GARDENER'S WORD - IDEAS AND TIPS

Campanula 'Clips Blue' is growing at the front of my home, planted in the border that holds the row of golden-yellow Arthur Bell roses.  I'd grown the row of Arthur Bell roses a year or two before it occurred to me that I really should grow something else along with them.  I decided on white and blue, low-growing plants that would not be too demanding of the soil and compete with the roses.  I planted those plants, mostly alpines, a short while ago and they have taken quite readily to their west-facing positions.  Hoverfly on a Campanula 'Clips Blue' flower The border in which this plant is growing is narrow and sloping.  The soil was initially quite impoverished but every year I add to it compost that has been used in pots and is no longer required, and I feed the soil with Top Rose.  Already the plants, which I hope will spread and cover the soil, have more than doubled their size. The labels says about Campanula 'Clips Blue'  that it is a c...

Last June I bought a hosta, hosta 'Brim Cup' which I planted into a terracotta pot, which is standing on terracotta feet, and the surface of the soil is covered in a sharp alpine grit.  I haven't had any problems with slugs but I have had the most amazing flowers coming from that green and cream-leaved hosta.  The flowers on the more recently acquired larger hosta 'Patriot' have been equally as pretty and, more or less, the same colour although the spikes were much taller.  Hosta Brimcup flowers  I imagine many people simply think of hostas, they think of them only to be grown for the sake of their attractive leaves (at least lovely when unmarred by slugs) but they do push up beautiful flowers which last quite a while.  Hosta 'Brim Cup' in a large terracotta pot with sharp grit around the plant Reproductive organs inside the flower of Hosta 'Brim Cup' - Macro    Reproductive organs inside the flower of Hosta...

The weather has been wonderful today, so sunny with a cooling breeze and it's been fairly quiet in the garden with regard to visiting birds.  I've seen the feral pigeon, and a young male Great Tit coming and going.  I keep hoping to see colourful Goldfinches so I can try to take a photograph of them but I haven't seen any for a long time, not since last year.  I did manage to get a photograph of this Greenfinch which popped around for a meal when the restaurant was relatively quiet the other evening and when I focussed him down the camera lens, I had to laugh at the sight of how much it had stuffed into its mouth.  Instead of eating or flying away, it stuck around and I could not help but think that it was trying to figure out how it could possibly get more seeds between its beak before it left.  Greedy little Greenfinch. Greenfinch with a mouthful of sunflower seeds

The flowers of Gypsophila are so pretty that they are often used in wedding bouquets.  I tried unsuccessfully to grow one variety (I cannot remember which one) years ago without any luck at all in a former garden of mine but, this year, I have had success with Gypsophila 'Festival White'.  It is planted at the top of my garden border, right next to the sweet-smelling dianthus 'Doris'  where the soil is less rich and free-draining.  It's flowered for weeks and still is in flower. Gypsophila 'Festival White' The label says that Gypsophila 'Festival White' has masses of stunning tiny white flowers on sturdy stems.  It is hardy, easy to grow and lasts for years.  It's an excellent plant for cut flower arrangements.  It likes full sun in a well-drained soil, and enjoys chalk soils.  It flowers from summer to autumn and achieves a height and spread of approximately 45cm (18in).  It is best to remove dead flowers regularly.  Gyps...

Penstemon barbatus praecox 'Pinacolada White' is a small variety of penstemon which I have planted this year at the front of my home alongside the row of golden-yellow Arthur Bell roses along with the alpines and other small plants.  Penstemon barbatus praecox 'Pinacolada White' The label says that Penstemon barbatus praecox 'Pinacolada White' is a compact, upright, semi-evergreen perennial with wide, lance-shaped deep-green leaves and tubular bright white flowers.  It is suitable for rockeries, borders, walls, banks, paving, gravel gardens, containers and pots.  It flowers from spring through summer.  It achieves a height and spread of 30cm (12in), and prefers full sun or partial shade in moist but well-drained soil.  Mine has finished flowering now but it may flower again before the month is out. 

I love the elegance of Penstemons, the way the tubular flowers adorn the long flower stems, and the way they don't take up to much room.  I have bought about six for my garden this year.  Two are small varieties (Heavenly Blue and Pina Colada White) and are planted at the front of my home where the golden yellow Arthur Bell roses grow.  The others are among the perennials in the border at the back.  Unfortunately, when I bought three Penstemons  from the Royal Horticultural Society, the labels were glued to the pots.  As I had no marker pen to write labels, I made the big mistake of thinking I would easily be able to discern one from the other and even (this is a laugh) remember which I put where!  I am pretty certain, though, memory having failed, that this is Penstemon 'Purple Passion' which I have been able to identify from its white throat.  Penstemon 'Purple Passion' and the tiny Heuchera flowers . I grow Penstemon 'Purpl...

