GARDENER'S WORD

I wondered what this insect was on a raspberry leaf when I was, earlier this month, trying to take a photo of one of the dozens of little moth-like creatures that were resting within my raspberry canes. The moth-like insects are Pseudargyrotoza conwagana  and they live off the neighbouring ash trees (not my raspberries), but the insect I am talking about now I have identified as a type of Ichneumonid, a parasitic wasp .  Apparently there are a lot of different Ichneumonidae and I wonder if this one is the one called Pimpla rufipes which is not good news for butterflies and moths.  It may be that it was after laying eggs inside the moths pupae.    Ichneumonidae (parasitic wasp) - possibly Pimpla rufipes Here is a PDF guide to identifying Ichneumonidae (UK) - National History Museum external link I think this insect, in the above image (taken on my old 5s iPhone), comes under the category: Small black-bodied species with orange legs....

Do you ever grow a herbaceous plant and when it comes back, after winter, can't remember what it is?  I do.  This year a beautiful plant started to make the loveliest of leaves, such a bright green, and I could not remember what it was and then thought it might be a potentilla, but then I couldn't remember which one.  I know now, because I have never seen such a vibrant red except for a rose.  I recommend this plant, Potentilla Monarch's Velvet .  It's lovely in the border. Potentilla Monarch's Velvet Potentilla Monarch's Velvet leaves  The label says that Potentilla Monarch's Velvet has a long succession of rich raspberry red flowers with darker centres above clumps of mid-green serrated foliage.  It is suitable for borders, in sun, on moist but well-drained soil.  It flowers mid summer to early autumn and achieves a height of 60cm (24in) x 45cm (18in).  Potentilla Monarch's Velvet Potentilla Monarch's Velvet

It's not an easy thing to tell the difference between a male and a female European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), not just because they are never still at the feeder, their heads jerking from side to side and they keep a safe lookout, or because they fly to and fro so rapidly.  When they are still, they are also difficult to tell apart.  From what I can gather, the easiest (and it's not really easy) way to identify male from female is by the red on the face.  It is suggested on the internet that the red on the male's face will extend a little beyond the eye while the red of a female goldfinch's face does not extend beyond the eye.  I've posted a few photos I have taken in which I believe that the one on the left of the image is male and the one on the right is female.  Could be wrong, of course, but I don't think so.  Male European goldfinch (left) and female European goldfinch (right) Male European goldfinch (left) and female European g...

I love violas, their dozens of pretty faces, their vibrant colours, their fragrance - much nicer than the rather blousy pansies, I think.  I like also that they tolerate sun and some shade.  So undemanding. I bought quite a few mixed colours this year, mostly purple and cerese colours, a few white, and planted them all together in a freestanding trough.  At first I thought that, maybe, I should have bought trailing begonias or something like that but the violas have put on such a show, I'm happy with my decision.  Violas in a freestanding trough Of course, you don't need to grow them in a trough; they will grow in the garden border or tubs, or hanging baskets just as happily. Violas in a freestanding trough Violas in a container - April 2013  Violas in a garden border - April 2013 

Not sure why the Japanese anemone 'September Charm' is called that because it's full of flowers right now in July, but I suspect it will still be in September as well.  Pollinating insects love it and, really, it's just stunning.  The only problem with it is that it can be a bit pushy, pushing out underground shoots that spring up here and there but really, it's controllable, you just have to pull them up if they are springing up where you don't want them. Japanese Anemone 'September Charm' I mention rain or shine because today is Saturday and, here on the Pennine Mountains of West Yorkshire, it is about 17 degrees and chucking it down with rain.  Two days ago, it was 30 degrees plus with dazzling sunshine.  I know we are all supposed to worry about global warming, climate change, and all that but here, in the UK, or at least here on the Pennines, rain and sun is a lovely combination and a blessing for my garden. Regarding cultivation of 'Sept...

Poor old buddleia gives so much pleasure with its beautiful flowers and gets such a bad press.  Yes, it can be invasive, it's an opportunistic and if you don't want to control it then, maybe, you'd be best not growing it.  But I don't think it need be invasive.  When I discovered how invasive they could be, after planting two relatively young Davidii buddleias in my garden border, I dug them up and transplanted them into large containers where they cannot spread out, overgrow, or turn into the garden monsters.  After each flower has finished, dead-head it long before it can set seeds. Don't delay! Besides, dead-heading encourages new flowers. Make sure that the spent flowers are disposed of in a way that they cannot germinate and grow elsewhere i.e. Don't throw them on your garden, on your neighbour's garden, over the hedge, or on the compost heap!   Buddleia Davidii Nanho Blue  and Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) The problem ...

I can hardly believe that I have been growing  Polemonium (Jacobs Ladder) 'Northern Lights'  for so long and have only just discovered how fragrant it is.  I was dead-heading some stocks,  Matthiola incana (scented stock), cutting off spent stems with just a few flowers on top, and decided that I would put them in a small vase.  I looked around my garden border for something else to add to them and saw how floriferous the polemonium plant was, so I picked a few and WOW.  Who'd have thought it; the 'Northern Lights' flowers are highly fragrant.  Just telling you, just in case you didn't know either. Polemonium (Jacobs Ladder) 'Northern Lights'   The label says that Polemonium 'Northern Lights' is a clump-forming, compact, fully hardy plant with delightful pale-blue fragrant flowers from May to July.  It regrows from ground level every year.  It achieves a height of 35cm (14in) and spread of 30cm (12in).  It likes fertile, well...

