Greenhouse update – Day three

Posted on October 24, 2012 by davidsgardendiary

And it was all going so well!

I managed to dismantle most of the framework but the ridge and gable ends obviously had other ideas. Cathy to the rescue….again! However, even though her spirit was willing as usual, the flesh was a little too weak for this one. Cue the burly builder working in the house. “Just climb up this ladder mate and hold this for a couple of minutes while I remove the last few nuts will you?” Burly builder kindly obliged and down it came.

Then started the first of several trips home, greenhouse parts in car.

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Greenhouse update…..Day two

Posted on October 23, 2012 by davidsgardendiary

Once the home-made wooden staging was removed, it was time to remove the glass, all 113 panes of it! It was quite a task and took all day but it is done. I had to enlist Cathy’s help to remove the panes next to the ridge as I felt rather unsafe 2.7 metres high holding wet glass and she was her wonderful, dutiful, helpful self. Without complaint she stood around in the cold damp weather and stacked the glass, picked up the clips I dropped and generally cheered me up. We had a laugh about a couple of 61 year olds still doing stuff our kids would probably not attempt! Continue reading →

Gorgeous New Greenhouse!

Posted on October 19, 2012 by davidsgardendiary

I have had a real stroke of luck. A member of our local Plant Heritage Group has moved house and must remove his 12′ x 10′ Eden aluminium greenhouse before the end of the month as the new owner doesn’t want it!! He is happy for someone to have it if they remove it so……….it is going to be mine!

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Suddenly it’s Autumn

Posted on October 17, 2012 by davidsgardendiary

Autumn colour of Kolwitzia amabilis

Autumn has suddenly taken over and there are early signs of what might be a hard winter. The dog-rose hips are especially good this year and the ivy is literally heaving under the weight of millions of tiny flowers, promising a feast of berries to come. Continue reading →

First Frost

Posted on October 15, 2012 by davidsgardendiary

First Frosty Morning

The weather forecast said there might be a frost on Saturday night but just in exposed rural areas….they were wrong! We awoke to a hard frost and the tell-tale signs of tender plants grimacing in the early morning mist. Gradually, as the sun rose and the mist cleared, I realised this was the day to start the annual clearance.

It is an inevitable part of gardening with annuals and tender perennials that, sooner or later, they need to be lifted and either potted up, stored or composted. Most people seem to think that makes a garden ‘high maintenance’ but I just see it as part of the programme. If you want a colourful scented garden throughout the year, it comes at a small price. However, the payback is lots of wonderful composting material!

Even after so many years, I am still reluctant to dispose of plants which are still flowering like Cosmos, Nicotianas, China asters and bedding dahlias but if I wait I will just be clearing away a soggy mushy mess instead. So, out I went, wheelbarrow, border fork and spade in hand and had a really good day. The weather was warm under a cloudless sky.

Schizostylis coccinea (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I feel better for it, the borders look fresh and ready for the next chapter and I now have somewhere to plant out the 50 Alliums I bought at Malvern, the Echinaceas and rudbeckias bursting out of their 5 litre pots, the Hesperis matronalis, Sweet Williams and Foxgloves grown from seed, the Delphiniums and Penstemons bought as plugs, and the various perennials I have collected from plant sales but had nowhere to plant them. Heliopsis ‘Summer Nights’, Schizostylis coccinea, two bargain half price Phormiums, shrubby Salvias ‘Hot Lips’ and ‘Royal Bumble’, Kniphofia ‘Percy’s Pride’ and last, but by no means least, Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’

Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tomorrow is another day. Retirement has the benefit that I can spread tasks out a bit, they don’t all have to be done at the weekend, so now it is time to think, reflect, have a glass of wine and plan ahead. I might get the seed boxes out of the fridge and dream of next year’s promise, all those wonderful treats to come!

Lazy Lizzie!

Posted on October 13, 2012 by davidsgardendiary

Photo credit: grow-your-secret-garden

I suppose it was just a flight of fancy, one of those sudden impulses which seem perfectly reasonable at the time but then turn sour. What I had overlooked was that most of the flowers I lusted after in the florists window had actually arrived by plane from the warm shores of Asia, the Southern states of North America, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Way back in March while ‘researching’ cut flower seeds I came across an advert on Ebay for one of my favourite cut flowers, a double yellow Lisianthus, the cultivated form of Eustoma. I should have known this wasn’t going to be easy when just 5 seeds cost £1.75 + p&p but there were no others so I bought them. A few days later they arrived in a small packet, or rather the crushed remains did.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Undeterred, I contacted the lady seller and she kindly sent me some more, this time better packaged.They were sown on 27 March in my propagator but after 3 weeks nothing had happened. Then eventually, one tiny little shoot emerged. It just sat there for weeks, doing nothing. Then another shoot emerged and did the same.

