Six on Saturday

Posted on April 29, 2023 by davidsgardendiary

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

Posted on June 11, 2022 by davidsgardendiary

It’s Rose time! ‘Camille Pissarro’ looking a bit like raspberry ripple ice cream. Certainly good enough to eat!

The rose garden in early morning sunshine. The different scents of roses and sweet peas plus the constant sound of pollinators buzzing around collecting pollen and nectar makes it a magical place for an early morning cuppa.

Bulb pots emptied and replanted with summer bedding plants. Bulbs dried in the greenhouse and ready to be stored in paper bags in the shed until September.

Nigella damascena in full flower now and looking good with the acid yellow feverfew. These two are both prolific self seeders and I find myself taking out more than I keep, otherwise they would be everywhere. I like to garden with a light touch and try to make it look as natural as possible, particularly in the cottage garden borders.

The little pink fox grape, Vitis labrusca ‘Isabella’ is covered in bunches of tiny flowers which should, in theory, become delicious purple grapes in September. I had just one bunch last year but winter pruning and another year’s maturity has resulted in incredible growth. It almost beggars belief how much growth these grapevines can put on in a single season, some of the new stems are already a metre long.

Finally, a friend of mine asked me to try to get Fuchsia ‘Lady in Black’ cuttings to root in my Hydropod propagator as she has tried conventional methods without success, Looks like we have liftoff!

Have a great weekend

David

Six on Saturday

Posted on August 29, 2020 by davidsgardendiary

Tradescantia x andersoniana ‘Concord Grape’

Those who have read this blog recently will know I have developed a strong liking for Tradescantia virginiana and T. andersoniana hybrids like this one, ‘Concord Grape’, which is one of the most popular and easily obtained. Easy to grow too, almost any soil will do as long as it doesn’t dry out. It’s not fussy about position although prefers dappled shade.

Tradescantia x andersoniana ‘Gold Mound’

They all have these bright yellow anthers which are very visible on the flowers which open in the morning and are usually gone by lunchtime, particularly in sunshine. The strappy mound of grass-like leaves can be a bit untidy but you can’t have everything!

I don’t think anybody will be surprised to learn that in an RHS trial, dahlias were found to be one of the most pollinator friendly plants but that the single flowers were better than all the others and particularly favoured by bumble bees. This hybrid in my garden is covered in bumbles all day long and is worthy of it’s place in my garden for that reason, mongrel or not.

Hydropod cuttings update. Most of the cuttings I have propagated in the Hydropod have done well and gone on to make sturdy little plants. Some have even flowered already like this Salvia microphylla ‘Red Bumble’. The standout winners though have been Penstemons, Erysimum and Diascia personata.

The Alstroemerias are still going strong and producing more flower stems despite the change in the weather. These flowers opened during the torrential rain on Thursday so are not looking their best, but they are still quite stunning set off by their dark foliage.

Not much of a picture I know, but a bit of an experiment for me, rose cuttings. My climbing David Austin rose ‘The Generous Gardener’ was ripped off it’s trellis by high winds and snapped in several places so had to be cut back. I think it will re-grow but, just in case, I thought I would try my hand at some cuttings. This is the recommended ‘Gardener’s World’ method so I will report progress in due course. It may take a while!

Never one to shy away from problems in the garden, this just shows that even the toughest of shrubs can die on you for no apparent reason. This Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ was coppiced for several years until I decided to allow one leading shoot to grow into a main stem to form a small tree. It looks like this was a mistake! Most of the new growth has turned brown and has died. The fresh new growth from ground level is fine so it looks like it will have to be coppiced again next year.

Let’s end on a high note, the pure white Japanese Anemone which is well behaved in my garden, unlike the pink ones which tried to take over and had to be forcibly removed. The dainty white ‘Honorine Jorbet’ enjoys a dry shady north facing spot where little else will grow and shines out even on the darkest of cloudy days.

That’s it for this week’s Six on Saturday.

Enjoy your weekend

David