GARDENER'S WORD

I go on about ferns a lot, I know.  I love them.  Quite recently I heard about Monty Don of Gardener's World becoming a great fan of them too.  Nowadays I see lots and lots of different ferns in garden centres and it's getting silly now because I'm constantly wondering if I might be able to cram just one more into my little garden. Brauns Holly Fern Polystichum braunii I think I mentioned somewhere in an earlier post that ferns take me back to my childhood, of a time when I was small and would enter a local park.  The entrance was shaded by trees and all along, bordering each side of the path were ferns.  They gave it an atmosphere, a coolness, a calmness, that I appreciated even back then.  And now the ferns I have which border the narrow patio at the back of my garden do the same for me. Ferns in a row, edging a path Dryopteris filix-mas Euxinensis   (deciduous) Blechnum spicante  (evergreen) I hate to choose be...

To think that I used to grow Dryopteris filix-mas Euxinensis in a pot!  It's grown into quite a specimen now and a little incongruous as it is on the corner between small lawn and a small patio.  It must be 3ft (90cm) tall and almost as wide, but it's a fantastic specimen and, at a glance, you could be mistaken for thinking it's a conifer. I might consider moving it at some point, if I could think of a place where it could go and be equally as happy, and if I thought I could do it and not kill it in the process.  Dryopteris filix-mas Euxinensis Dryopteris filix-mas reproduction (internal link) Dryopteris filix-mas Euxinensis The Fascinating Sex Life of Ferns (internal link) As it matured the  Dryopteris filix-mas Euxinensis fern began splitting at the end of the fronds .  I think now that it looks really good! Dryopteris filix-mas Euxinensis, splitting at ends of fronds  Below, Dryopteris filix-mas Euxinensis formerly grown ...

You don't get freesias like these at the supermarket.  Freesia 'White River' is super showy.  It grows outdoors and is frost tolerant down to -5C.  I found mine at a local garden centre the other day and it was a had-to- have.  As I live on the Pennines of West Yorkshire, I plan to protect it in winter. Freesia 'White River' The label says: These 'River' varieties have been bred to flower outdoors during summer n mixed borders or larger containers and they make a great cut flower too for indoor use.  Hardy and perennial in many areas of the UK down to about -5C. Height 60cm (24in) Spread 40cm (16in)  Position Sunny in fertile, well-drained soil or potting compost. Freesia 'White River' The planting instructions are: Water well before planting and let the plant drain,  Prepare the planting area and enrich with planting compost and general fertilizer.  Carefully remove pot and plant in the prepared hole (same depth aspot).  Gently...

It's miserable out there.  It's rained all week here in West Yorkshire, in fact much of the UK, and I cannot help but think we had better weather during the third week of February when we had that unprecedented heatwave for a week!  Still, Storm Hector hit in June 2018 , right about this time, so I shouldn't complain.  Not yet anyway; who knows what next is on the meteorological cards.  What makes me most miserable is that, after waiting all year for the flowers to bloom in my garden, the rain is wrecking them.   Red / cerese pelargonium One thing that is looking mighty good though is a much loved red pelargonium (actually, it's more cerese, a colour that neither my iPhone 5s nor Canon EOS 6D can quite capture). I have placed the plant inside the garden room, for now.  Got to pay it respect; it's the mother of this year's tray of recently (April) propagated pelargonium plants.  They'll be planted into container...

I wonder if chives are underrated by gardeners as plants which look beautiful in the garden.  I'm sure many cooks, or chefs, appreciate their culinary properties although I wonder how many people realise that the flowers are said to be edible (for use in, say, salads - not tried one myself!).  For me though, chives are more than that.  I have a clump right now that is rather spectacular, if I do say so myself.  In fact, I'd say it's a show-off! Clump of chives in full bloom I find chives so easy to grow.  They form a neat clump which can be easily lifted and divided, so you can end up with quite a lot if you wish.  If you cut the leaves for use in the kitchen, they soon make more leaves.  They are hardy and herbaceous, so they disappear in UK winters and come back again each spring.  And, for me, most of all, the bees love them. Bees love chives Busy bee filling up its carrier bags on a chive I suppose you might want me to tell y...

It's a funny thing but yesterday I noticed that, on a plant, in a pot, at the front of my home, there was a little ladybird larva.  The plant's leaves are light grey and there wasn't an aphid in sight.  Ladybirds (or Ladybugs) and their larva eat aphids so what was the larva going to do.  I tore off the leaf and took it, and the larva, to my back garden where lunch was served in plenty on my climbing roses, New Dawn and Wild Eve.  I wedged the leaf into place, near aphids, and left the ladybird larva to decide what to do.  An hour later I checked and there it was, on a rosebud, eating its fill of aphids.  I took a macro photo, shared here.  Ladybird larva on rosebud, eating aphids, but what are the red things? Ladybirds are good, so look after them.  Best not go spraying pesticides around and killing off the gardener's little helpers.  Ladybird in my garden - a gardener's friend It was only when processing the image, from camera to...

The favourite plants in my garden are those which give me joy year after year, no trouble, just get on with it.  Occasionally I lose one but mostly they just keep on coming.  Cerastium tomentosum also known as Snow in Summer is one of those plants.  And it likes to spread out a bit but is easily controlled by just pulling up unwanted growth which, it makes sense, I do after flowering.  I have it growing at the front of my home, and at the back, in the front corner of the garden roo, it has spread itself out over an unsightly corner by the garden room and spread over a little bit of ground which is rocky to say the least.  And just look at the carpet of flowers I have right now; little wonder they call it Snow in Summer. Cerastium tomentosum aka Snow in Summer Although the leaves are actually a very grey kind of green, it is classed as an evergreen because the foliage gives a nice display right through our winters here on the Pennine Mountains of West Yorksh...