The weeks went by and at the end of June I was fed up of looking at the miserable weaklings which by now had been overtaken by everything else and were now just taking up space. I put them in the cold frame and was too busy with other things at this stage to be bothered with them any more so I ignored them completely. Sometimes you just have to put it down to experience and move on. Then, all of a sudden, they decided to grow! Up they went, branching and filling out as they grew until, by the end of August, one had faltered slightly but the other had reached 60 cm tall, strong and healthy and showing 21 tiny flower buds.

Both plants look healthy enough, they have been variously fed with Phostrogen, Tomorite, home-made Comfrey tea and seaweed extract over the last 5 months and, due to it’s warm and humid origins, I have kept them warm and sprayed the buds and glaucous green foliage with tepid rainwater every few days. I have treated the larger one as a house plant for the last 4 weeks to avoid cooler night temperatures so it has had just about everything it could possibly want – and it still won’t flower! At this rate it will be sitting next to a Poinsettia as part of the Christmas decorations! I am now desperate and out of ideas.

I wonder if anyone has had similar difficulties getting them to flower? There must be something I can do to stimulate the buds to open. Perhaps a kind blogger friend in warmer climes could offer me some advice.

The Dangers of ‘Help Yourself’

Posted on October 12, 2012 by davidsgardendiary

In my recent post on Lily Landini I mentioned the imminent white and pink trumpet flowers of Lily ‘Triumphator’. Well………..here they are!

Not ‘Triumphator’!

Not quite what I expected! Another bulb is still to flower so let’s hope the mistake was not repeated twice!

It is very irritating when something like this goes wrong but I only have myself to blame. In typical trusting fashion, I relied on the supplier to have the right bulbs in the right boxes when I helped myself from the enticing selection on display at the Hampton Court show. Someone probably hesitated, changed their mind and put a bulb back in the wrong box which I then picked up. I would not have purchased a lily this colour but, despite not knowing it’s name, I will find it a place in the garden.

Update

The second bulb opened today and to my relief…it was ‘Triumphator’!

Lily ‘Triumphator’

It is amazing to see the huge green bud one day and this huge trumpet flower the next, one of the wonders of nature.

How could any pollinating insect resist!

Loaded with pollen, this giant flower sits patiently waiting for some lucky insects to pass by.

Today’s Top Tip – Rooting Cuttings

Posted on October 11, 2012 by davidsgardendiary

Stock photo not relevant to post

I am in the process of taking semi-hardwood cuttings from various shrubs around the garden, something I do every year about this time as insurance against death and disease, to increase my stock of plants and to provide spares to sell and swap at various horticultural events. I was musing about rooting cuttings in water when I came across this amazing bit of advice on the internet:

“To promote faster rooting, cut small pieces of willow stems and place them in the water. Willows have a natural plant hormone (IBA). This is the same hormone that is synthesized in many rooting compounds, so soaking the stems in willow water causes rooting to occur more quickly. Willow water can also be used to water the new cuttings to promote root growth.”

Frankly, I was astonished at the simplicity of this idea and the science behind it, and wondered if it had been born from serious scientific research or whether it was just discovered by accident. Whatever the origin of the tip, I can’t wait to try it! If anyone has already tried and it works, let me know!

1000 Hits!

Posted on October 10, 2012 by davidsgardendiary

Very pleased that the blog has attracted 1000 hits.

Thank you one and all.

Gradually getting the hang of it!

Lofty Lofos

Posted on October 10, 2012 by davidsgardendiary

A friend kindly gave me a tiny self-sown plant in August and told me to ‘have a go’ with it, which usually means it is going to be difficult. Not this one! Lofos, or more accurately Lophospermum erubescens (meaning reddening or blushing), was formerly called Asarina and, confusingly, is sometimes also called Maurandia erubescens.

Creeping Gloxina

It has the common names of either Climbing Foxglove, Creeping Gloxinia or Twining Snapdragon depending on which part of the world you come from. Originating from Mexico, but now also common across the Mediterranean, it is a beautiful climber with felty heart shaped leaves and mid-pink flowers like foxgloves, which appear from July to October. I believe this is the species form but there are creamy white and dark red cultivars too which may be hybrids. I have read that they work well in hanging baskets as they fall as well as climb. I have been amazed at it’s rate of growth. From a nondescript 9cm pot plant it has shot up to the top of a 5′ cane in just a few weeks and two flowers opened today! I can’t believe it will keep up this phenomenal growth much longer and with the nights drawing in and getting colder it will surely stop soon.

Species: Asarina erubenscens Family: Scrophulariaceae Image No. 1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In summer, this vine will climb to about 10′ using its leaf stems to attach, and does well in full sun or part shade. It needs a moist soil though, so it mustn’t dry out. It is a half hardy perennial and apparently forms a tuber, which can be dried off and stored over winter, but judging from the number of self-sown seedlings in my friend’s greenhouse, it is also very easy from seed! It should be happy to grow as a houseplant over the winter if you have the room, or in a heated conservatory. I haven’t got either so it will have to take it’s chances in the greenhouse cuddled up to the cannas and dahlias!