Time for a Change!

Posted on January 31, 2017 by davidsgardendiary

I have been rather dilatory of late and I apologise to my faithful followers for the lack of posts and updates from my garden and my visits to others. To be honest, apart from a few small tweaks here and there, my garden has now settled into a rhythm and ticks over through the seasons. However, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been busy!

Some of you may recall that I was briefly Vice Chairman of the Cheltenham Horticultural Society and was rather frustrated that my ideas for modernising and updating the society and its activities were continually thwarted and questioned. Although I was able to bring a lot to the Society in a short time; BBC Radio 4 Gardeners Question Time, plant sales linked to Open Gardens events, publicity from the Tools Shed recycling project with the Conservation Foundation and helping our Vice President, Chris Evans of The Butterfly Garden win the Daily Telegraph ‘Gardening Against the Odds’ award, revamping the Society website and getting Chris Beardshaw to talk about his Gold winning Chelsea garden and his new book, I realised that my future ‘gardening club’ activity lay elsewhere.

I have always admired the homespun charm of the Cottage Garden Society and eagerly read their quarterly magazine and take part in their excellent seed exchange. However, apart from a group local to South Gloucestershire and the towns in the Stroud valleys, they do not have a local presence in the Cotswolds. Even the Worcestershire Group has amalgamated with the Staffordshire Group and has now migrated northwards. So it occurred to me that they might like a new group in my part of Gloucestershire from Cheltenham north and east. They instantly agreed!

So, as a lot of my gardening activity is now going to be centred around the new Cotswold Group, I have decided to make my blog a record of how I get on starting a new gardening club (for that’s what it really is) and sharing my thoughts and concerns, triumphs (let’s hope there are some!) and disasters (let’s hope there are few!), with my followers, visitors and members of the group.

Onwards and upwards!

Compost Overload

Posted on November 15, 2016 by davidsgardendiary

img_20161114_144533

One of the big problems and opportunities of growing herbaceous perennials is the amount of material you need to cut down at this time of year. Problem because I only have 3 compost bins which are now full to overflowing. Opportunity because once it is shredded and left for a year or so I will have more wonderful compost to add to the borders.

First Flower

Posted on November 14, 2016 by davidsgardendiary

img_20161114_144359

Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles’ planted on the arch last year and showing it’s first flower. Early days yet, hoping for more, many more….but there has to be a first.

Echibeckia Update

Posted on November 8, 2016 by davidsgardendiary

_dsc0002

The Echibeckia Summerina ‘Yellow’ was a big surprise this year. The plants from Hayloft survived the winter in pots plunged up to their necks in a raised bed but looked dead until April when a few small green shoots appeared. I dug them up and transferred them to the greenhouse where they took off! By early May they were ready to plant out and with a dressing of bonemeal they romped away.

I think they worked well next to the Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ but they were gradually pushed over by the thuggish Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ behind.

I will be interesting to see if they survive another, and perhaps harder winter.

First Frost

Posted on November 8, 2016 by davidsgardendiary

The first hard frost has intensified the autumn colours and the Liquidamber ‘Worplesdon’ is spectacular today.

The dahlias are blackened and will be mush by tomorrow. The climbing fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’ is now five years old and going strong, shrugging off the cold and continuing to flower well.

Sorbus hupehensis ‘Pink Pagoda’ has berried up well and is attracting the pigeons which balance precariously on the slender branches to gorge themselves.

My Garden This Week

Posted on October 21, 2015 by davidsgardendiary

Just a quick update because I was out photographing the sweet peas. The garden is full of colour this week. The asters and chrysanths are in full bloom and the overwintered dahlias are boldly holding their positions. The salvias have been outstanding this year and some of the patens varieties are better than ever, particularly ‘Blue Angel’ which just goes on and on until the first frost.

This combination of bronzy yellow and purple chrysanths works well and is a complete accident!

More later!

October Sweet Peas!

