GARDENER'S WORD

As many will know who read my posts, I feed the local wild birds every day of the year.  They all know that this restaurant is open 24/7, even on Christmas Day, and fat balls are available once the weather turns cold.  In return, the birds give me a lot of pleasure—a Great Spotted Woodpecker came the other day and sadly I just missed photographing it.  It's four years since I last saw one.  I love watching the birds come and go and, occasionally, the seeds they drop germinate.  As I use husked seeds, mostly, I get few problems with seeds germinating where I don't want them to and becoming a nuisance, but sometimes a sunflower (helianthus anuus) seed will land in just the right spot, even in a pot (as below), and it is left to grow.  Bird sown Sunflower - flowering late October 2018 That is the case with this sunflower that I didn't notice until it was quite a good size.  It was quite late in summer when I first noticed it in a pot amid ...

I know that I've mentioned my bacopa hanging baskets earlier.  But I want to mention them again because they have been so very lovely since I planted up four bacopa hanging baskets in April .  I have four hanging from the back wall of my home.  They get sun in the morning for a few hours (when we do have sun - this is the UK you know) and it is now mid October and they are still looking glorious.  I know they probably will be killed off at some point by a hard frost but for now they are doing very well.  The nice thing about bacopa hanging baskets is that the plants dead head themselves which is a very good thing considering that they flower by the thousands, over and over again.  Take a look... White bacopa hanging basket - end Sept 2018  The above hanging baskets is a large basket with about five bacopa planted into it.  In full flower, like this, it is a good 24in (60cm) wide by about 18in (45cm) high.  If you look carefully...

You might be wondering what Hollingworth Lake has to do with a garden blog.  Well, probably not a lot, but it's the light and shade and the water, you see, which caught my attention.  I visited the lake briefly the other day while on my way to a garden centre, and I was dazzled by the scene of sun shining through the leaves of a tree, the trees casting shade upon the ground beneath, and the light so silvery and bright upon the water.  The combination of light, shade, and water reflections are so effective in a garden of any size.  Hollingworth Lake, Rochdale, Greater Manchester - 10 Oct 2018 Sadly, I don't have room for a decent size pool, let alone a lake—I wish—but I do have my small solar pitcher fountain and when there is enough sun to make it work it's lovely to see the light reflections as the water falls, and I do have my solar lights for the evening which give the garden a whole new dimension, so to speak.  Note:  Do grow plants with white flo...

Back in August I posted a photograph of Malus Red Sentinel which I took at the RHS garden centre in Harlow Carr.   If you look at the then and the now photographs below, you will see where it gets its name.  The fruit of this malus (crab apple) is cherry red.  Apparently, the fruit is edible although I assume you only cook with it, make jam and so on.  Malus 'Red Sentinel' October 2018 Malus 'Red Sentinel' August 2018

Another plant which I photographed at the RHS garden centre in Harlow Carr last week:  Euonymus alatus 'Blade Runner'.  It's red in autumn alright!  It's a relatively small shrub so suitable for smaller gardens.    Euonymus alatus 'Blade Runner'  

While at the RHS garden centre in Harlow Carr last week, I took a few photographs of plants in autumn colour.  This Hamamelis (Witch Hazel), was one of them.  There are several varieties of Hamamelis and the RHS has once again failed to have a plant clearly identified.  It was the same problem with the Acer palmatum dissectum which I shared in my previous post, and an indoor fern which I bought some time ago and which I believe is Pteris fauriei.  The RHS reason given to me is that that is how the growers label and supply them.  For the Royal Horticultural Society to sell plants which are not clearly identified for their customers and members is not only surprising but their reason for doing so is rather lame.  They could tell their suppliers to label identify the plants fully.  Anyway, this Hamamelis is a stunner. It is possible the one called Hamamelis intermedia 'Orange Peel', but don't take my word for it.   Hama...

Acers, commonly known as maples, can be stunning in autumn when the colour of the dying leaves change to shades of yellow, gold, orange, and red.  Japanese maples or Japanese acers (smaller in stature and native to Far East countries) are well known for their spring and autumn colours. The Japanese acer that I share here was simply labelled Acer palmatum dissectum and was photographed at the RHS garden centre in Harlow Carr last week.  The cost?  £200.  Ouch. Acer palmatum dissectum To be clear, Acer refers to the genus, palmatum to the shape of the leaves (like a hand), and dissectum means divided or deeply cut, feathery.  Furthermore, there are many types of Acer palmatum dissectum.  For example, I grow Acer palmatum dissectum Ornatum  which has just started changing into its autumn colours .  Acer palmatum dissectum  Acer palmatum dissectum