When I woke up this morning and made my way into the kitchen for a wake-up coffee, I looked out of my kitchen window to see what I think are juvenile European Starlings fighting over the food on the bird feeding-station.  At least, I think they are juvenile Starlings as, apparently, they develop speckles before they are mature. No doubt a bird-expert will let me know if I am wrong.  Anyway, whatever they are, they were having a go at each other and the marvel of it is, there was more than enough food to go around.  I love the way the little House Sparrow ignored it all and continued to eat.  Birds fighting over peanuts at the bird feeding-station Birds eating on bird feeding-station 

Yesterday, early evening, was a busy time in the garden for birds.  Sometimes it seems that they all descend at once.  Not just the tiny Blue Tits (I think they are juveniles) which seem to be bravest of the lot (except for the feral pigeons) and will ignore my presence if I sit on the nearby swing.  The feral pigeons will stick it out until I almost touch them.  Blue Tit spoiled for choice - peanuts or seeds I don't get many male blackbirds in my garden and cannot recall seeing one eating from the feeder.  They do, however, hop around on the ground, eating insects from the lawn and picking up seeds that the birds on the feeding station have dropped to the ground.  Male blackbird keeping an eye out for cats I haven't always had an interest in knowing the identity of various birds but since I bought a bird feeding station, my interest has been piqued.  It's not always easy though.  One that is easy to identify is the woodpigeon. ...

We've had a lot of hot, sunny weather lately but today is a bit overcast and fair old breeze.  Even so, I managed to get a fairly decent photograph of a small hoverfly that was enjoying the contents of a white bacopa flower growing in a basket on the back of my house. Hoverfly in white bacopa flower - Macro The wind is very drying and there's still no rain after days of dryness, so I've been out and done some watering of the containers, and dead-heading of various flowers, and when I noticed that a new web had been created between the hanging basket and the potted ivy plant on the garden table below, I thought that Arry Arachnid, the female Araneus diadematus , was back in place.  But, I was wrong.  The web belongs to a new male Araneus diadematus (not Henry ), let's call him Ernest, and when a greenfly landed on the web, Ernest came shooting down but I think he was trying to bite off a bit more than he could chew.  I read in an article that females are able ...

Flies are never welcome in my home, especially after watching the rather nauseating movie The Fly (1986) starring Jeff Goldblum, many years ago.  Since then I've liked them even less landing on my kitchen work surfaces or anywhere else for that matter.  However, it was not until I took a macro photograph of one of them in my garden yesterday that I realised just how beautiful the colours of the Green Bottle (Lucilia illustris sericata) are.  One landed on a dead rose while I was taking photographs of flowers.  Green Bottle on a dead rose As long as these beautiful but disease carrying flies remain in my garden, they are safe from me, but I cannot guarantee their safety from the spiders.  An article about the health hazards of Blue and Green Bottles (external link).

Several weeks ago, and rather late, I planted four hanging baskets with Swingtime and Southgate trailing fuchsias.  They were not very big and I pinched out the tips of the shoots in order to make the plants bushy rather than straggly with just a few branches trailing sadly down the side of the container, which I see so often elsewhere.  The pinching out has worked but it has been an age for the fuchsias to get a move on and flower.  Fortunately now the baskets are full of shoots with plenty of buds and at last I have some flowers.  I planted three of each type to a basket which made me a bit concerned that I might have overdone it but so far, so good.  Southgate, trailing fuchsia   Swingtime, trailing fuchsia Swingtime fuchsia stamens - Macro photograph Swingtime and Southgate, trailing fuchsias in the rain  

The pretty little alpine, Campanula cochlearifolia 'White Baby', is also known as Fairies' Thimbles, and I can see why.  The bells are small, about 1cm in length but, as they are very white, they are far from insignificant.  Although the plant is recommended for borders edges and rockeries, I have chosen to grow mine in a small pot with gravelly compost, surrounded by gravel (just in case the slugs decide to try and attack it).  In a pot, I can move it around to the best advantage to be admired and also protected from the wind which is one of the major problems I have living here, high up on the Pennine Mountains.  At the moment White Baby is standing among a row of Lewisias, in full sun at the top of my garden and it has been flowering for weeks.  Campanula cochlearifolia 'White Baby' The label describes the foliage as creeping, and I will be very glad if this does spread.  It's really lovely.  The foliage is pretty and bright, and the pla...

Back in April I planted 12 new raspberry canes: 6 Glen Ample, a mid-season variety and 6 Glen Doll, late season variety.  I cannot say that they have been completely successful as only 4 canes have survived and I'm really not used to things I plant dying on me, however, the ones that have survived have been successful and are provided wonderful healthy raspberries already.  The Glen Ample already has red fruit which taste delicious, and the Glen Doll is not far behind.  Possibly I should have stopped the newly planted canes from flowering and fruiting so that they would concentrate on roots and getting strong, but you know how it is.  I am still hopeful, despite the heavy losses, that next year I will get a reasonable crop and more canes will appear.  The lovely thing is, and maybe this will happen again next year, they are providing raspberries just as the last of the first crop of Polka raspberries has ended.  Polka, a double-cropper, is now bu...

