Tag Archives: Camassia

Six on Saturday

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I rather pretentiously call this ‘The Long Walk’ because it seems a long way from the front door to the garage! However, it does give me a chance to inspect a lot of plants in the ‘long border’ and my big pots in the gravel margin next to the bungalow.

And talking of pots, the Camassias have worked well again this year flowering at the same time as some lovely creamy/white/green tulips. If you haven’t already tried Camassias in pots, I strongly recommend them. Just keep them well watered.

Their starry lavender blue flowers open over a long period and are good with Narcissus too.

Erysimum ‘Red Jep’ is excellent this year. She obviously likes the cooler, wet conditions, the early feed of Growmore in February and the mulch of composted green waste. I tend to find that Erysimums are quite short lived, 3 years max before they go leggy and die on me, so I take a lot of cuttings in the early summer. They also have a nasty habit of snapping in the wind when the stems mature and become brittle.

This is Ajuga reptans ‘Burgundy Glow’, a lighter coloured greeny/purple leaved version of the common Bugle plant. It creeps and roots itself as it goes which is a very useful habit. The bright blue flowers at this time of year are a charming addition to the early Spring border and mix well with the Anemone blanda, Narcissus and the strappy leaves of ‘going over’ Snowdrops.

Viburnums are such good shrubs, totally hardy and bombproof, flowering early like this Viburnum plicatum ‘Mariesii’ which is such a joy. The flowers themselves are tiny and almost insignificant compared to the creamy white bracts surrounding them. A glorious sight at this time of year.

The purple Honesty, Lunaria annua, has been exceptional this year and is all around the hedgerows of Gloucestershire at the moment. I am hoping that my seedlings of the cultivated forms ‘Chedglow’ and ‘Corfu Blue’, will be just as good when they flower next Spring.

Finally, the long wet winter has taken its toll on the lawn. It is full of moss, weeds and Scabious seedlings from the adjacent border. Time for some Weed ‘n Feed, scarification and aeration methinks. There are those that consider such things unnecessary and ecologically unsound, and I understand their point of view. I am passionate about ecology and wildlife, but I am also a gardener, and when I see the millions of dandelions and daisies in the fields around here, I don’t think my little lawn is significant in the grand scheme of things.

Have a great weekend

David

Six on Saturday

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We are now at that inbetweeny stage in the Birch circle where the snowdrops have gone over, the early narcissus are flowering along with the Anemone blanda (when the sun shines!) Amazing to think that by June, all this foliage will be gone and there will just be 6 Geranium ‘Rozanne’ covering the composted bark.

Amongst them is Chionodoxa luciliae ‘Pink Giant’ which I rescued from the undergrowth during our first spring here back in 2009 and still going strong.

Gardening friends thought I was mad last year, for growing Camassias in pots, but I had dug them up from elsewhere in the garden and was undecided where to put them. It was a temporary solution but they did so well that I just left them in the pots and put them behind the shed with the gone over narcissus and tulips. Without any attention whatsoever, they survived and appear to have prospered. They are usually naturalised in damp grassland but they go very well next to late flowering yellow narcissus in pots! Rules are made to be broken!

Wild Primroses love the sticky clay in my garden and pop up everywhere. The couple of pink Primulas are not so gregarious and stay put. I had several more in various gaudy colours but they seem to have disappeared. I am never quite sure whether they are, in fact, a Polyanthus rather than a Primula. Perhaps some kind reader can help.

The fat buds of the pink flowered Tree Peony promise a good show in a few weeks time, along with the taller yellow Paeonia ludlowii which looks like it will be spectacular if a late frost doesn’t kill the buds. Definitely a potential SoS contender.

Erysimum ‘Red Jep’, a gift from a kind friend, will be flowering for many months, and will have another go after it has been trimmed back in mid-summer. Such good value plants.

Finally, barring a late frost which is likely to kill off the buds, the Wisteria sinensis ‘Prolific’ is showing signs of another fantastic display in April. Fingers firmly crossed!

Have a great weekend

David

Six on Saturday

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It is still very wet and cold for late April but some plants carry on regardless such as Erysimum ‘Apricot Twist’ which seems intent on being the plant that never stops flowering. This is a cutting taken 2 years ago which has flowered periodically all winter and is now really getting into her stride. She will probably flower for 6 months or more before I replace her with a cutting taken last year. They literally flower themselves to death!

This is Erysimum ‘Red Jep’ kindly given to me by a dear friend from our gardening group. It has been in this pot all winter and took the worst of the weather, but look at it now!

Euphorbia cyparissias looking splendid at the front of the shrubbery again. It has spread significantly since last year and now occupies a swathe across the front of the taller shrubs and perennials. I just love the acid yellow against the emerging sea of green.

As an experiment, I lifted a huge clump of Camassias last year which were in the wrong place and overcrowded, dried off the bulbs over summer and planted them in big pots in the autumn. I am delighted with the results. They mix well with narcissus and some early tulips and I can move the pots in May to make way for the Agapanthus africanus.

