GARDENER'S WORD - IDEAS AND TIPS

'Pooh' dahlia has gaudy flowers but what is more outstanding is the large, golden stamens which attract pollinating insects.  I loved watching this bumblebee getting a face full of pollen.   Bumblebee with a face full of pollen on 'Pooh' dahlia A bumblebee bum Bumblebee enjoying the golden stamens of 'Pooh' dahlia I watched Gardener's World on the TV last night and there was a woman who has a garden designed to attract wildlife.  She was talking quite fondly about bumblebees.  She said it is only the Queen's which survive over winter.  In spring they lay a few eggs which turn into worker bumblebees.  In summer, the young queens and males are hatched and they mate.  Before winter, the Queen and males die, generally stung to death.  Then the new queens find somewhere to nest overwinter, and the cycle begins again.  I felt rather sad about that, the idea of her being stung to death, presumably by the males who then die after the...

A few weeks ago I decided to plant some relatively low-growing white and blue flowering perennials along a row of yellow Arthur Bell roses in a wide, narrow bed at the front of my home.  Why I didn't do it earlier is a mystery to me.  They've all taken and are growing well, some better than others, and most have been flowering for weeks.  The Verbascum 'Flush of White' is flowering for the second time and has thrown up about four strong spikes covered with pretty, white flowers.  Verbascum phoeniceum 'Flush of White' The label says that Verbascum phoeniceum 'Flush of White' has dark green foliage with long, elegant, slender spires of small white flowers.  It is suitable for borders, in full sun on well-drained soil.  It flowers early summer to autumn and achieves a height of approximately 70cm (28in) and spread of 45cm (18in).  Mine is growing in good soil that is at the top of a slope, facing south-west.  The flowers are not particula...

After yesterday's rainy day, we have sunshine.  It's lovely out there and soon I shall be lolling on the swing reading my book.  I keep saying that but things distract me.  This morning the distraction was insects.   The garden's alive with them.  I haven't seen so many butterflies this year and only one so far, a Small White butterfly , has allowed me close enough to take a photo.  That is, until today.  A little brown one came along and first alighted on the sunflower which is slowly opening, and then danced onto the September Charm anemone nearby.   It even sat long enough, quite still, for me to get really close with my camera's macro lens.  Perhaps it could see its reflection in the glass and thought it was another butterfly coming along to say hello.  I don't know why it tolerated me so long, but it did.  I believe it is the Speckled Wood butterfly.   Speckled Wood butterfly on September Charm an...

Ferns can be such interesting plants.  In the summer of 2012 I bought a Dryopteris filix -mas 'Euxinensis' and it has turned into an impressive plant grown in a container.  It softens a rather ugly corner.  In the summer of 2013, I took macro photographs of the  sori on the back of my Cyrtomium fortunei (Holly Fern) fronds (we commonly refer to them as spores, which is incorrect) and I had never realised how interesting they could be.  Sori is the collective name given for all the individual sporangia (little circles) which we often see on the back of fern fronds.  The sporangia produce the spores.   Today, I was mooching in the rainy garden (yes, we are back to rain again after a sunny day yesterday) and I noticed a spider's web on the Dryopteris.  It was sparkling with raindrops and when I looked closer, through my camera's lens, I could see that some sporangia had fallen onto the web and looked like tiny gold nuggets. ...

As part of my personal little campaign to get other gardeners to grow plants which attract pollinators, I must mention that strawberry flowers do just that.  It's so easy to forget the small flowers that are not particularly showy but I've noticed that lots of the little flowers in my garden are just as attractive to hoverflies and bees as are the bigger ones like the 'Pooh' dahlia .  Growing open flowers with their stamens exposed is the way forward although plenty of other, more complex flowers attract them too.  The fuchsia , for example, has stamens that jut out below the flower, as do the honeysuckle , runner bean  flowers.  Anyway, these are a couple of photos I took of hoverflies on my perpetual flowering strawberries. Hoverfly on strawberry flower - macro photograph Hoverfly on strawberry flower

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 ...

