GARDENER'S WORD - IDEAS AND TIPS

Although I already have a Lewisia Cotyledon, Special Mix which I bought last year and which, presently, is absolutely full of leaves and buds but no open flowers, I had to buy Lewisia Tweedyi 'Rosea' when I saw it for sale at the Royal Horticultural Society garden shop the other day.  It was a bit expensive, but the colour is just marvellous.  See for yourself:   Lewisia Tweedyi 'Rosea' Lewisia Tweedyi 'Rosea' The label was a bit short on growing instructions but I imagine that the same rules apply as for Lewisia Cotyledon, Special Mix .  

Several days ago I spread a lawn feeder/weeder, on my small lawn.  It also kills moss which has been a problem this winter.  I use Evergreen Complete 4 in 1.  Already the moss is dying.  The only problem with using a chemical is that I cannot reseed at the same time.  I have to wait.  I'll probably reseed in autumn before the soil gets cold.  Treated law, April 2014 Mowing the lawn regularly stimulates new growth from the base and it's been cut several times already this year.  As the weather is warming, the grass is getting a spurt on.  The grass gets finer and thicker with cutting - at least, that's the theory.  Actually, my lawn is getting smaller and smaller.  If you look at early photos of my garden back in, say, 2010 when my garden was very young, you will see how the lawn has shrunk.  Each year I seem to chip a bit more away, widening my borders so that I can grow more plants.  I have never had eno...

When you look at my picture of Ranunculus calandriniodes, it's easy to believe that you are looking at some kind of peony and that the flowers are massive.  Not so.  This fabulous flower with its delicate white-pink petals and striking gold stamens belongs to the buttercup family and only grows to about 20cm x 20cm (8" x 8").  It was March, 2014, when I took the photograph.  Ranunculus calandriniodes of Atlas Mountains, N. Africa Ranunculus calandriniodes originated in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa.  According to the Royal Horticultural Society Gardeners' Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers (1989), page 300, it's 'a clump-forming perennial that loses its long, oval, blue-green leaves in summer; in a reasonable winter it will bear a succession of cup-shaped, pink-flushed, white flowers for many weeks.  Needs very sharp drainage.'  It prefers sun, well-drained soil, and is fully hardy down to -15C. 

I realise I am mentioning alpines quite often lately but there are a number of things that I want to share from my visit to the RHS Alpine House at Harlow Carr in March.  Not only did I peruse the various plants within the house but also, just outside, the Royal Horticultural Society has planted several alpines into walls.  This always brings back memories of a past garden of mine.  That garden sloped down from north (south-facing) to south (north-facing); from Sunny and dryish to shady and damp.  It was split into three levels as the land also sloped from west to east.  That sounds like a dreadful situation but actually it worked because it enabled me to grow a great variety of plants.  One of the first things I did was build a low dry sandstone wall in which I stuffed many a little alpine and as they grew, little plantlets would break off and find another place to grow within the wall quite on their own.  I also planted into the cracks in the ...

What a beautiful little dazzler is Ipheion Uniflorum 'Charlotte Bishop' with its star-shaped flowers.  Again it's a plant I found in the Alpine House at the Royal Horticultural Society gardens in Harlow Carr.  Like Olsynium Douglasii which I mentioned in a post yesterday, it has grass-like leaves.  Looking for the growing instructions, I just discovered that it is also known as Spring Starflower.  I promise you, I didn't know.  Ipheion uniflorum charlotte bishop As I have not grown this plant myself, I had to do a little research.  I understand that it is hardy but may need winter protection depending on where you live.  Although the flowers of this spring flowering plant are scented, Ipheion uniflorum is a member of the onion (alliaceae) family and if the stems or leaves are knocked, release an onion smell.  The flowers grow on stems about 20cm (8 in) high and the flowers are about 4 cm (1.5 in) across.  Plant in a sheltered po...

For a few years now I have been growing the raspberry 'Polka' (the wonder raspberry).  It's a wonderful, thornless, raspberry which, and although it is an autumn variety, Polka can be double cropped by pruning a certain way to get fruit in both summer and autumn.  A little while I posted that I was trying to grow the canes more horizontally ( cordon ) as they often get taller than the six foot fence and the raspberries at the top end up blow into another neighbourhood.  I have quite a windy garden!  Already the canes are full of leaves bursting out and lots of tiny flower buds.  Polka raspberry buds 07 April 2014 Polka raspberry, bent down cordon style 07 April 2014 I've become raspberry greedy (I make bircher muesli with raspberries almost every day) and now that I have removed a couple of roses from a border I have room for more canes and more variety too.  I didn't want thorny raspberries; I don't want to be skewered when I want to pick...

