GARDENER'S WORD

For quite a few years now I have had the Japanese anemone 'September Charm' growing in my garden and it is a beautiful thing. Some people are shy of growing Japanese anemones as they have a reputation of being invasive. I don't consider them invasive as they are easily controlled just by dead heading the flowers before they make seed and pulling up any offspring produced on runners if they are unwanted.   Japanese anemone hupehensis 'Snow Angel' The above plant was delivered yesterday, 26th September 2025, bought from Thompson and Morgan, and it is healthy and full of buds.  Japanese anemone hupehensis 'Snow Angel' The RHS have a webpage dedicated to it:   RHS Anemone hupehensis Snow Angel  and they have titled it Anemone hupehensis 'Ifansa'  PBR  (Fantasy Series). It is totally hardy, quite unfussy as to aspect preferring full sun or partial shade, and achieves a height and spread of between 0.5 and 1 metre.  It flowers summer and autumn whi...

Winter-flowering violas are such generous little plants, bright faces that eventually turn into seeds which happily find there way into all sorts of odd little places. This year I found some violas had self-sewn between paving slabs on my patio which only gets morning sun, and I was happy to leave them right there. Others found their way into a trough that housed spring bulbs, again in partial shade given by nearby dahlias in tubs. This morning I spotted a viola flower peeping out from a jungle of other plants' leaves in a south-facing border but protected from hot sun by the foliage of other plants. They will tolerate some sun but really do prefer partial shade, hence the places they are self-seeding, all in partial shade.  Violas 'Beaconsfield' and 'Raspberry I bought some more for winter, Viola 'Beaconsfield' and Viola 'Raspberry' hoping they would cheer up the winter months until the spring bulbs take over. They are surprisingly hardy. I've put t...

As the years go by it is natural that gardening becomes harder and more challenging than in our more energetic youth.  I have a strip of cultivated soil at the front of my home which I decided I really didn't want to have to deal with any more, having enough work to do at the back of my home, so I edged the area with pre-rusted heavy duty (14 gauge) Corten steel which I hammered into place. I then put down Melcourt Sylvabark Pine Mini Mulch. Perhaps it wasn't the prettiest solution but I didn't want to pave it or do anything permanent to it which, if I decided to plant something in it later, would be problematic. As it happens, a year later I did want to plant something. The more I looked at it over time, the more it cried out to me 'plant something, plant something'. So I have planted something and that something is four Spiraea japonica 'Goldflame' shrubs which achieve a height and spread of about 3ft or 1 metre.  Spiraea japonica 'Goldflame' This ...