GARDENER'S WORD - IDEAS AND TIPS

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...

I have noticed that violas are opportunists. By that, I do not mean they are invasive but those little seeds will germinate in the most unlikely places. The only time I pull something out of my garden, including the patio, is when I know it is a nuisance weed.  Over winter, I had a pot that had held self-sown violas and everything had died back, or died.  I moved the shallow pot to another position as I thought, think, there are little spring bulbs in it. There was nothing to be seen above the surface of the soil but those little violas must have put down seeds which had dropped onto the pavement unnoticed.  I think it is so lovely. Where else but a garden can you get something for nothing? There are a few straggly bits of grass lurking among them but if I pull them out, it could dislodge the violas and I'm not risking it.  Self-seeded violas growing between paving slabs The violas are in a shady spot close the house that gets morning sun, under my Lazy Susan garden ...

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 

I don't often go for clashingly contrasting colours in my garden but I like this jolly little pot of violas and Osteospermum jucundums (African Daisies).   The orange Osteospermum jucundums actually survived outside, in a pot, unprotected, throughout last winter and I never expected it to keep on going.  So, I planted a tray of pretty, multi-coloured, violas around it expecting the Osteospermum to die off, but it didn't, and it's orange, bright orange.  I think it deserves to live and they all look rather jolly together in the one container. Violas surrounding a centrally planted Osteospermum jucundum (African Daisy) plant Sometimes gaudy is good.  Colourful bunch of cut flowers from M&S Violas grown in a border - 2013 Osteospermum jucundum flower, orange with yellow centre

I so loved the 'Skippy' Sky Blue violas that I planted at the edge of my garden borders the other day that I bought another colour that I thought would go along with it quite nicely: Viola wittrockiana 'Blue Blotch'.  They were in a sale at a garden centre and I thought I would give them a home.  Viola wittrockiana Blue Blotch I got a nice surprise the other day.  Do you ever tip spent compost onto your garden borders only to discover later on that you have inadvertently sown something?   I do it all the time.  This year, up came one solitary tulip.  I never even noticed it until it burst into colour.  Now, I thought I had discarded all my old tulips some time ago (they weren't doing well after a couple of years) but one bulb must have remained in the old compost.  Anyway, the tulip 'Orange Emperor' is a survivor and the colour looks really lovely with the blue of the violas.    Tulip 'Orange Emp...

Yesterday I went to Tong Garden centre in West Yorkshire for a coffee and a mooch and, of course, with the idea of getting something for my garden.  A few years ago I grew the cherry Prunus avium Stella, Gisella 5, in a very large container .  Then the cherry tree succumbed to a bacterial disease and could not, because of where it had been attacked, be saved.  So then I ended up with an ultra large pot with nothing in it.  This year I have planted in it Buddleia davidii 'Nanho Blue' , which I shall try to keep quite small (it's supposed to have a compact habit), and around the edge of the pot I am going to plant my latest acquisitions: Viola 'Skippy' Sky Blue Bicolour.  Viola Skippy Sky Blue bicolour Violas are delightfully fragrant and I prefer them to pansies.  In fact, I was chatting with one of the horticulturalists at Tong Garden Centre and he said that one year they had a greenhouse packed with violas and that the fragra...

I always understood that, unlike daffodils, there was no point in keeping tulip bulbs year after year because they didn't flower as well, but I have found that mine flower beautifully and so do their little offspring in time. Perhaps the flowers are not as big, but it's not so I have noticed.  Late last autumn I planted winter-flowering violas in a trough under my living-room window and beneath them tulip bulbs.  I had no idea what kind of tulip bulbs as I've a bad habit of getting my bulbs mixed up.  The tulips are now flowering and it seems like they are Yokohama, Orange Emperor, and Fur Elise.  Note that the little violas are still going strong, poking their way through the tulip leaves.  Cute!  They are a lovely sight to see from within my living room. Tulips in a trough with winter-flowering violas (Tulips yellow 'Yokohama', 'Orange Emperor', and 'Fur Elise'.

It's a while since I last posted.  Almost a month.  Little is happening now in the garden except preparations for winter.  I'm no winter gardener, I'm afraid.  I've bought two new mini-greenhouses (my old one was collapsing with age) and put them side by side at the top of the garden, facing south.  The lovely red pelargoniums have now been removed from the trough at the front of my home, under the living room window, cut down and potted into large pots.  For the moment, they are out of the wind in a mini-greenhouse which has been left open for the time being.  The Italian parsley (a biennial, said to be hardy) is in there too, as well as some pots of herbs, like lemon thyme - just to get them out of the way of my feet on the top patio for now.  The front trough has now been replanted with tulips for next spring and on top of them some little viola plants (like the ones I grew in a pot last year, shown below) which I am sincerely hoping will...