Posted on October 21, 2015 by davidsgardendiary

Yes, it’s true, these sweet peas have been blooming since June and are still going strong 4 months later! Last year I had a hanging basket of Lathyrus odoratus ‘Dwarf Cupid Mix’ which were an interesting novelty but not particularly impressive. I decided not to bother with them this year but they obviously had other ideas. Some of the seed must have dried and dropped beneath where it germinated in April and gradually grew into a pretty old fashioned floribunda reminiscent of ‘Cupani’ or perhaps ‘Matucana’ blue and purple bicolor. Wonderful scent on a shortish sprawling plant which mingled with the delphiniums, dahlias and verbenas. The remarkable thing is I haven’t removed any dead heads but it has continued to flower well which rather flies in the face of the advice to remove all spent flowers before the seedheads appear or the plant will stop flowering! I will leave it to drop it’s seeds at will and see if I get another batch next year.

Success…….Again!

Posted on September 18, 2015 by davidsgardendiary

Thrilled to bits! I won the prizes for best front garden AND best rear garden in the Charlton Kings in Bloom Competition this year. Two huge trophies and £50 of garden vouchers but the best bit was the feedback from the judges and I quote:

“Your garden is outstanding. Your borders were picture perfect with beautiful waves of colour, height and texture. Your rear garden flows well and again your choice of plants is exceptional. The standard of your garden is the highest we have ever seen. It’s been a real pleasure judging it.”

It was worth all the long hours and hard work just to hear that.

Echibeckia

Posted on August 27, 2015 by davidsgardendiary

I know it’s not much of a plant at this stage, more of a box really, but inside is a bit of the horticultural future…..apparently! We are all familiar with Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’ and R. var. ‘Deamii’ and have probably had a brush with the larger flowered and more colourful annual Rudbeckia hirta in the form of ‘Marmalade’ or ‘Green Eyes’ or similar. We are also probably all familiar with Echinacea purpurea and have discovered that only the species is truly hardy; the myriad cultivars I have been suckered into buying have been hopeless and die in their first winter…too wet in the UK. They need long, dry, cold winters as they get in the mid western United States to survive. My friend Rob Cole at Meadow Farm Nursery is selecting open pollinated variants and testing them for the factors required in a British garden worthy plant and is pretty close to releasing a couple on the market but, in the meantime, the Echibeckia has been introduced from the United States to satisfy our desire for a hardy, early and long flowering perennial that is hardy and disease resistant. As the name implies, it is an intergeneric cross between Rudbeckia hirta and Echinacea purpurea. So what’s in the box????????

Certainly well packaged by Hayloft Plants; arrived safe and well grown……

far bigger than expected, at least 25cm high and one even beginning to flower!

However, we are going to have to wait until next summer to find out a) has it survived and b) was it worth it!

My Garden This Week – The Best Bits!

Posted on August 24, 2015 by davidsgardendiary

I have been trying to take a good photo of Salvia uliginosa and have found it very difficult so this is the best I have managed so far but it really doesn’t do it justice. The colour is simply exquisite and it flowers for months. The bees love it and it is a full 1.8m high and wide which makes a wonderful border statement. Believe it or not, it is thriving in one of the worst parts of the garden overshadowed by trees and in sticky clay soil, all the things it should hate!

Aconitum carmichaelii, the common Monkshood, has got a fearsome reputation for being the most poisonous plant in the garden, particularly since a gardener died of it’s effects earlier this year. It is, however, a rather beautiful and statuesque plant, just don’t touch it and then eat your sandwiches!

The front border is filled with colour from the salvias, echinaceas, monardas and heleniums with the fresh foliage of the asters and chrysanths supporting them. Everything props each other up and avoids flopping.

Amongst the asters is this rather unusual Solidago ‘Fireworks’ which is not your average Golden Rod but a more refined version which works well with the purples, mauves and crimsons of the asters which are now beginning to open.

Best hoverfly attractor plant? This Lysimachia ephemerum, the Willow Leaved Loosestrife, gets this year’s award. Yes, better than Verbena, salvias or scabious and at least on a par with echinacea for attracting pollinators. Never seen it without something crawling over it!

The ever reliable Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii which lights up the borders in August and goes on for weeks and weeks. I wouldn’t be without it. Shorter than ‘Goldsturm’ and a brighter yellow in my opinion.

I do find it easy to ignore the more mundane plants in the garden and take them for granted, particularly those which have been there for years and just perform without fussing, feeding or propping, things like this Echinops ritro, a reliable drought resistant, clay loving plant if ever there was one. Loved by bees, flies, beetles and all manner of creepie crawlies, it must be overloaded with pollen and nectar. It is not until you look closely, really closely at those blue balls that you see why.