GARDENER'S WORD - IDEAS AND TIPS

Bearded Irises, such as Stepping Out, like full sun on their zhizomes (a modified horizontal plant stem that runs underground), and don't like to be waterlogged, so I decided to plant it in a terracotta pot, for now at least, where I can monitor it more easily. It is easy to see why it received the RHS Award of Garden Merit. The RHS states that it likes an acid to neutral well-drained soil, any aspect except north, and is as hardy as they come at H7. It flowers in spring, is deciduous, perennial, and clump forming. Exposure can be sheltered or not sheltered (I live high on the Pennines Mountains so I put a plant support in the pot, just in case). It achieves a height of about 1 metre with a 1/2 metre spread.  Bearded Iris 'Stepping Out' I am limited to what I can grow in my 30 x 30ft garden that has two patios, a shed, and a 9 x 7ft garden room in it. The top patio gets the most sun from mid morning until sundown in the warmer months when the sun is higher in the sky. The b...

Last year I bought several varieties of narcissus bulbs for my garden borders and containers.  The idea is that they will multiply and I plan to have them among the herbacious perennials which flower in summer.  That's the plan!  Anyway, this one is a little cutie with multiple-heads to each stalk and a fragrance which is powerful.  The flowers are small but impressive with creamy white petals and an apricot corona (the bit in the middle that sticks out).  Narcissus 'Doll Baby' The label says that the planting time is September to December with flowering April to May the following year.  The height is 30cm (12in or 1ft).  Plant the bulbs pointed end upwards and grow in moist but well draining soil or compost in sun or partial shade. 

Another gloriously sunny day for Easter Saturday.  Here, in the UK, we usually expect it to rain on bank holidays!  Anyway, it is sunny with blue sky and temperatures in the 20s.  My garden, which is mostly a summer garden, looks lovely with all the daffodils put on a show.  I bought several varieties of bulbs last year which are now in bloom and, of course, there is the ever-reliable Tete a Tete among them.  Narcissus 'Falconet' is one of my new narcissus, or daffodils if you prefer to call them that.  They are really lovely and the fragrance is divine! Narcissus 'Falconet' The label says that they enjoy sun or partial shade and like moist, humus-rich soil - I grow mine in Miracle-Gro All Purpose compost.  They achieve a height of 14", are highly-fragrant and, as you can see, are multi-headed: there are four flowers on the stem in the above image.  Narcissus 'Falconet'

Wow!  I got a surprise today when I was pottering in the garden.  It's glorious weather for Good Friday with the temperature here on the Pennines of West Yorkshire in the 20s.  I was watering and feeding plants growing in containers when I was hit by a glorious fragrance. I'm looking around, wondering where it was coming from, thinking it was from outside my garden, and realised it was right under my nose!  It was some of the narcissus which I bought and planted last year and which I am growing in a free-standing trough: Narcissus 'Geranium' is highly fragrant.  Narcissus 'Geranium' - highly scented The fragrance of narcissus Geranium reminds me of lilacs, or violas, or even hyacinth.  The perfume is sweet and heady.  Next year I shall plant them where the fragrance can be appreciated more than in a trough in front of the raspberry canes.  Additionally, narcissus Geranium is multi-flowered and I have counted between...

I love penstemons.  Ever since I introduced them to my garden a few years ago, they have flowered reliably for long periods over the warmer months.  When you consider that the poor things have been moved from here to there and back again, over and over, you would think they'd just go and die on me, but they don't.  Mine remain pretty much in leaf over winter and I think the leaves probably protect the roots and heart of the plant from frost.  Then, come spring, when the weather warms up, I tidy them up with my secateurs, pruning them back to stop them being leggy, and they're off again!  Penstemon 'Pensham Laura' Love Penstemons .  Pollinators love penstemons  too!  Bees love penstemons too! Bees love penstemons too! Look, it's wing looks like an egg whisk!  :)  Penstemon 'Purple Passion' Penstemons behind Veronica spicata 'Ulster Blue Dwarf' Penstemon 'Pensham Laura' Penstemon 'Phoenix Violet'

Today the weather has been beautiful with blue skies and sunshine.  All in all though, it's been a very odd year in the garden with plants not flowering when they should, not flowering at all, or flowering over and over again.  Take for instance the clematis: the large flowered ones like Dr Ruppel and Elsa Spath were fabulous last summer, 2014.  This year, Elsa Spath hardly flowered at all, and Dr Ruppel flowered a little, then stopped.  Both are supposed to be repeat flowering.  I was expecting, hoping for, so much more.  Dr Ruppel has now, yes now it is nearly winter, decided to wake up and produce large buds and a flower.  Clematis Dr Ruppel flowering in November 2015 Clematis Dr Ruppel flowering in November 2015  I think Elsa Spath might be dead, and one of the Dr Ruppel's too (I had two of those but one seems to have disappeared).  I say that I think the Elsa Spath might be dead, but who knows?  A small flowered cl...

I was astounded the other day when I noticed that the gaudy yellow and red flowers of a dahlia called 'Pooh' were attracting pollinators.  I'm not talk about one or two, I am talking about bees and hoverflies jostling for space on the golden stamens.  I'm only sorry that my photographic skills let me down and I didn't manage to get all the clear photographs I would have liked.  The insects were quite civilised about getting their share.  One bumblebee trod on another bumblebee without hostile reaction while the hoverflies kept to their own, separate, space.  I managed to get a photograph with two bees and two hoverflies but there was a point when it all got very crowded, with hoverflies waiting to land, and I just did not know where to aim my macro lens.  Anyway, two shots were fairly decent. 'Pooh' dahlia flower with hoverflies and bumblebees  If 'Pooh' dahlia isn't a magnet for pollinators, I don't know what is.  A bumblebee on ...

It's a warm and sunny day today and if September manages to keep up this weather, it'll be a lot better than rainy August, that's for sure.  Plants in the pots need attention when it's like this and I keep feeding the leafy plants with Miracle-Gro and the plants that are flowering with Phostrogen.  Even after all these years of gardening, I still get confused with regarding to feeding my plants as to how, and when, and why, and which, and what, so I tend to just do my thing and hope I don't kill them.  I do know that nitrogen promotes leaf and Phostrogen promotes flowers, so there is some method in my confusion.   The three bicoloured begonias in a terracotta pot, facing south, in the porch at the front of my home are doing well after taking a time to flower.  I'm feeding them with Phostrogen.  They've been flowering for a few weeks now and still there are lots of buds on the way.  I took a nice couple of close-up shots with my new camera a c...