Gardening will never cease to amaze me.  While the Polka raspberries that I grow are really autumn fruiters, they are also double-croppers.  That means that the summer fruit grow on last year's old canes which are cut down when they finish providing fruit, and the autumn crop grows on the current year's new green canes.   I understood that if you allow double-cropping, then the summer harvest will be at the expense of the size of fruit in autumn.  For a few years now I have grow Polka and while the summer crop is reasonable, the autumn crop has been quite disappointing.  That is probably down to the awful cold and wind we keep getting leading up to winter.  This year though I have noticed that Polka is providing giant raspberries on this year's canes.  They taste great too. Polka raspberries, autumn crop of this year's canes I noticed that the developing raspberries were very large.   If the bad weather could just hold off until t...

I took this photograph the other day while in my garden merrily snapping away with my camera at everything that took my fancy.  By the time I got this image (and the 200 thousand others, more or less, that I took at the same time in the hope of getting at least one decent picture), I'd forgotten what it was I had been photographing.  What is that thing that looks like an egg-beater hanging from below the penstemon flower?  I knew I'd taken a photograph of a bee and there's a black leg or antennae sticking out to prove it, and a bee's furry back and bum, but I can only guess that the 'egg-beater' is a wing that is in rapid motion.  Odd, because usually the bees wings are folded down when they enter a flower.  This one is clearly in danger of falling out! Bumblebee inside a penstemon flower - macro photo This last couple of days there have been a lot of bees in my garden and some of the bumblebees have been quite tiny.  I can only think that they are b...

While it might seem a little odd, there can be something rather beautiful in the way plant life breaks down and decays with age or with disease.  I discovered that when I was looking for something different to photograph in my garden.  Today I noticed that there were a couple of leaves on one of the climbing roses (either New Dawn or Wild Eve) that had succumbed to disease and age and the sunlight was shining through them.  Disease and aging in rose leaves - macro photograph Disease and aging in rose leaves - macro photograph Disease and aging in rose leaves - macro photograph

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...

'Rich Ruby' is yet another of the Penstemons that I have planted in my garden this year.  They seem to have a long flowering period and after the elegant, flower-laden stems have finished flowering, I cut them back to a leaf joint above ground level to encourage further flower stems to form.   Time will tell if this works or not as this is my first year growing them.  I read that Rich Ruby is one of the most popular of the Penstemons.  Penstemon 'Rich Ruby' Penstemon 'Rich Ruby'

Anyone who reads my blog posts will know that I feed the wild birds that live in my neighbourhood.  It was a lovely surprise today to find a downy feather on top of one of the apple mint leaves close to the bird feeding station.  I was actually taking photos of bees and hoverflies on the dahlias when I noticed it.  It was too pretty not to take a photograph.  The image background has been darkened to emphasise the delicacy of the feather. A bird feather - macro photograph It was only a small feather, about 5cm (2in) in length.  I wonder which bird it came from. 

Looking at a runner bean flower, you wouldn't think there would be much to interest pollinating insects but I have noticed that they attract them all the same.  The runner beans themselves are pretty abysmal with puny leaves and just a few flowers.  I'm not going to get a crop out of them that's for sure.  It was a bit of an experiment really.  Earlier on in the year I planted Wisley Magic seeds into a very narrow strip of soil between the patio and the fencing panel.  My idea was that any roots could spread into the no-man's land over the other side of the fence but the experiment has failed.  Even so, I'm pleased that the runner bean flower gave me the opportunity of getting this shot of a bumblebee. Bumblebee on a Wisley Magic runner bean flower - macro photograph I must point out that the failure of the runner beans is not down to the seed but down to the area where I planted them.   I stuck a few along the south-facing fence before I ...

Potentilla 'Monarch's Velvet's has been flowering in my garden border for weeks now, and it's still doing so.  It's not a showy plant but the buttercup-shaped flowers, which are about 2.5cm (1in) diameter are very beautiful and the attractive, rambling foliage is great for ground cover.  Potentilla 'Monarch's Velvet' - macro photograph The label says that Potentilla Monarch's Velvet has a long succession of rich raspberry red flowers with darker centres above clumps of mid-green serrated foliage.  It is suitable for borders, in sun, on moist but well-drained soil.  It flowers mid summer to early autumn and achieves a height of 60cm (24in) x 45cm (18in).  I would point out that the plant over all is not so tall and it seems to be only the flower stems that reach 60cm.  Potentilla 'Monarch's Velvet' has more of a sprawling habit.  Potentilla 'Monarch's Velvet' - macro photograph Potentilla 'Monarch's Ve...