Last month, when I was visiting the Alpine House at the Royal Horticultural Society gardens in Harlow Carr, there were many beautiful flowering plants which caught my attention, not least of all Olsynium douglasii.  With its bright green grass-like leaves and mauve flowers, I thought it would be something I would like to grow, if I could.  I don't know if my humble mobile-phone camera has managed to capture the silkiness of the flowers or how bright the flowers' saffron-coloured reproductive organs are in contrast.     Apparently Olsynium douglasii, which belongs to the Iridaceae family (Iris) is sometimes identified as Sisyrinchium douglassii, and commonly as grasswidows.  It grows to about 30cm (12") tall. Although this spring flowering plant looks quite delicate apparently it can grow wildly and in great profusion in the right place.  It can grow in many places in north America and likes : coastal bluffs, prairies, open rocky...

When I was in the Alpine House at the Royal Horticultural Society gardens at Harlow Carr in March, I took this photograph of a really lovely alpine: Saxifraga Megaseiflora Vladana.  You can see how the size of the flowers dwarfs the leaves when it is in full bloom.  You can also see that it is grown in a terracotta pot with gravel around its base.  The medium which it is grown in will be gritty.  It reminds me of photograph of Saxifraga Touran Large White which I posted earlier today.  It's interesting that although they belong to the same family, their growing requirements are quite different.   Saxifraga Megaseiflora Vladana

I've mentioned in previous posts that I am changing my garden border.  While I have many roses left (the row of Arthur Bell at the front of my home and some climbers against the fence at the back), some were just too troublesome and now I want a bigger variety of plants.  Hardy herbaceous perennials are perfect in wet West Yorkshire.   Most, if not all, can withstand sub-zero temperatures.  However, I don't want everything to be hardy perennials, I want variety.  I have bought Azalea 'Tit Willow'.  Some nurseries label it as a rhododendron.  At the moment it is in bud and I've taken a photo of label and plant so you can see for yourself what it looks like now and how it will look in time. Azalea 'Tit Willow'  The instructions on the label reads as follows: Evergreen Azalea 'Tit Willow' : A compact, mound forming evergreen shrub covered with masses of flowers in spring year after year.  Hardy, easy to grow and ideal for cont...

Although plants with variegated leaves don't often appeal to me, Aubrieta 'Silver Variegated' stood out amongst the crowd the other day when I was plant hunting.  I'm looking for fillers to pretty up what was once intended to be a rose border.  As the roses failed to do well (disease, pests, flowers balling rather than opening up), I have pulled them up and donated them elsewhere.  Aubrieta is so commonly grown that I think, at times, people don't always appreciate the dazzling display they put on in spring.  But I don't want to grow nothing but plants that look plain and uninteresting when their flowering time is over. Aubrieta 'Silver Variegated'    Aubrieta 'Silver Variegated' manages to have brilliant flowers and silver-edged green leaves without looking the least bit gaudy.  The instructions on the label are as follows: A neat, silvery cushion with many navy-blue to purple flowers from March to May.  Hardy and perennial....

One plant that particularly caught my eye when mooching around the Royal Horticultural Society garden centre the other day selecting plants for the new mixed (but mostly hardy herbaceous perennials) border that I am about to create was Saxifraga 'Touran' Large White.   The mound of white flowers was dazzling and even though, close up on camera, they might seem a little bedraggled, that is down to the heavy rain we've been having lately.  It's a bonus that it is evergreen and therefore should not die back and disappear like many herbaceous perennials do in winter.  The plant is full of healthy, fat buds, as you can plainly see.  Saxifraga 'Touran' Large White The pot is a 2L, 6in diameter pot (10cm) which will give you an idea of the size of the flowers.  The details on the plant label are as follows:   Saxifraga Touran Large White   Masses of dainty, white flowers during April and May every year above a neat cushion of eve...

As I am changing my garden border from rose to a herbaceous perennial border, I don't want to be inflexible in my choice of plants.  I will also grow very small shrubs and bulbs etc, .  I don't want anything that is invasive, that grows too tall, is temperamental, and most of all I want plants that are pretty to look at.  When I was scouting around the RHS garden centre at Harlow Carr I found a Vinca minor that is similar to one I grew years ago in a much bigger garden.  However, this one has the most beautiful, big purple flowers.   Vinca minor 'Atropurpurea'  Vinca minor 'Atropurpurea' If I remember rightly, I used to grow a type of Vinca minor at the top of a dry stone wall so that it could cascade down but this plant is also good for ground cover.  I don't see why it couldn't also be grown in a hanging basket. The label for Vinca minor 'Atropurpurea' says: Form of Lesser Periwinkle.  A hardy and trailing evergreen shrub ...

While my love of roses has not diminished, my tolerance for caring for them has.  With aphid infestations and diseases such as mildew, black spot and rust attacking them yearly, I found myself having to use pesticides and fungicides.  This goes against my desire to have my garden, as much as possible, a place for wildlife to enjoy.  As you know, spraying roses can impact on insects such as bees, and that's just not on.  We have to protect our bees.  Mostly, in my garden, I get the beautiful Bumble Bees .  I still have several roses which tend not to be too problematic, so far, and need little or no spraying at all, and they have a reprieve, for now.  Yesterday I visited the Royal Horticultural Society garden centre at Harlow Carr and chose several new plants.  I am going to have a mixed herbaceous border and hope to be able to create an environment like I had once before in a much larger garden, many years ago.  Peaceful garden in Py...