I mentioned in a previous post how I was saying goodbye to problematic roses but there seem to be a million jobs that have come at me all at once this autumn.  Where to start?  For one thing, it was a mistake to let a strawberry plant that had managed, somehow, to appear among the roses.  It provided two delicious strawberries and so I left it.  While I had my back turned, its runners managed to run and root among roses, amid herbaceous plants, and made their way to the lawn.  I had a devil of a job pulling them out.  Strawberries are not on my agenda for next year.  I need an easier life in the garden and am semi-decided on going for small shrubs and herbaceous perennials.  I want ground cover to supress weeds.  One rose that is doing so beautifully that it is quite safe, for now, is Wild Eve in the north-facing border.  She's flowering even now and her next-door neighbour, New Dawn, will also remain.  They have both remained trou...

For the last couple of days we have had so much rain that everything in the garden looks green and lush with dashes of colour from the seemingly everlasting winter-flowering violas , and, at last, the rosebuds that are beginning to open.  I seem to have been waiting forever for them.  The Arthur Bell floribundas, the yellow roses that I grow in a row at the front of my home, were the first to burst out in full bloom and that could well be because they get more sunny hours there.  This time last year, 22 June 2012, a day of windy weather smashed some of my roses so badly that I learned that lesson fast and now have my climbers tied in firmly to the fence.   In the back garden, it seems that the climbing Iceberg is going to be the first to bloom but every other rose I possess is doing well and despite the greenfly and blackspot attacks (controlled by spraying with RoseClear Ultra and FungusClear Ultra)  every rose looks healthy including the ...

Today the weather has been absolutely splendid.  The problem is, after a lengthy winter all the jobs are waiting.  It can be a killer.  I managed to plant up four hanging baskets - a job I actually hate doing, trying to get the plants through the side without actually killing them.  Shall I knock their heads off or wreck their roots?  Anyway, they are done, all four of them, and with a bit of luck there will be no casualties.  After that, I deserved a break and as I sat on the swing, lapping up the UVA and UVB, I found myself admiring the pretty little faces of the violas just at my feet.  Did you know that violas are extremely fragrant?   Try growing them near where you sit in the garden.  Last year I bought several trays of them and planted them for winter and they are still going.  I know, I have mentioned them in other posts but they deserve promotion because anyone who hasn't at least tried growing them is missing out....

At last!   Today I have been able to spend a little time sitting on the garden swing contemplating nothing much, which is how I like it. The sun has shone, the breeze has held its breath, and the temperature has been just right.  I realised that today, for the first time, I could actually smell the lovely yellow hyacinths and not just those but also the fabulous little winter-flowering violas that colour a tiny border at the foot of the swing.  It's the first time since I planted the violas late last autumn that I have actually been aware of their perfume.  Also, I could hear the birds twittering, Alfie my cat kept ruining my peace by continually leaping up and off the fence but no matter, he was full of the joys of a late spring too, and if there is a scarcity of bumble bees in this country well, hey, they are all in my garden bumbling about.  Fragrant winter flowering violas 30/04/2013 still flowering 6 months after planting. ...

While many things in the garden are way behind - like the roses and the loganberry vine which are just making leaves, and the tulips and the taller daffodils which are in bud but have not yet opened - the violas and the primulas, the hyacinths, and the little Narcissus 'Minnow' which I planted between the Arthur Bell rose bushes at the front of my home, are absolutely lovely.  I cannot believe how well they are doing after the foulest of winters in many years here on the Pennines of West Yorkshire.  Primulas 26 April 2013  Tulips 26 April 2013  Violas and daffodils 26 April 2013 Narcissus Minnow  26 April 2013 Sorry about the blur - I was unsuccessfully trying not to fall over while taking the picture.  These daffodils are only about 8" tall. They have forecast wintery showers today, amid sunshine.  What is going on?   Still, the pelargonium cuttings which I took a couple of weeks ago are doing very well.  They are ...

The dear little primulas keep on putting on a show, very much like the winter-flowering violas that I planted late last autumn and which are still flowering their little heads off in a tub and in a small border.  So pretty.   Primulas are hardy but the snow gave the flowers on my primulas which I planted last year , a good old bashing and now that the weather has cleared up they are producing glorious coloured flowers.  I really feel like spring has arrived at last.  I hope I haven't spoken too soon. Primulas, 17 April 2013 Violas, 17 April 2013