One plant that is standing out in my garden border right now, and managing to do it in subtle rather than brash way, is the Japanese Anemone 'September Charm'.  Creating a background is the Cherry Red phlox with its vibrant colour and yet the anemone is the one that draws my eye... Japanese Anemone 'September Charm' What is also lovely about this elegant plant is the fact that it draws pollinating insects.  In the photo below is a hoverfly enjoying itself on an anemone.  I was a bit confused about this insect as it is quite big, did not seem to hover, and I cannot say I have noticed hoverflies with abdomens like this before, predominantly black with narrow yellow bands.  However, there are differences between bees and hoverflies.  Hoverflies have short antennae and the wings are different.  Check this external link for more information about the wings. http://bioref.lastdragon.org/Diptera/Eristalis_pertinax.html Hoverfly on Japanese An...

It's time that I did something with the Lonicera periclymenum 'Scentsation' (honeysuckle) that is growing against my north-facing fence.  It had reached the top some time ago and had been busy building a kind of tangled bird's nest.  The flowers were prolific and glorious as the growth started to become heavy and tumble over the top of the trellis for my neighbours to admire, but it desperately needed reining in.  Today, this afternoon, was the time.  I look like I've been attacked by a tiger as the climbing roses New Dawn and Wild Eve had grown through it but, no matter, I love to see the roses with the honeysuckle.  I know what you are thinking but I never, ever, wear gloves in the garden and I never have, and probably never shall.  I find they cause more problems than they solve.  Anyway, as they say in Yorkshire (and possibly elsewhere), the job's a good un' and it won't need doing again for a couple of years or so.    Lonicera p...

I always thought that flat leafed parsley was not very hardy and so during the last winter I over-wintered the parsley in a pot in my mini-greenhouse , along with all my other herbs.  It survived very well.  It's grown quite big after being repotted into a larger pot in fresh compost and placed on a sunny spot on the patio throughout this late spring and summer.  Parsley is, as far as I know, a biennial that is often grown as an annual.  For some reason though, I haven't used it in my cooking this year so I decided to let it flower and go to seed.  The flowers, though tiny, are really pretty, and it has been flowering for weeks.  Each individual flower is only 2-3mm in diameter.  It's been a joy watching the pollinating insects visiting them.  Flat leafed parsley flowers (macro photography) Perhaps I should try and collect some seed for sewing next spring.  I suspect the plant might die this winter.  Flat le...

As it so often is, today it is blowing a gale but dry so far and a wonderful day for washing and drying bedding.  I took advantage of the sunshine for my washing and for myself.  While mooching around, camera around neck, I spotted a ripe strawberry hiding from me among leaves.  How dare it?  I thought it should be punished and so I bit it very hard. Death of a strawberry by biting (macro) Some website and books describe the strawberries that I grow as perpetual or everbearers while I have seen them described as everlasting.  This year I have been very pleased with the crop I am getting from my perpetual strawberries this year.  Last year the strawberries were mostly deformed, covered with botrytis mould and abysmal.  I don't know why this year has been good because, yes we've had a good amount of sunshine, but we've also had long periods of rain and I expected what strawberries were forming to rot and be deformed again.  I've no...

Hebe 'Purple Pixie' (syn. Hebe Mohawk) is a shrubby type of Veronica and although I have now planted a generally herbaceous type of border, replacing what was once a rather unsuccessful rose border, I don't mind planting very small shrubs in it.  The colours are really vibrant and it has been adorned with striking purple flowers for a few weeks already and is just now starting to fade a little.  This would make a beautiful low hedge for milder climates.  Hebe Mohawk 'Purple Pixie' - a shrubby type of Veronica The label says that Hebe 'Purple Pixie' forms a rounded shrub and bears a profusion of pixie-purple flowers from late spring to the first frosts of winter.  The mid-green leaves stay on the plant all year.  It is hardy to -5C.  It likes a sunny spot in fertile well-drained soil and a achieves a height and spread of 50cm (2ft).  It is a source of food for bees and butterflies in early summer. It can be trimmed l...