Unless we have a late frost, which now looks unlikely according to the current weather forecast, the Wisteria sinensis ‘Prolific’ should look magnificent this year. After three years of frosted flower buds and no flowers, I might finally get the show I planned for. Fingers crossed!

I consider myself to be very lucky to have pink and white bluebells in the garden. They appeared by chance many years ago and come back every year. They have all the same characteristics of our native bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, and occur when the flower’s blue pigment is missing, making them ‘albino’ bluebells. It is believed a native white bluebell occurs only once in every 10,000 flowers.

Finally, the Hydropod cuttings propagator is going full blast to create lots of young plants for the coming season. This is Penstemon ‘Choir Boy’, a rare white cultivar which I am hoping to popularise again. It has only taken three weeks to get these roots which proves the value of the equipment. I have now probably produced over 300 cuttings in three years!

Have a great Bank Holiday weekend

David

Six on Saturday

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The paths in the cottage garden are slowly merging into the beds which makes for a better appearance but more difficult to walk on. The plants soften the edges and lean out for more light.

I love the way plants mingle and merge with each other, jostling for position and trying to outdo each other for light and space. Geranium ‘Rozanne’ is an expert and uses the other plants to give her a leg up.

This little patio standard rose from T&M was supposed to white but turned out to be a lucky mistake as I just love the soft peachy apricot colour. It sits in a pot by the patio table and has a subtle fragrance. If anyone knows what her name might be, I would be grateful for a comment please??

Dianthus carthusianorum, a tall pink with clusters of gorgeous dark red buds which break out into pale pink flowers over a long period in June and July. I spotted this in the long borders at Hidcote and bought three in the plant shop. One has since died but the other two are romping away and clumping up well with more flower stems each year. Thriving on neglect, they love my dry alkaline clay in summer, not too keen on my wet clay in winter!

My camassias have not flowered well over the last few years and a quick internet search revealed that, although they don’t like being moved, they don’t flower well if they are congested. This was obviously the reason because having dug up what I thought would be the five bulbs I planted 7 or 8 years ago, there were now over fifty! I have cleaned and dried them in the greenhouse and will re-plant them, farther apart this time, in September. They like damp heavy soil and do well naturalised in grassland but I am going to try them in pots of loam based compost where I can regulate the water and see if I can get them to flower with narcissus. I think the blue and yellow will look lovely together in spring.

Petchoas, a cross between a petunia and a calibrachoa, which I was recommended by the editor of Which? Gardening magazine last year. I’m not sure about them! I bought Caramel and Cinnamon but I find the colours too subtle and dull for what should be a bright and zingy hanging basket. It is claimed that they don’t need deadheading but I have found that not to be the case and pick off the dead flower heads every morning. However, as my favourite training consultant used to say, “try a lot of stuff, keep what works!”

Finally, Delphinium requienii, or perennial Larkspur, which is a tall, unusual stately plant acquired from a friend who has it on her allotment where it seeds around freely. Seems to flower in it’s second year from a rosette of shiny leaves which slugs and snails leave alone! I rather like it and look forward to passing on some seeds and seedlings for others to grow.

Have a great weekend

David

Six on Saturday

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It has been so cold here in the Cotswolds that we still have the central heating on! Never known a cold spell last into early May before. Everything is at least three weeks behind where it should be at this time of year. This Euphorbia cyparissias doesn’t seem to mind the cold and is adding colour to an otherwise green scene.

The recent late frosts have killed all the emerging Wisteria flowers! Despite the plant itself being totally hardy, the flowers are not and are easily damaged by cold winds and frost. I am bitterly disappointed as it is usually a highlight of early May for me.

The Camassias have not performed as well as usual this year with far fewer flowers. I will feed the bulbs for a few weeks before the foliage dies down and will then lift and divide them because it may be due to the bulbs being too congested. The brown leaf tips are worrying too. Perhaps a lack of nitrogen??

This Genista ‘Porlock’ is probably an escapee from a local garden and is actually in the hedge outside my garden but it is so beautiful I thought it was worthy of showing in the blog. Obviously a member of the pea family by the labiate flowers, it is a type of Broom with a faint but pleasant scent. I might see if there is an ‘Irishman’s Cutting’ I can take!

It has fascinated me that some plants always flower before others of the same species. This Aquilegia next to the house wall is the first to flower every year, weeks ahead of all the other hundreds in the garden. No logical reason why it should but it always does.

Years ago, I discovered Bowles Golden Grass, Milium effusum ‘Aureum’, in a local garden and the kind owner dug up a piece and gave it to me. Slowly but surely it has colonised several areas of the garden but in a good way. It likes the shady spots in amongst other plants, below trees and bushes, where it lights up the gloom with its bright yellow leaves.

I kid you not, this Erysimum ‘Apricot Twist’ has been in flower constantly for 12 months! I cut back some of the straggly growth in February and the new shoots are flowering alongside the flowers on last year’s growth which shows no sign of slowing down. These plants literally flower themselves to death over a couple of years or so.

Have a great weekend

David