The crocuses which I grow in a small trough at the top of the garden are looking lovely this year, particularly the purple ones.  I had to protect them from squirrels (which love to dig them up and eat them) by putting a bit of plastic garden trellis over the top of the trough until the corms produced leaves and buds.  Some people are confused by the difference between a corm and a bulb.  A bulb consists of peelable layers, like an onion (which is a actually a bulb).  A corm does not, it's solid.  Apparently, although I haven't tried it, if you cut a corm in half, or into sections, each section should produce roots and flowers — so that would be one way to propagate them. It's easy to appreciate, looking at the above photo of the centre of a crocus that saffron comes from a crocus flowers but not just any crocus.  It comes from crocus sativus (below).  (c)  http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2012/geenen_rach/

Although we've had quite a mild time of it here in West Yorkshire this winter, if you discount the ferocious winds, you cannot trust that the climate won't suddenly turn very cold and wintery.  At the end of March 2013, a blanket of snow covered my garden and everything in it.  Even so, you have to make hay while the sun shines and I've retrieved the dahlias and begonias that I  potted in vermiculite and stored outside in the garden storage box  last November in the hope that they would survive.  And they have.  The dahlia tubers are just as healthy and plump as they were when I stored them.  I'll keep them outside and bring them indoors, or protect them with bubble-wrap, if the weather turns nasty. The above dahlias are 'Fascination'.  The tubers almost fill those big pots (above and below) and to think, when I first bought them, the tubers were tiny and would have fitted into the palm of one hand.  Fascination Dahl...

When I bought my Prunus Avium Stella Gisela 5 last year in May, it was in a very small pot.  While the nurseryman assured me that it could grow for another year in that small pot, I didn't believe him and found that the tree was totally root bound, as dry as a bone, with very little growing medium visible.  I bought a large terracotta pot and planted the cherry tree in that.  The idea was that the weight of the pot would stop the tree from blowing over, but it didn't, not when the cherry tree was in full leaf.  After repotting, I found that the roots were soon filling the pot.  Now, I know the idea behind stunting plants (like bonsai trees) is that you keep them small by pruning back roots and pruning back top growth, but I had also read that a cherry tree, even a small one, needs a larger pot than I had provided.  Furthermore, I read that if you plant such a cherry tree in the garden soil, it does not like competition with the roots of othe...

About this time of year, every year, new neighbours arrive near my home.  They seem to have no manners and wake me up early every morning with their racket.  No, they are not drunken holiday-makers coming home after a fun night out, they are Canadian Geese.   I thought they were Mallard ducks for a time but their necks are too long.  Two arrived this morning and it was delightful watching them swimming on the dam, diving under the water and bobbing back up again and shaking themselves, having their early morning bathe.  I do wish though that they could learn to arrive more silently.  6 a.m. is a little early for me.  I would have liked to have taken my own photograph but the birds are too far away for my mobile phone camera to deal with.   (c) Gillian Day (with her kind permission).  Yorkshire Wildlife Trust: http://www.ywt.org.uk/species/canada-goose While on the subject of wildlife, I had another visitor the day before yesterd...

I understand that although chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) and bullfinches (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) are similar in colour, the bullfinch is very striking and different somehow.  I checked the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds website and it shows the striking difference between a chaffinch and a bullfinch.    (c) www.rspb.org.uk  - Male bullfinch Difference between Male and Female Bullfinch (RSPB external link)  Note that although the female is less colourful, she still has the same markings as the male, still has a black face.   (c) www.rspb.org.uk  - Male chaffinch Difference between Male and Female Chaffinch (RSPB external link).  Note that the female is much less colourful but has similar markings to the male - the grey head, the white detail on the wings.  I've seen a little bird visit my garden lately which is quite red from its face to its chest and lower abdomen, and I'm pretty certain it's a chaffin...

A pair of Woodpigeons flew into my garden today and began taking peanuts and seeds from one of the trays on the complete bird feeding station .   I don't think I've ever seen one before, not that I am aware of.  Such beautiful and graceful creatures they are.  I didn't know what they were at first as they looked like doves or feral pigeons but these visitors have a distinctive white band around their necks and very sharp looking beaks which turn down at the end.  Apparently woodpigeons can suck up water and only a few other types of bird can do that.  I apologise that the photograph is quite poor but I use a mobile phone camera and the zoom isn't great.  If I try to go outdoors to take the photo, the birds fly away.  I know, I keep saying I will buy a better camera but until I find what I want, I'll have to make do.  Soon though, soon.  This is a very interesting article about woodpigeons, if you are interested:   http...

When I was at the RHS Gardens in Harlow Carr the other day I saw this alpine in the Alpine House amid the rocks.  The colour of the flowers is so vibrant, I just had to take a photograph of them.  They are Corydalis solida 'Fire Cracker' and are, according to the RHS, early winter flowering Corydalis solida 'Fire Cracker' This is a link to the Telegraph, giving more information about growing Corydalis solida 'Fire Cracker' and other types of corydalis plants .