For a week or two I have noticed dozens of tiny insects, like moths, flying off my raspberry canes when I have been picking raspberries.  I could not find any damage to the fruit; none at all, no eggs, no caterpillars, nothing.  I have now cut down the old canes on my double-cropping raspberry canes, Polka, to allow the new canes to produce fruit for autumn.  And yet, the moths are still there.  Thanks to the Yorkshire Moth Recording experts, the moth has now been identified as Pseudargyrotoza conwagana which, I am told, will not hurt the raspberries but feeds on privet and ash trees.  Mystery solved; right above my raspberry canes tower the ash trees in a neighbouring garden.  Now as well as being deluged with ash tree seeds every year, I now have their bugs!  Still, as long as they do no harm. Tiny moth on raspberry leaves Sorry it is such a rubbish photograph but the things move so fast and do not keep still long enough to take a decent image...

If you don't dig gardening, then try not digging it. Gardening can be hard work enough without piling on the chores.  I don't dig.  Haven't done for years.  What do you think earthworms are for?  My garden, and containers too, are full of the things and they tunnel and dig away and turn and aerate the soil, and do the job they are supposed to do.  While they do their thing, I am free to prune, and trim, and tie back, and read and laze around doing nothing but enjoy the garden.  I don't compost either.  Not in the traditional sense.  I just chop whatever I can onto whatever space I can find (there isn't much bare soil in my garden) and I let worms and the rest of nature break down the cuttings and drag them into the earth.  Thanks bugs and grubs. Fern fronds I read that bracken (a kind of wild fern) is toxic, carcinogenic, and contains a chemical called ptaquiloside  (RHS link).  I also read that it can be chopped up, compo...

I know that television gardener's, like Monty Don, keep telling us how and when to tie back our climbing and rambling roses but there is something about controlling plants' natural habits that sometimes, not always, spoils their effect. I know control of such thorny plants is a sensible thing to do but this year I have chosen to allow my climbing rose, Wild Eve, to lean away from my fence in places, to overhang the perennial border, and give my border a less regimented, natural effect.  To support Wild Eve, I have used a black metal Shepherd's Crook.  I think it blends into the background quite well and in time the metal will rust and still blend, I hope.  Wild Eve supported with unobtrusive Shepherd's Crook I grow Wild Eve alongside New Dawn rose which is loaded with buds but only a few flowers are open right now. I needed to tie the Wild Eve branch to the Shepherd's Crook because gusts of wind kept blowing it off the hook.  Wild Eve supported ...

More and more this recent addition to my garden is impressing me.  Exochorda macrantha 'The Bride' aka Pearl Bush  had beautiful buds and flowers, and now it has lots of unusual-looking seed heads developing.  Exochorda macrantha The Bride seed heads As you can see from the above image, Exochorda macrantha The Bride has a beautiful weeping habit.  My only problem at the moment is that I have planted my relatively small specimen in a terracotta container on a plant stand, and despite the label saying it is slow growing, the weeping branches have grown and are trailing on the ground. The plant has almost doubled its size in just a few months! That's not entirely a bad thing, except that I need to raise it up somehow or the new growth will be damaged. Exochorda macrantha The Bride seed heads When the seed heads develop further, I will add more images to this webpage. I believe they go a nutty brown colour. Exochorda macrantha The Br...

I tried to grow Matthiola incana (scented stock) many years ago, unsuccessfully. I think I had planted them in a place they didn't like.  Plants can be picky!  Anyway, this year, mooching around a garden centre, I spotted some plants for sale and brought some home with me.  As I don't have a lot of spare space in my garden (see earlier post), I just dotted them around wherever they would fit.  I know we are supposed to plant in groups of three or five but to hell with that, in a garden the size of mine, about 25 x 25 ft, it is a case of anything goes where it goes.  It seems to work out ok. Matthiola incana - scented stock - cerese and a white I landed on my feet, actually, as some of the pots of stocks seem to have two plants to a pot.  The above cerese and white matthiola incanas came out of one stock pot, so to speak. :)  They are beautifully fragrant.  While they are good for cutting, I wouldn't dream of doing so unless I had a garden ful...

Friends are always telling me how they spent hours weeding their gardens.  Say what?  It takes me about half an hour a year, spread over a year, if that.  I garden on the no space no weeds principle.  I don't dig.  I don't hoe.  Bare soil is just asking for it. If I pull up a weed that is not likely to be a problem, I just drop it straight back onto the ground.  If it is anything likely to be invasive, or make seeds which stick to my Ragdoll cat, Alfie, like  Galium aparine (commonly called sticky willy - unfortunate name!), it is taken away and murdered elsewhere.  No space no weeds in a sunny border So my border plants have room for their roots, are fed growmore twice a year (when I remember) and kept watered.  They are happy enough to spread their leaves a little bit, linking up with their neighbours to form a canopy and keep weed seeds out.  North-facing border which receives afternoon sun ...

Years ago I discovered, accidentally, how beautiful parsley plants are when they have bolted and been allowed to go to flower and seed.  This year I had an old parsley in a pot that had actually survived our last winter, sitting in a heavy terracotta pot on the outside kitchen window ledge, somewhat sheltered from strong winds. I bought a new plant, full of fresh leaves to use in the kitchen for salads etc, and decided to plant the old plant in the border (you have to respect a survivor!).  Parsley flower buds Now seedheads have formed, it makes a lovely addition.  I just stuck it in a spare bit of ground between two solar lights, and it seems to be getting along well with its neighbours.  Waste not want not, right? Parsley going to seed  and looking pretty in a garden border Parsley flowers - look a bit like green snowflakes! Flat parsley leaves Hoverfly on parsley flowers.  Don't harm hoverflies, they are good guys . Hoverflie...