GARDENER'S WORD - IDEAS AND TIPS

Growing Japanese acers (maples) in hot sunny weather is tricky, especially if they are young and ultra-especially when a plant supplier sends you one straight from a polytunnel where they have been mollycoddled and need hardening off to toughen them up. Right now, in West Yorkshire, I have four young acers, all grown in pots, in need of protection, and I have the right spot for them even if it is not very convenient for me. On my east(ish)-facing house wall I have an electric awning and although I often sit under it during hot sunny spells like we have this week, I have been evicted by plants. Garden awning gives plants shelter in hot sun Hopefully, when the Japanese acers are older, they will be more tolerant but right now I have only had them in my possession under one year so they are still quite young.  Off picture is a tiny Orange Dream , and on the patio itself is Sango-Kaku, Osakazuki , and Moonrise behind that.   The RHS webpage on growing Japanese Maples states...

Syringa 'Red Pixie' is a dwarf lilac with a divine fragrance, and said to grow to about 5ft.  Mine is now 6ft tall and I am growing it, like many trees in my garden, as a multi-stem so that plants can have space beneath it.  The plant spreading its 'wings under the lilac is Braun's Holly Fern (Polystichum braunii), my favourite. Syringa 'Red Pixie' above  Braun's Holly Fern (Polystichum braunii) Right now we are heading towards June, and here at about 850ft above sea water on the Pennines of West Yorkshire, Red Pixie has opened its buds releasing a wonderful fragrance. However, after a chilly wet May so far, it is extremely warm and sunny today, no breeze, and we've been thrown out of the freezer and into the furnace😂. I have extended my electric awning to offer shade to some more delicate leaves (like my young Japanese maples. Unfortunately, the awning is pushing into the top of the lilac.  As soon as the lilac has finished flowering, I will cut back i...

Well, I got a surprise today when I got home from mooching around the RHS garden centre at Harlow Carr.  I took my purchases of a new fern, Blechnum spicant, and some Osteospermums, into my garden and noticed that The Buckler Fern (Dryopteris atrata) had fronds that had partially turned yellow.  How odd. I can only think it is down to sunshine as we have been having very unEnglish summer weather and keeping my shade plants in the shade has been a difficult task.  Lately I have been putting out the awning to give them shade but it's been impossible to shade them all the time.  I also understand that such yellowing can be down to stress: too much water or insufficient water.  We have been in a kind of a drought these past through weeks, very little rain, and so I have been watering my moisture-loving plants to stop them from dying.  So it could be dryness, overwatering, sun scorching, maybe chlorine from tap water, wind, whatever... ...

I always tend to get confused when I have my eye on a certain plant and the label tells me it needs a certain condition, partial shade, plant hardiness zone , or whatever, and I am left trying to work out if my garden's growing conditions fit the bill.  After all, for example, my kitchen window faces more or less eastward.  In winter, if we are lucky enough to get any sun at all, it only gets a few hours until, perhaps, only 9 or 10 a.m., then it is in shade. At that time of year, there are very few plants there to worry about.  However, in spring and summer it's a different story when my garden comes alive. most are dormant. That same place can get full blazing sun until mid-day when the sun heads over to the other side of my home.  So, does that count as partial shade?  Apparently it does. East facing wall with morning summer sun and plants that get partial shade FIFTY SHADES OF SHADE AND LIGHT Full sun is an area that get...

After a few bouts of (non-melanoma) skin cancer despite avoiding sun while living in the Caribbean several years ago, I do my best to avoid sun nowadays.  Nothing like skin cancer and bits being cut out and chopped off to make people think twice about sunbathing, don't you think?  Still, avoiding sun isn't easy when you are rather fond of the state of wellbeing that sunshine promotes.  With shade in mind I had an awning built onto the back of my West Yorkshire home a few years ago and in sun-scorching drought like we are having in this area right now, it has been invaluable; not just for me but also for my shade-loving plants: the hostas and the ferns.  Last year, at the top end of the garden, I had built a garden room and it is lovely and warm on those chilly days when the sun pops out just now and then, including in winter.  The sun through the glass warms the room but, and this is a big but , the glass is special and filters out harmful UV rays.  This...

I seem to be behind in my autumnal chores this year.  When the weather has been fine, I haven't felt like doing it.  When it's been miserable, I have been raring to go, but won't.  For one thing, if anything will set my back off, it's cold weather.  Does that sound like a good excuse for being lazy?  I think so.  Today is mild though.  It's cool, but fine.  After dilly dallying for a few hours this morning, I started on the jobs.  The first job was to treat the marble table.  It's a must, and something that cannot be put off too long.  If the table is wet, and the temperature drops below freezing, the marble can crack.  First of all I hosed off the grit and leaves, then applied a specialist marble cleaner .  The cleaner, and the protective liquid is very expensive but both those bottles are enough to last for years for my marble table which is 43" dia.  While the table top is drying, which it has to before I...

 I have wanted an awning at the back of my home for quite a long time and yesterday it arrived.  Although you can't see very well from the photo, there are terracotta coloured stripes that pick out the red brick of the wall.  While my kitchen window gets little sunlight in the winter months, in the heat of summer the sunshine doesn't leave the patio area until well after midday and it can be quite uncomfortable trying to sit at my marble table with the sun beating down on my head and the light bouncing off the table.  My awning is motorised, electric, fully retractable, and looks kinda nice, I think.  Actually, it looks like a café.    Awning retracted Awning extended We've had several days of sunshine and very high temperatures, almost up to 30C but today it is cloudy.  Typical!