In June 2013, I bought and brought Lewisia Cotyledon 'Special Mix' into my garden.  I fell in love with its lovely flowers and mound of fleshy, succulent leaves.  In fact, that lewisia grew so well that in spring this year I divided it.  From one plant, I got several.  I just took the original one out of its pot and pulled it apart.  I planted the separated new plants into a terracotta pot and surrounded them with alpine grit.  Not one has failed to thrive.  I thought that flowering was over for this year but, no, a number of the divided plants are now in flower.  Apparently lewisias can flower several times during one season.  Just keep them moist yet free draining during summer with lots of sun.  Lewisia cotyledon 'Special Mix' all divided from one original plant bought last year

At the beginning of June this year, I planted two more clematis climbers, Dr. Ruppel and Elsa Spath, on the fence of my south-facing border.  They weren't in flower at the time and so I had to rely upon the picture on the label stuck to the pot.  I'm never quite sure how reliable those pictures are going to be but I haven't been disappointed.  As it has turned out, the flowers are pretty and creating quite an impact on the fence, already sporting buds and flowers and I know, (clematis virus and what-have-you permitting), that these are going to look stunning as they twine among the jasmine.  Clematis 'Elsa Spath' Pruning Group 2 Clematis 'Elsa Spath' Pruning Group 2 Clematis 'Dr Ruppel' Pruning Group 2 Pruning Group 2 Clematis , according to the Royal Horticultural Society : With clematis group 2, which tend to flower twice in one year, the goal is to keep a framework of older wood yet promote the growth of new shoots in order to...

A red-tailed Bumblebee, Bombus lapidarius, visited my garden today and I went and grabbed my camera as quickly as I could.  Fortunately, I had the macro lens on it.  I felt sure that by the time I got back to the Malva moschata 'Rosea' flowers that it would have gone but, as luck would have it, it was still there and it was rolling around in the centre of the flowers and was covered in white pollen.  It was a joy to watch. Bombus lapidarius, Red-tailed Bumblebee rolling in white pollen    Bombus lapidarius Bumblebee rolling in white pollen Bombus lapidarius Bumblebee rolling in white pollen Bombus lapidarius Bumblebee rolling in white pollen Bombus lapidarius Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius Bumblebee Save our humble Bumblebees

While the female Araneus diadematus spider (Arry Arachnid) posted earlier seems to be still sleeping off a heavy meal from the contents of a cocoon yesterday (I thought she'd eaten herself to the point of death - I know that feeling!), a male Araneus diadematus (Henry) is on his web two hanging baskets away trying to get something to eat. While this image might be unimpressive to you, the male spider is about 5mm, if that, across.  The spider was in the shade, camera hand held, no flash, a breeze blowing both the web and the hanging basket, and the spider bouncing around like a rubber ball.  Apparently, if Henry decides to get romantic with Arry, he could be her next meal.  Poor Henry. Araneus diadematus male - about 2mm in size - having something to eat     Araneus diadematus - male   What this male Araneus diadematus needs is a good meal and I have just the place to find something for him, on my sweet peas—aphid...

Coreopsis grandiflora 'Early Sunrise' is yet another yellow flower in my garden, adding a dash of sunshine no matter what the weather.  It has flowered a little later than Coreopsis 'Sunray' which I mentioned in an early post.  Coreopsis grandiflora 'Early Sunrise' The label says that it has an outstanding colour and will encourage birds and butterflies into your garden.  It has double golden yellow daisy-like flowers above bushy and leafy-stemmed clumps of bright green narrow foliage.  It is suitable for borders in sun on well drained woils and is good for cutting.  It flowers early to late summer and achieves a height of approximately 60cm (24in) and spread of 45cm (18in).

Lady Stratheden is a beautiful geum with lovely leaves too.  I much prefer her golden sunniness to the hot oranges of some of the other geums.  However, she grows her flowers tall above her relatively low foliage, and her stems can need some support.  I grow mine at the edge of a border and have to stake her to avoid tripping over them. Lady Stratheden is so lovely and so reliable and easy to grow that the plant has earned the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit (AGM).   Geum 'Lady Stratheden' The label says that Geum 'Lady Stratheden' is free flowering with glowing yellow double flowerse on slender stems above mounds of fresh green foliage.  It is suitable for borders, in sun or partial shade, on moist but well-drained, humus rich soil.  It is good for cutting.  It flowers late spring to late summer and achieves a height of approx. 60cm (24in) and spread of 45cm (18in).   Mine grows at the bottom of my south-facing herba...

The sun is good and hot today with not much of a breeze.  In fact we've had a good few sunny days lately with the promise of more to come.  Although it rained a few days ago, water is now evaporating from my garden like crazy and I'm trying to keep the pots from drying out.  The dahlias, Fascination , collapsed with the heat although I only watered them yesterday evening, and so I have rewatered, and fed them, and supported them with cane and string.  Mid afternoon I did some dead-heading of the dahlias and everything else that needed it.  I chopped down the lovely Senecio Polyodon just above ground level.  It was still full of bloom but was also full of tiny dead heads making fluffy seeds.  It was all getting out of hand and straggly, it looked a mess, and really it was casting too much shade on other plants.  Roses, New Dawn and Wild Eve , have also required dead-heading and I've taken the opportunity to prune back the growth a little as ...