the two surviving plants with sharp gravel and they survived.  I won't have a heavy crop but I am happy with what is growing.  And watch those runners run.  It's almost like you could watch them grow, they do it so fast.  I am training the runners beans to wrap around the obelisk and it's almost as if, as soon as my back is turned, they just go any direction they please.  Coincidentally, perhaps, although the climber is coiled around the obelisk, the leaves all seem to be opening on one side, the sunnier side. Wisley Magic runner bean growing on garden obelisk...

Climbing honeysuckles (Lonicera) can get out of control if you let them and the climbing honeysuckle 'Lonicera periclymenum Scentsation' is no exception.  It's especially important to control it since I had a lower fence installed early 2017.  I grow it on a north-facing fence, a fence which allows the passage of light and air , and the honeysuckle also clambers over the top, putting on a lovely display this side of the fence and also on my neighbour's side.  She loves it.  In fact, she gets all the fragrance as the wind blows in her direction.  My honeysuckle also gets plenty of direct afternoon light.  I don't want it to get out of control though.  I want it so that it continues to provide a good display of flowers from bottom to top (as in the below image), and that means pruning.   Honeysuckle 'Lonicera periclymenum Scentsation' on 5ft fence - June 2018 This relatively low growing climbing honeysuckle actually got so top heavy with...

We had a downpour of rain this morning, so much so that the noise of it actually woke me up.  It is very welcome because we are still having a prolonged period without rain here in the UK.  They say it is the longest dry spell we have had since 1976.  That's 42 years!  I have to be imagining it but it seems like the James Grieve apples on my miniature apple tree have grown much bigger overnight.  James Grieve apples on miniature apple tree James Grieve apples on miniature apple tree  The thing is, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the apple tree is actually a Coronet 'family' apple tree and originally had Cox's Orange Pippin apples growing on it, but that branch seemed disease and so, taking a chance, I cut it right off.  (You can just see the stump of that diseased branch on the trunk, under the labels in the images). The chance was that I could end up with no apples at all as, although James Grieve is somewhat self-fertile, it benef...

We are still having gloriously summer weather, with temperatures in some places reaching the 30c and more here in the UK, and on the Pennines of West Yorkshire, it is no different.  On Friday and Saturday, however, we have a warning of heavy rain, thunder, and even flash flooding in some places.  We need rain but does it have to be so extreme?   We've only had a few downfalls in the last few weeks.  High up here, though, there is no danger of flooding, unless it is Noah's-Ark-type-rain.  I took the opportunity of a bit of gardening this afternoon when the temperature was dropping and I still had the energy.  First though, I took photos of pollinators busily going from flower to flower on my Hydrangea paniculata 'White Lady' .  The bumblebees were creating such a happy racket that they were hard to ignore. Bumblebee on Hydrangea paniculata White Lady Pollinators, like hoverflies , are a blessing in the garden.  Some types of hoverflies e...

I bought a Crassula Ovata a year or two ago and grow it in my unheated garden room during the warmer months.  Over winter, I bring it inside my home.  It's a lovely plant, however, over winter it became rather 'leggy'; there were long shoots which were very healthy and green but the plant became top heavy.  It wasn't what I wanted and I needed more growth lower down.  So I pruned it.  It's not hard to do; it's the same principle as pruning anything really, just cutting off above a leaf joint.  Within a month it was sprouting new shoots from the main stem and also from where stems had been pruned.  Pruned Crassula ovata I do want it to grow into a good-sized plant (they can get seriously big, you know) but a manageable size.  I also don't want it to look like a bonsai but I do want it to be a good shape.  In the image below, you can see new shoots appearing from the main stem. Pruned Crassula ovata with new shoots appearing...

I recall, many years ago, gardening expert Percy Thrower, of Gardener's World, telling his television audience that he will never know everything there is to know about gardening.  Truth is, no one ever will because it is such an extensive subject.  And yet, the herb 'mint' has such a reputation for being invasive, it still surprises me that some gardeners don't realise, or forget, just how self-propagating it can be. Apple mint For example, in one episode of Gardeners' World, Monty Don planted mint directly into his Long Meadow garden  (Daily Mail external link).  He had decided to have it as part of a herb garden and planted it directly into the ground.  Now hundreds of gardeners watching that episode all must have been thinking 'you'll be sorry!', and he was.  And I wondered how many people had copied him and planted mint straight into their own garden and later cursed him for it.  Of course, some time later Monty Don (...

