Cerinthe | Davids Garden Diary

Not a particularly inspiring or glamorous opening picture I admit, but a bunch of Dahlia tubers washed, labelled and upside down drying off in the shed is all I managed in the torrential rain this week. A dirty job for a filthy day but at least that is one ticked off the list.

A few weeks ago, a local gardener called Dave Matthews contacted me via my blog to ask if he could take some scion wood from my Rose ‘Jude the Obscure’ for grafting purposes. I had no difficulty finding this rose 3 years ago but it it has apparently since disappeared from sale. Of course, I agreed, and this morning he came from Stroud to Cheltenham to take some prunings which he proposes to graft onto another modern rose (not wild rose rootstock) to propagate it. Watch this space!

Although I am trying to discourage the prolific self-seeder Centranthus ruber, commonly called Red Valerian, from the beds and borders, it is quite a useful plant for gravel margins and dry stone walls where it happily grows on fresh air. There is certainly no soil or nutrient for at least 30cm under the gravel so how it survives is a mystery. Still flowering in late November and showing no sign of giving up yet.

I encourage Ivy to clothe my boundary fences because of its value to wildlife. I always have at least one Robin’s nest and one Wren’s nest in the Spring, the flowers provide nectar for wasps and bees in Autumn, and now the pollinated berries will shortly provide food for hungry Blackbirds and Pigeons over the winter. One of the very best plants to have in the garden if you don’t listen to the myths!

The pastel pink shrub rose ‘Bonica’ which has flowered repeatedly since May and will continue as long as this mild weather lasts. Not the strongest scent nor the prettiest shape but recommended for it’s sheer flower power and persistence.

I have found that one of the best cottage garden hardy annuals which self seeds is Cerinthe major purpurascens or Honeywort. One plant, if left to seed, will produce hundreds of offspring which can be easily lifted and potted up rather than trodden on in the gravel path!

Well, that’s it for another Saturday.

Have a great weekend

David

Everything is going bonkers! Weeds are outgrowing the plants, all the early flowerers have suddenly realised it’s mid-May and they had better get a shift on. The dry April has been replaced by ‘mixed’ weather conditions. Rain then sun then cloud then rain again, it just can’t make its mind up! This Cerinthe and the feverfew are fighting for position in the cottage garden border.

The Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus grown from seed a few years ago are delightfully scented and pack a real citrus yellow punch in late spring, way before the other taller varieties behind strut their stuff. I suppose it’s a survival of the fittest thing, get in early, do your thing, get out.

Have you ever seen anything more delicious than this?! Rosa ‘Boscobel’ is one of the best roses in my little collection and is one of the few David Austin roses that manage to hold their frilly heads up instead of drooping under the sheer weight of their flower power. Highly recommended if you are looking for a modern repeat flowering shrub rose with modest scent, healthy foliage and the most gorgeous flowers.

Nobody bothered to tell Clematis ‘Hagley Hybrid’ that it’s only mid-May and she shouldn’t be flowering just yet. She is starting subtly though, six inches off the ground so no-one can see!

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) should come with a warning label which says “regardless of what you would prefer, this plant will decide on its own position and grow accordingly”. Last year it was sown in the narrow cottage garden border where it flowered prolifically, went to seed and decided it preferred the adjoining gravel path, which has a weed suppressing membrane beneath! It needs no goodness, just to be left alone.

My Tradescantias are coming into flower and I am busy recording interesting things about their habits, flowering dates and cultivation. This one is Tradescantia bracteata from the mid-west of the United States and one of the shorter, more well behaved species. Delicate foliage and lavender blue flowers are a beautiful combination in a grassy plant, or weed as my wife calls them! Ah well, they feed my obsession and make me happy in my old age!

Have a great weekend, I am off trout fishing near Chipping Norton today to see if the Mayflies are about. Wish me luck!

David