GARDENER'S WORD - IDEAS AND TIPS

It's been a while since I posted but my garden starts to wind down in autumn, and so do I.  I've picked a few late Polka raspberries , the four hanging baskets filled with white bacopa are still in full bloom even though it's November now, and the penstemons continue to flower.  Over all, it's been a good year for the garden with glorious sunshine lasting through summer right until now.  Yesterday, another sunshiny day, I went to Cliffe Castle park in Keighley, West Yorkshire, and the Pavilion Cafe there.  Took some photos, like I do, and here they are: Cliffe Castle park, November 2018 Cliffe Castle park, November 2018 Cliffe Castle park, November 2018 Campanula glomerata at pool side, Cliffe Castle park, November 2018 Verbena bonariensis at pool side, Cliffe Castle park, November 2018 White Iris at pool side, Cliffe Castle park, November 2018 Autumn leaves at Cliffe Castle park, November 2018

As many will know who read my posts, I feed the local wild birds every day of the year.  They all know that this restaurant is open 24/7, even on Christmas Day, and fat balls are available once the weather turns cold.  In return, the birds give me a lot of pleasure—a Great Spotted Woodpecker came the other day and sadly I just missed photographing it.  It's four years since I last saw one.  I love watching the birds come and go and, occasionally, the seeds they drop germinate.  As I use husked seeds, mostly, I get few problems with seeds germinating where I don't want them to and becoming a nuisance, but sometimes a sunflower (helianthus anuus) seed will land in just the right spot, even in a pot (as below), and it is left to grow.  Bird sown Sunflower - flowering late October 2018 That is the case with this sunflower that I didn't notice until it was quite a good size.  It was quite late in summer when I first noticed it in a pot amid ...

I know that I've mentioned my bacopa hanging baskets earlier.  But I want to mention them again because they have been so very lovely since I planted up four bacopa hanging baskets in April .  I have four hanging from the back wall of my home.  They get sun in the morning for a few hours (when we do have sun - this is the UK you know) and it is now mid October and they are still looking glorious.  I know they probably will be killed off at some point by a hard frost but for now they are doing very well.  The nice thing about bacopa hanging baskets is that the plants dead head themselves which is a very good thing considering that they flower by the thousands, over and over again.  Take a look... White bacopa hanging basket - end Sept 2018  The above hanging baskets is a large basket with about five bacopa planted into it.  In full flower, like this, it is a good 24in (60cm) wide by about 18in (45cm) high.  If you look carefully...

You might be wondering what Hollingworth Lake has to do with a garden blog.  Well, probably not a lot, but it's the light and shade and the water, you see, which caught my attention.  I visited the lake briefly the other day while on my way to a garden centre, and I was dazzled by the scene of sun shining through the leaves of a tree, the trees casting shade upon the ground beneath, and the light so silvery and bright upon the water.  The combination of light, shade, and water reflections are so effective in a garden of any size.  Hollingworth Lake, Rochdale, Greater Manchester - 10 Oct 2018 Sadly, I don't have room for a decent size pool, let alone a lake—I wish—but I do have my small solar pitcher fountain and when there is enough sun to make it work it's lovely to see the light reflections as the water falls, and I do have my solar lights for the evening which give the garden a whole new dimension, so to speak.  Note:  Do grow plants with white flo...

Back in August I posted a photograph of Malus Red Sentinel which I took at the RHS garden centre in Harlow Carr.   If you look at the then and the now photographs below, you will see where it gets its name.  The fruit of this malus (crab apple) is cherry red.  Apparently, the fruit is edible although I assume you only cook with it, make jam and so on.  Malus 'Red Sentinel' October 2018 Malus 'Red Sentinel' August 2018

Another plant which I photographed at the RHS garden centre in Harlow Carr last week:  Euonymus alatus 'Blade Runner'.  It's red in autumn alright!  It's a relatively small shrub so suitable for smaller gardens.    Euonymus alatus 'Blade Runner'  

While at the RHS garden centre in Harlow Carr last week, I took a few photographs of plants in autumn colour.  This Hamamelis (Witch Hazel), was one of them.  There are several varieties of Hamamelis and the RHS has once again failed to have a plant clearly identified.  It was the same problem with the Acer palmatum dissectum which I shared in my previous post, and an indoor fern which I bought some time ago and which I believe is Pteris fauriei.  The RHS reason given to me is that that is how the growers label and supply them.  For the Royal Horticultural Society to sell plants which are not clearly identified for their customers and members is not only surprising but their reason for doing so is rather lame.  They could tell their suppliers to label identify the plants fully.  Anyway, this Hamamelis is a stunner. It is possible the one called Hamamelis intermedia 'Orange Peel', but don't take my word for it.   Hama...