I never pretend to be an expert gardener, far from it (I guess some of you have guessed that already) but I have been gardening a long time and while I still make plenty of mistakes (as do the experts), I do try to learn by them.  One lesson learned was the other year when I decided to trim, just a little tidying, snip snip snip, of a Japanese Maple in spring.  It was the lovely  Acer palmatum 'Katsura' and I just cut away a few straggly bits at the tender young ends of stems and the next thing you know it was 'Aphid Invasion from Outta Nowhere'.  You see, what I should have known, or remembered, was that at that time of year the sap is rising in trees and shrubs, and trimming just caused that sticky sap to leak from the wounds — and don't sap-sucking aphids just love it!  The poor shrub had thousands of black aphids stuck all over it in great big clusters, and while I tried squashing them I finally had to resort to blasting t...

I saw these sunflowers, hanging their heads and past their prime, in an art class.  I think they had been brought in when they were fresh and full of life and then just left.  But as they withered and began to fade, their beauty still shone through.  The colour of their petals had deepened and the corolla of .lll stood out.  Sunflowers - beauty in age More photographs of the stages of a sunflower (Rise and demise of a sunflower) Sunflowers - beauty in age Sunflower involucre (whorl of individual bracts) - beauty in age Sunflower peduncle (stalk bearing a flower) - beauty in age

Osteospermum is a strange name for a beautiful flower, don't you think?  Apparently it is named such because the seeds are very hard: osteo = bone; spermum = seed.  Osteospermum jucundums are also known as African Daisies, which I think is a much nicer name.  Anyway, while at the RHS garden centre in Harlow Carr a few days ago, I bought five osteospermum plants which were on offer.  I've stuck them in a largish container (which had held disastrous ranunculus plants) and put them in a sunny spot at the top of the garden, next to the lovely buddleia, Buddleia davidii Nanho Blue.  At least, it was a sunny spot for the last few weeks, until today.  Today we have much rain and I am so thankful for it after many many days of very dry, hot, and sunny weather.  Keeping the plants alive was getting to be a real chore, and tap water just isn't the same as rain, as rain puts nitrogen into the soil.  You can almost see the plants sit up and beg fo...

Although I imagine most people grow hostas for the leaf interest, the flowers are pretty outstanding and can be cut and used in flower arranging.  They are striking in appearance and it is incredible to think that some people actually remove the emerging flowers before they get chance to fully bloom.  Whatever their reason, whether they believe they take energy away from the leaves, or whatever, I let mine grow and love them. Bees and other pollinators love them too. Hosta Brimcup flower Below Hosta Brimcup flower Hosta Brimcup flowers in bud Hosta Patriot flower Hosta Patriot flower Hosta Gold Edger flower Hosta Gold Edger flower, and Bumblebee Hosta Sagae flower Hosta Sagae flower - contrast of light and dark heightened digitally 

Some people who are unfamiliar with growing hostas, and think of them as slug bait and not worth the hassle, might not know the full beauty of them.  For example, Hosta sagae has wonderful shoots in spring, followed by striking blue-green leaves, then the lilac-coloured flowers appear, and finally, when the hosta leaves begin to die they can turn this glorious autumn colour.  I grow hostas quite successfully by keeping them well off ground level in heavy terracotta pots, without a lip around the rim under which slugs and snails can hide away, and the neck of the hosta itself is surrounded by sharp gravel.  Yes, I get damage to leaves sometimes but not much.   Hosta Sagae autumn leaf - image contrast increased to emphasise detail Hosta Sagae autumn leaf Hosta Sagae autumn leaf - image contrast increased to emphasise detail Hosta Sagae autumn leaf - image contrast increased to emphasise detail Hosta Sagae leaf in sum...