Acers, commonly known as maples, can be stunning in autumn when the colour of the dying leaves change to shades of yellow, gold, orange, and red.  Japanese maples or Japanese acers (smaller in stature and native to Far East countries) are well known for their spring and autumn colours. The Japanese acer that I share here was simply labelled Acer palmatum dissectum and was photographed at the RHS garden centre in Harlow Carr last week.  The cost?  £200.  Ouch. Acer palmatum dissectum To be clear, Acer refers to the genus, palmatum to the shape of the leaves (like a hand), and dissectum means divided or deeply cut, feathery.  Furthermore, there are many types of Acer palmatum dissectum.  For example, I grow Acer palmatum dissectum Ornatum  which has just started changing into its autumn colours .  Acer palmatum dissectum  Acer palmatum dissectum

The other day I treated myself to some shop-bought cut flowers and for a change they weren't roses, or dianthus (pinks), or freesias. No, I spotted something I had never seen before: Eustoma Grandiflorum, also known as Lisianthus, or Prairie Gentian. They belong to the Gentianae family.  On the wrapper they were called Lisianthus which I think a far lovelier name than Eustoma which, unfortunately, reminds me of a medical term best not thought about.  There were two colours available but I preferred the lilac to the pink.  A white one was also hiding among the ones I bought.  The petals are large and delicate, and the flowers have a lovely golden centre with large stamens.  They are also pleasantly fragrant.  They have lasted a few days already and still look good. Lisianthus, or Prairie Gentian (Eustoma Grandiflorum)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustoma  Lisianthus, or Prairie Gentian (Eustoma Grandiflorum) I co...

The wish to transplant two Japanese maples, or Japanese acers, from pot to border has been preying on my mind all summer long and I have been waiting for the perfect day to do it.  The perfect day is when the weather is not too cold, the soil not to dry nor too wet, and when I feel physically up to it.   Having a balance problem makes it difficult enough but I'm not kidding when I say that I can only put a fork about 1", 2.5cm, into the ground under my lawn. The borders aren't much better and year by year I have dug away, little by little, until you wouldn't know that right underneath the surface of my garden is enough rock to build a garage.  Digging, for me, is a killer.     Japanese acer shirasawanum 'Jordan' The maples I refer to are Japanese maple Acer palmatum 'Phoenix' , and Japanese acer shirasawanum 'Jordan' which are still small, have been growing in small pots, and I can dig a hole deep enough in that rocky are...

I visited East Riddlesden Hall in West Yorkshire yesterday and just outside of the toilets is a large tree and, at the base of the trunk is a large fungi which was very worthy of having its photograph here.  Meripilus giganteus also known as Giant Polypore I'm not an expert on fungi, or trees, or gardening for that matter, but I think it is the Meripilus giganteus.  If you know different, please let me know.  It's a beauty of a fungus, isnt it? Meripilus giganteus also known as Giant Polypore Meripilus giganteus also known as Giant Polypore at base of tree, East Riddlesden Hall, West Yorkshire Cyclamen at base of tree, East Riddlesden Hall, West Yorkshire

Before I bought a miniature James Grieve apple tree for my garden, I had never even heard of that particular type of apple.  Why?  Well, it seems that James Grieve apples are easily bruised and that is probably the reason we, or I, never see them on supermarket shelves.  Now, I wouldn't know if they are easily bruised because I pick them one at a time off my little tree and eat each one straight away.  This year my young tree has provided me with over 20 apples and today I picked the last one.  Now I just have to wait patiently until next year for, hopefully, an even better crop.  James Grieve apple This year I had to use canes to support my miniature apple tree's branches as the weight of the fruit was in danger of snapping them.  The tree really is only small.  It is about 4ft high, that's all.  James Grieve miniature apple tree  As you can see, the apple is perfect.  Not one has been unfit to eat, bruised, or wit...

The other day I was mooching around the RHS garden centre at Harlow Carr and I couldn't help but notice a stunning dahlia called Tahiti Sunrise.  Fabulous pink (which went perfectly with my nail varnish!) and a soft-yellow at the base of the petals.  I had to take a photo, see below, and it has not been digitally altered in any way whatsoever.  Although I don't grow dahlias any more (too much faffing around overwintering them), I still admire their spectacular and varied flower displays and envy those who can have borders filled with them without losing them to freezing temperatures during winter months.  Dahlia 'Tahiti Sunrise' If you get confused about the difference between dahlia dead heads and flower buds , at this internal link you can see the difference quite clearly. I used to grow a lovely dahlia called Fascination but, after years or growing from the same tuber, I went and forgot to protect it one year and it is now, sadly, deceased.  It...

It's been a while since I last posted but summer can be a quiet and lazy time for me in the garden—just mowing the lawn, dead heading flowers like those on the buddleias and roses, stuff like that.  However, this morning I mowed the lawn, then edged it and cut around the paving stones with my long-handled shears.  Yesterday, I was having a chat with the neighbour and I noticed that thriving nicely in her rather bedraggled lawn was a solitary bright orange flower amid several other little plants which had not yet flowered.  Jealously, I had to know what they were but she had no idea.  She said that they had sown themselves and that down the road, in other neighbouring gardens, there were lots of them right now.  So I Googled to find out what it was.  I'm not so jealous now.  The flower is Hieracium aurantiacum also known as Orange Hawkweed which is considered to be an invasive plant and a noxious one at that, i.e. harmful to the...

It's a little while since I posted anything as there has been little to do in the garden except for dead-heading and picking Wisley Magic runner beans and James Grieve apples as they grow and ripen.  The lawn has required little cutting as the extensive dry period put a halt to the grass, although now we are back to normal UK summer weather: sun, cloud, and rain.  During the prolonged sunny period, a friend and I had a little outing to Cliffe Castle Museum and surrounding gardens in Keighley.  The grounds are beautiful with extensive lawns and mature trees.  The cafe area is oustanding in that it is part of a super-large conservatory with a view over the gardens.  We didn't venture into the museum itself as we had been there not so long ago, but I will post one or two photos of that time.  Cliffe Castle gardens and cafe/conservatory   Cliffe Castle Museum (official website - external link)  Cliffe Castle cafe straight ahead, conservatory...